Founder-Market fit, #buildinpublic, and the need for community
Founder’s Momentum #1
Hi! Welcome to the first issue of Founder’s Momentum! 🚀
Every Monday you will get 3 short ideas or learnings to help you build your product and your audience while keeping your sanity 🤓
Today I bring you:
Why having Founder-Market Fit is key
The value of sharing your journey through #buildinpublic
A reminder to seek community and support
1. Founder-Market Fit 🎯
As a founder, you will become obsessed with finding Product-Market Fit. That’s in many cases synonymous with “making it”, as it describes the scenario in which a company’s target customers are buying and using the company’s product.
But there’s a fit that’s often ignored; Founder-Market Fit, which is where founders' skills and qualities align with market needs.
Building a product, specially as a solo founder, will already force you to constantly be on your toes, coming face to face with your ignorance on a daily basis. Learning non-stop and pushing you to your limits.
That’s normal. It’s part of the game.
For many, this is one of the aspects that makes it so thrilling.
It’s a never ending puzzle. One challenge after another.
But you don’t need to make it even harder for you by choosing to develop a product you know nothing about.
I’ve seen this happen too many times. Even in VC-backed startups.
The founder has a good idea, a great one even. They do their research and find a problem that genuinely needs a solution. They do the math. If we solve this problem this X-sized market will yield Y returns.
Fantastic. Their idea could make money.
However, they have ZERO experience whatsoever in that market.
And ideas are great. But they are worthless without execution.
And in a path that’s already 95% about embracing uncertainty. Not knowing your target market is a recipe for disaster.
I’m all for learning by doing. But even when you have Founder-Market Fit, you are in for A LOT of research, testing and iteration.
Ultimately, the best founders are those who know WHAT to disrupt and HOW, because they have experienced the problem they are trying to solve.
So, do yourself a favor, and start from what you know.
Build a product you would actually need, use, and love.
And you will guarantee a much higher chance to succeed.
2. #buildinpublic 🏗️
I’m sure you are aware of the #buildinpublic movement.
I’m sure you have witnessed how powerful it can be.
Telling you to build in public isn’t new advice.
And yet, are you actually doing it?
There are many reasons why we can shy away from sharing our journey in public. But the rewards are just too good to be ignored.
Drill this sentence into your brain:
Without distribution, there is no product.
Sad as it might be, a mediocre or even shitty product has a much better chance to succeed if it has an audience behind it, than the most amazingly advanced product who nobody has ever heard about.
The best thing about building in public, is that you start growing that audience while you are developing your product. An audience that will root for you as you share your struggles to make your vision a reality. An audience that shows interests in the solution you’re trying to build, because you are talking about the problem they are trying to solve. And an audience that will give you feedback as you grow, probably for free.
Many of us get paralyzed at the prospect of sharing our story and our process. It feels too vulnerable, too exposed, it triggers impostor syndrome, and skyrockets our self-doubt.
But let me tell you, from experience, all of that fades away once you start.
Most people will commend you for your bravery and cheer along as you overcome each challenge. And those who don’t, well, do they really matter?
Those who try to drag others down are just projecting their own fears and insecurities. They are probably just justifying their own inability to do whatever it is that they want to do but won’t. Social media hate is always about them, and not about you.
So get out of your cocoon. Don’t build in secret.
Share it with the world.
The world will answer back.
3. The need for community 🫂
Being a solo founder is pretty lonely.
When I was still working a 9 to 5 I used to have daily meetings. Probably too many. And I used to complain a lot about them.
But now that I don’t, I miss them.
We are hardwired for connection.
Even though I love working fully remotely, being my own boss, and doing my own thing. I also miss debating with my teammates, joking around, and even having meaningless chats about the weather.
Of course, you have your family and friends. But being a founder requires long working hours in which you’re basically on your own.
So you should seek a community. And this actually relates to sharing your journey in public.
The #buildinpublic community, on X specifically, is amazing. It’s full of supportive people, many of them sharing your very same struggles.
As you begin to grow your following and audience. Don’t limit yourself to likes and comments. Reach out. Schedule some calls. Work on developing some actual human relationships. It will make a world of difference in your day to day. And who knows, it might even lead to finding some partners to work with along the way.
Being a founder is a long journey.
Find yourself some friends to share it with.
I did. And know I have a network of friends who constantly cheer and support me on my journey. Believe me. It makes a difference.
And that’s it for today!
If you liked the content consider subscribing to receive these posts every Monday.
Every other Friday I will also be sending Founder’s Focus, a thoroughly researched deep dive article to better tackle the many problems you will face in your Complete Founder journey.
These will focus on efficiency, automation, and scalability, making sure each of them teaches you how to integrate processes and build systems to streamline your work and take you to the next level.