It’s a story as old as time: Startup founder raises giant sack of that sweet, sweet VC money. Next, they have to search for product-market fit. Easy, right? Just pour all of that money into sales and marketing, and they’re off to the races. Not so fast. If you throw enough money at advertising, anyone can get the growth chart to go up and to the right. But the thing is, you need to find the right way to do growth, and that’s a lot harder.
Key Takeaway
Sustainable growth hinges on finding the right approach to selling your product, as exemplified by PayPal’s accidental discovery of its first product-market fit with eBay.
Matt Lerner’s Insights
Matt Lerner, with his extensive experience at PayPal and 500 startups, emphasizes the importance of finding the right way to sell your product. In his new book, “Growth Levers and How to Find Them,” he makes a compelling case for this approach.
Finding the Right Route to Market
For PayPal, the discovery of its first product-market fit with eBay was somewhat accidental. It was through closely observing how people were using the product that they stumbled upon this realization. This insight led to the development of tools for power sellers, such as the HTML button for easy payment insertion, which ultimately contributed to the success of PayPal.
What worked for PayPal serves as a valuable example for startups in their quest to identify the most effective routes to market for their products.
