Three principles for reaching product-market fit in SaaS

Executive overview

Most early-stage SaaS founders focus on building product while neglecting the market side of product-market fit. User research without purchase commitment produces false signals — people say yes in surveys but decline when asked to pay.

PMF is when customers buy, use, and refer your product without being pushed.

Ask people to buy as early as possible

• Run go-to-market development in parallel with product development, not after
• Discovery calls and surveys give opinions, not purchase intent — no skin in the game
• Ask for a pilot, a paid trial, or a signed contract before the product is finished
• Early payment signals stress-test both the idea and your positioning
• Wasted months building the wrong product is the direct consequence of skipping this

Be intentional about your target markets

• Product-market fit is literal: a product that fits a specific market — choose that market deliberately
• Identify the urgent, important problem your product solves for each candidate market
• Multiple markets can be tested in parallel; weigh which fits better
• Market choice drives product decisions — e.g., enterprise means SOC 2; self-serve means frictionless signup
• Validate that your early buyers represent a real market segment, not isolated individuals

Measure progress as you test and iterate

• Human memory is unreliable across weeks of iteration — recency bias distorts judgement
• Set a recurring cadence (e.g., weekly) to review core metrics and active experiments
• Track: number of people asked to buy, conversion rate, reasons for "no", messaging changes
• Patterns only become visible over time and with enough data points
• Without measurement, you'll optimise for the last conversation rather than the trend