Product-market fit takes YEARS

Back in July I decided to stop pushing for growth on my Carrd plugins project.

Search volume too low I said.
Market was too small I said.
No moat I said.
9 months was enough I said.

But I’ve been re-evaluating that decision the past week. I might be wrong about it.

Tim mentioned how SEO, backlinks takes time. It’s how those things work, so there’s no rushing it. Today, I saw a chart from @lennysan that adds to the argument that I might be wrong after all:

Though there will never be a foolproof formula for finding product-market fit, here’s my best attempt at creating a guide for B2B startups that’ll save you much time and pain. It’s based on interviews and research into the PMF journeys of 25 top B2B startups. Here’s a peek:

The chart is sooo telling the further down you go. For some of the famous startups like Airtable and Figma, the gap between live product and getting their first customer is YEARS. That’s the grind there. And get this: that’s just the first customer. Not even close to PMF yet! Therefore the story of “overnight success 10 years in the making”. 10 years to pivot and find PMF. And this is for the few % that made it. Imagine all the 99% that didn’t!

Damn, it’s like the universe is hinting punching me in the face to tell me something.

This sh*t takes years man. YEARS.

And here I am, thinking that my project is doomed to slow growth and low revenue after hustling for 9 months. Huge face palm moment.

I could have stupidly fulfilled my own prophecy, by half-giving up, by stopping pushing for growth.

By being too impatient.

But I’m glad. Damn glad. It’s just been two months since I made that decision. It’s not too late to reverse it. To self-care for the long game, I might not have to push as hard for growth as I did previously, but at least now I know I got to keep pushing to some degree.

Alright Carrd plugins… I’m baaack!