Validation of a movement.

A startup’s first real sign of success is when it reaches product-market fit, right? Or was it the MVP or happy customers? For some reason, we all seem to justify our own traction as we see fit, but we all agree on the fact that reaching product-market fit is the first real milestone to achieve.

No matter how you cut it or what your definition of product-market fit is, there’s an element of gut feeling right before it happens that things are moving in the right direction. The often touted PMF definition is that customers find you more than you are trying to reach them; that’s the one thing that I don’t feel is product-market fit ;)

When you cut it down into pieces, the two things that really stick out is that the company has found an offering that suits the ideal customer in such a way that most barriers for starting to use the product have been solved, or the added value is 10x higher than the cost. One could just say at that point in time you have enough knowledge implemented into processes and product to actually earn your product-market fit badge, hah.

This is where the magic happens

The thing is though, we all seek earlier signs of traction to steer ourselves towards that PMF goal, heck, a studio prides itself on having stage gates that almost without a fault lead you towards that goal. Of course, I’m serving that Kool-Aid as well, but why?

It’s not the stage gate model, as much as everybody wants to believe that some magical PMF happens with the studio stage-gate model, it doesn’t. It really doesn’t. The only thing a gate in such a model does is limit the freedom of thought on nice shiny objects on the horizon that might never get used but are intellectually or creatively very, very enjoyable things to work on. It does, however, focus on keeping the most important elements in focus. It allows entrepreneurs to keep hammering down on the few things that truly matter in that stage of building a company.

Then what traction really matters early days? Let’s zoom in on the time spent before the first hard gate, aka validation.

Double clicking the pain

Some refer to Builders as the studio with the most comprehensive playbook full of deliverables and ways to get to the next level. This might be so, but the truth is, our real superpower is in the 2 guides of 4 weeks we’ve created to define the pace and momentum needed to get into the zone. Inspired by our dear friends at PSL, we noticed that getting started at deep diving on a problem to solve is a very hard task to do for any solution-oriented entrepreneur. And yes, almost all entrepreneurs are great problem solvers.

So, when presenting an entrepreneur with a list of deliverables needed to pass the ‘we found a problem worth solving’ gate, the default would be to ‘sell’ hard to the customers we talk to make the deliverables work, not focused enough on zooming in on a problem worth solving. To make the first weeks together more valuable, we’ve spent time creating a 4-week guide to make sure there’s a problem worth solving.

This 4-week successful validation guide is nothing more than a set of principles, a week-by-week storyline of what would be doable per week and what would be great outcomes to achieve. It’s not a directive, but this guide, this storyline creates structure in the madness of validation when needed. Great entrepreneurs make it their own on day one and they surprise themselves in the sheer numbers and outcomes.

But what is the real outcome here? Just a problem worth solving? Yes, eh no.

A big part of validating anything in life is having enough knowledge and enough points of reference to understand the depth and length of the thing you’re working on. For us, this means you’re working on a problem that you really care about and is linked to your background and personal story. This baseline of knowledge gives one something to hold onto in the weeks, months, years, decades (lightyears!) to come when building a meaningful business.

Claw, scratch, and fight

So, the first 4 weeks (and every week after) in any building collaboration is about talking to potential customers and the experts around those customers. While doing so, we tend to focus on competitor research and ironing out what value propositions there are to attack. The only way to make this work is to spend time with an ass on a seat and talk to customers. Not just a random chat but a structured approach to lean into the pains and problems your customers are experiencing.

This means that the first day spent working together is the last day you’re not speaking to 1 or more customers. Easy, eh? Well, the most important thing here is to not go with the flow all the time and do a few interviews on the same subject before following something shiny down a rabbit hole. Very, very hard to do, but also a good test for any entrepreneur if they’re truly able to narrow down the real pains behind an obvious problem.

So, how does one achieve these goals, how to hack your way to that goal? From my experience, entrepreneurs have two things to worry about. They believe cold calls are hard to schedule, which they are not. At all. Secondly, they are too nice to people they haven’t spoken to before. In reality, for some reason, the first conversation is the one where there are the least barriers, and the conversations are the most candid.

Heres some unasked advice: Record all calls, all calls, let me tell you again, all calls. It’s the only way to improve what you’re doing, and use smart software to make sense of your wild thoughts. We use Dovetail today to make sense of what we’ve learned and, most importantly, to get support from others to improve on the next set of calls. And in the background we’re working on an intelligence platform of our own to dive even deeper.

Here comes the kicker

Successful entrepreneurs really get down and dirty with this way of working and push out nearly 100 calls in 6 weeks. Yes, I know this is a 4-week process, but we extend it to a max of 6 weeks if we’re all confident enough to keep pushing forward.

And now comes the kicker, the traction you’ve been looking for. Months, even years before product market fit!

No, it’s not the amount of calls you push for, nor is it how good your total addressable market size looks, or the shiny pitch deck you’ve by now rebuilt 10 times… It’s the monster you’ve created doing so. By digesting these calls, the knowledge gained, the market researches, and the experts engaged, you become somewhat of an expert yourself. The people you’ve spoken to want to speak to you again with your very detailed knowledge and powerful network. Your relationship status has become one of trust within record time and answers given are truthful without you having to dig into their deeper emotions. If this feels alien to you, and you’re in this process, go back to start!

Be the movement

Now, when you ask yourself am I chasing a problem worth solving, you’ll feel it in your gut it’s the right thing to do. Because you are the smartest person alive who has found something so valuable in 4 weeks? Eh, 6. No. It’s because you’ve created a community of people who share the same pains, mostly the same beliefs, and who are willing to give you a push up the hill. You’ve created something that feels like a movement more than a community.

When you talk to any stakeholder, the transfer of energy is addictive and makes everyone want to support you. This is what problem validation does; this is how a studio should empower an entrepreneur. This force for good will empower the entrepreneur not to chase the rabbit down the hole but to actually create a narrative, wedge, and vision that opens a way into the enterprise and solve the biggest problems with the tech yet to be created. This is how you set yourselves up for traction and product market fit somewhere down the line.

Community? Yeahish… Movement? Hell yes!

Cheers. Your friends at Builders 🖖🏻