A framework for finding product-market fit | Todd Jackson (First Round Capital)

Todd Jackson is a Partner at First Round Capital. Before moving into venture capital, he played a crucial role as VP of Product and Design at Dropbox, guiding the company until its IPO in 2018. Prior to Dropbox, Todd led product management for Twitter’s Content and Discovery teams after selling his startup, Cover, to Twitter in 2014. Before Cover, Todd oversaw product development for Facebook’s Newsfeed, Photos, and Groups. He kickstarted his career at Google as an associate product manager and eventually led product for Gmail, witnessing its growth from beta to 200 million users. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Why product-market fit (PMF) matters
• First Round Capital’s four-part PMF framework
• Level one: Nascent product-market fit
• Level two: Developing product-market fit
• Level three: Strong product-market fit
• Level four: Extreme product-market fit
• Examples of companies at each level
• How to know if you’re stuck at a level, and how to get unstuck
• What to change if you’re stuck: persona, problem, promise, and product
• The goals and challenges at each stage

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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Todd’s background
(06:07) First Round Capital’s PMF framework
(09:07) Why product-market fit is so important
(11:02) Who can benefit from this framework
(12:55) The product-market fit method
(16:54) Broad overview of the framework
(21:35) Level one: nascent product-market fit
(33:16) The four P’s
(39:13) Level two: developing product-market fit
(49:13) Signs you’re stuck at level two, and what to do
(55:12) Level three: strong product-market fit
(01:00:17) Signs you’re stuck at level three, and what to do
(01:02:22) Level four: extreme product-market fit
(01:06:55) Rough timelines for each level
(01:11:18) A quick recap of the framework
(01:12:15) Diving deeper on the four P’s: what to do if you’re stuck
(01:13:56) Dollar-driven discovery
(01:25:11) Apply for the product-market-fit method program

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[dheenadayalan]

Lenny, this is extremely valuable. This podcast has set the bar for the highest value derived per second. Thank you!

[leadgenjay]

A key takeaway for entrepreneurs is that PMF isn't static; it's a continuous process where feedback loops and iteration are crucial.

[turoczy_]

This is so incredibly valuable. Thanks so much for grabbing time with Todd!

[tobiomotayo]

Thank you Lenny for doing this. I would love to see a similar breakdown for B2C products especially the metrics, wonder if there is an episode on the channel for this.

[yashyijaykar]

Thank you Lenny and Todd for the pod
Found the 4Ps framework and the 3 levers incredibly useful.

Loved the customer discovery improv bit, however imo balancing the right promise is extremely challenging, you can of course over promise to get the demand and fail at delivery. (But Todd has rightly mentioned solve for satisfaction at level 1)

Also watching recordings is a great way to see real signals.

All the best to all the founders working towards value creation!

[red]

This is so good I probably watched 3 times (I kept going back to some lessons).

[mhauzeur]

I searched for the content he was mentioning and is amazing and very valuable, thanks for that quality of speakers.

[mohammadzekrallah]

love this .. super smart guest .. and amazing questions lenny many thanks this been so helpful

[vivaswatamohapatra]

Love this podcast; it's really insightful with great examples! It would be great if there were visuals to explain key takeaways, such as the 4 stages (nascent, developing, strong, and extreme) or the levers (4Ps). Visuals help retain knowledge.

[pricingconsultant]

Absolutely wonderful content here. Thanks Lenny and Todd!

[ttaattaajjaamm]

Great insights! In general, FRC is just awesome. Thank you, guys, for doing amazing job

[shakilhasnat]

How good are those people that they offer $5000 course for free. Wish you all the best.

[taylornguyen]

My god, talking about a STACKED resume! 1:35

[AssetMule]

Awesome episode - thanks for sharing Lenny

[Drackomass]

This is going to be good, love this type of content or pricing content.

[reydelossantos]

So dead on. PMF is the true challenge

[hcubill]

The edition is superb, I find it difficult to listen to other podcasts just coz quality is cringe

[carolyu]

Great episode. Would you share the validation article Todd mentioned?

[Snkr_suds]

O found PMF and have sold my product but what do I do if I have no access to capital?

[GioMorocica]

What’s the link to apply to the program?