I haven’t written for a long while, well actually just haven’t published. I have written a few pieces and notes about my journey, but they have been stuck in a draft mode. No doubt they are good pieces about how the startup life has been going and the challenges I have been facing, but finishing them off till perfection (or a point where they are better than they are) has not yet happened.
It is somewhat indicative of where I am today with the company and why I decided to publish this piece. Over the past few weeks, I have been reading a few famous essays from Paul Graham and Marc Andreessen. I have never been one for long articles or essays, but have actually gained some perspective and value from these. The one that has been stuck in my head which relates so heavily to today is The Only Thing that Matters. In short, this essay is about understanding and analyzing three essential elements of a startup (team, product, and market) and their contribution to the success or failure of the startup. It ends with pointing out that the product/market fit matters most. Regardless of the great or lousy team or the good enough or perfect product, at the end of the day the market wins, the market decides if your product is a fit for its needs and desires.
This idea has been revolving in my head since I read this article a few days ago. I would rank my startup at a 3 to 5 of the maturity level, right at the Defined level. I had an idea 4 years ago, so I talked to potential customers who validated the need and willingness to buy/use the product. I then built the product (after many iterations and failed attempts), validated the product with a paying customer and partnered with a few strategic billion-dollar+ companies to make the product scale quicker. I am now at the point where I am looking for our seed+ round (already having raised about a million dollars in a seed round to get me to where I am today) of funding to build more product and scale the company. From everything I have been told, read, and been advised to do, the above “appears” to be the path to success. I have taken all the right steps to go from idea to product to customer to growing business, yet I have not had the same success in raising money. Regardless of the risk reduction that has taken place on the technical side (with a functional product, a granted patent, and a paying customer for that same product) or the validated need of the product (with top 7 of the 10 largest companies in the space talking to us because they have never seen a product like this before), there is a missing piece that has been manifesting and I am seeing it now.
The missing piece that is appearing is the buyer. Who is the buyer and what will make that buyer buy my product? How will my product go from a need and desire to a must? To a level of must that we can literally feel product/market fit; when customers are buying the product as fast as you can make it.
There is no question in my mind that I have found a gap in the market and a need to build a better mousetrap that extends the current product beyond its capability. There is also no question in the product and system that I have built to solve that exact problem. The question is purely in figuring out what internal or more likely external force(s) will mandate that my product is in the hands of every customer. That is the question.