"PMF has levels — don't give up too early, but don't persist in L1 forever"
Evidence from the Archive
First Round Capital
The best enterprise companies reach extreme PMF in roughly 4-6 years
Lattice kept its persona but changed its problem, promise, and product to find PMF
One of the rare VCs with deep operating experience across Gmail, Facebook News Feed, Twitter, and Dropbox. Built the PMF framework by studying hundreds of First Round portfolio companies over multiple years. Their core argument: PMF is not binary -- it progresses through four levels (nascent, developing, strong, extreme) measured across three dimensions: demand, satisfaction, and efficiency. The critical insight is that you don't optimize for all three simultaneously.
The evidence is specific: Lattice kept its persona but changed its problem, promise, and product to find PMF. Furthermore, vanta changed all four Ps (persona, problem, promise, product) to find PMF. The best enterprise companies reach extreme PMF in roughly 4-6 years.
In Todd Jackson's own words: "Finding product-market fit is the single most important thing that your startup does in the first three years, and it's just underexplored and it's just underexplained as a topic." (Why a systematic framework for PMF is needed.)
First Round Capital
Vanta: Changed all four Ps -- a complete reinvention that landed on security compliance automation.
First Round PMF Method beta: One founder said the 14-week program 'saved me two years of time in what would have been wandering through the desert.'
Todd Jackson was product lead for Gmail in its early days, product manager for Facebook's News Feed, director of PM at Twitter, and VP of Product and Design at Dropbox before becoming a partner at First Round Capital -- giving him both hands-on product experience and pattern recognition from hundreds of seed-stage startups. Their core argument: Product-market fit has four levels -- knowing which level you are at transforms the pivot-vs-persist decision from a binary gamble into a diagnostic exercise with specific levers to pull.
The evidence is specific: Lattice: Started as an OKR tool. Kept the persona (HR leaders) but changed the problem, promise, and product to performance management. User retention on OKRs was poor; the pivot to performance reviews found genuine pull.. Furthermore, vanta: Changed all four Ps -- a complete reinvention that landed on security compliance automation.. First Round PMF Method beta: One founder said the 14-week program 'saved me two years of time in what would have been wandering through the desert.'.
In Todd Jackson's own words: "Finding product-market fit is the single most important thing that your startup does in the first three years, and it's just underexplored and it's just underexplained as a topic." (Opening the episode with why PMF frameworks matter.)