Special edition: Chapter 1 of my PMF book!
Sajith Pai's somewhat irregular newsletter #35
Welcome to the 35th edition of my usually irregular newsletter! We now have over 10,000 subscribers of this newsletter. Wow!
Now, readers, this is a special edition of the newsletter. We will dispense with regular programming to bring you something I have been working on for a long time.
Some of you may know I am writing a book on the topic of Product Market Fit (PMF hereafter). Now, it is not a book in the traditional sense of a 200-300 page printed book published by a Penguin or Harper Collins. Rather I am publishing it as an online series, with each chapter distributed freely on the interwebs whenever I finish one. At some point when I release the last chapter, I will collect all of the chapters and publish them as an ebook (and maybe a printed book) titled The PMF Playbook.
Here is Chapter I of the book, introducing my PMF framework and definition. Given there are only five chapters, and I see this as a regular sized book (50-80k words) you can expect each chapter to be long:) The first chapter is about 13.5k words long.
For those of you keen to get started right away, here is the link to Chapter I of the PMF Playbook below.
PMF Playbook: Chapter I - Understanding PMF
For those of you who want to know more about why I am writing this book, here goes.
Why we need the PMF Playbook
Product Market Fit (PMF) is arguably the most important milestone for an early-stage startup. ~90% of startups fail, and the single biggest reason for that is failure to achieve PMF. Additionally, achieving product-market fit (PMF here onwards) is a key qualification criteria for the Series A round, which sets the startup for eventual success. No wonder that Marc Andreessen, who popularised PMF called getting to PMF ‘the only thing that matters’. Given this, it is a pity that PMF is one of the most misunderstood and misused terms in startup terminology, with varied definitions including touchy-feely ones like ‘PMF is like love (or porn), you’ll know it when you have it (see it)’.
The lack of common ground over a definition of PMF means that founders do not have a commonly understood framework for understanding it and working towards PMF. This matters. Today, when the venture financing market is $368b large globally, with over 90% of this Series A and beyond (typically post-PMF funding), the importance of hitting PMF (or not) cannot be overstated. Without PMF the startup fails, and this has ripple effects on how the downstream capital is deployed. It is inefficient for the venture industry to have such an important step in the startup’s journey remain fuzzy, left to each founder to feel their way around and determine for themselves.
Hence this book. As an early stage venture capitalist, I have seen that the single biggest determinant of later-stage success is the early-stage startup achieving PMF. It is the highest leverage area I can impact and influence, and I focus on this as a key area of support for the startups I work with.. I have worked closely with over a dozen startups directly, helping them navigate the path to PMF, and have simultaneously tracked the journeys of over a hundred others, to arrive at a framework for founders to get their startups to PMF.
My PMF framework
In the simple framework that I lay out in the book, I tease apart PMF or product-market fit, into two stages or parts. The first stage, or part, is PPF or product to problem fit, and the second is MMF, or (go-to-market) motion to market fit. When you achieve PPF (product to problem fit) you have eliminated product risk to a large degree, that is, you have a working product that solves the problem and / or addresses the ‘job to be done’ of a clear customer persona. Once you have achieved PPF, you then need to work towards achieving MMF (GTM or go-to-market motion to market fit). Realising MMF helps you eliminate market risk largely, and helps you arrive at a working scalable playbook for efficiently acquiring more and more of your desired persona. Achieving PPF and then MMF, means you have hit PMF.
In this book, I will help you with a clear playbook and guidemap to help you, first walk towards PPF, and then MMF, illustrating best practices with multiple examples and case studies. I will quote stories from PMF journeys covering a wide range of startups, B2B and B2C, and some B2B2C, across sectors and across geographies such as US, India, China. Each PMF story is different, but at its heart, each PMF story is also similar. Through these case studies of different startup journeys, some successful and some not, I will draw out the key elements of the above PMF framework, setting out a universal definition for PMF, as well as laying out a systematic step-by-step plan to work to PMF.
Structure of the book
The playbook has five parts or chapters, of which this is the first. The chapters are:
Chapter I: Understanding PMF (link to chapter) - why it matters, and a definition for PMF. I share that PMF is actually two fits, Product to Problem Fit or PPF, and Motion (as in GTM Motion) to Market Fit, or MMF. PMF = PPF + MMF.
Chapter II: The Pick (releasing on 8th August 2025) - how to pick or select your startup idea / problem to go after. I argue that if the pick is done well, it can improve your chances of achieving PMF disproportionately. This chapter covers how to get the pick right.
Chapter III: Achieving PPF - PPF or Product-Problem Fit is the first part of PMF. This chapter gives you the different sub-stages in the process to PPF, and how to successfully iterate towards PPF
Chapter IV: Achieving MMF - MMF or Motion-Market Fit is the second part of PMF. This chapter takes you through the iteration process to get you successfully to MMF, and thereby hit PMF.
Chapter V: After PMF - What do you need to do after achieving PMF? A look at how to hold on to PMF, as well as the playbook for the post-PMF phase of the startup’s journey.
Who is this for?
Founders in the early days of their startup, aspiring founders, and ‘intrapreneurs’ launching a new unit / product in a larger company, will find this book most relevant, as they can use it as a systematic guide to work towards PMF, removing guesswork and fuzziness, out of the startup journey. PMF is easily the single biggest milestone in the early startup’s journey. Don’t leave it to chance.
Link to PMF Playbook: Chapter I - Understanding PMF
Bye
Would love to hear from you on your thoughts, observations, criticism or praise here in the comments or at sp@sajithpai.com (Please don’t send pitches or CVs or anything work-related at this id; I won’t respond to them).
It really resonated with me th break down PMF into Product-problem and GTM, not only to figure out and validate if a startup has achieved PMF, but also to figure out, if not, where does the problem lie: am I not building the right solution for this problem, or is my, if I may break it simply, 4 P’s framework wrong.
Thank you for publishing this open source Sajith. You have condensed years of insight into this great resource for the start up community in India and around the world. Excited to read and take several notes on each chapter of your book.