The hardest part of early startups is how to clearly know if you’ve found product/market fit. It’s an elusive term with even more elusive definitions — only really understood when you actually find it.
I’m so tired of trying to “be the aspirin, not the vitamin” thinking, it is killing ingenuity and innovation and the messy part of being an entrepreneur. This truth is that building a business is hard, it’s dirty, it’s lonely and every thing is stacked against you. It is unconventional to want to do this and it is next to impossible to get right.
Being perfect is not an option. Stumbling in the dark, blindfolded but finding your way is where most of us end up. But that’s ok.
I like to think of business building as looking for a hole and trying to fill it. Thinking this way means you are looking for an existing problem in need of a fix — instead of wasting time building something no one needs now. It also makes it clear that this journey will not be easy.
It’s not fancy but neither is building a business.