I like the idea of someone hitting themselves on the head with a brick to put out a fire, and a brick salesman getting excited
The Real Product Market Fit
31–40 of 64 posts
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#32Hey folks - this is Michael from YC - happy to hear your thoughts on the post
I'd be curious to see examples of what "hair on fire" problems looked like when they were buggy, incomplete solutions to poorly-defined problems.
For example, I know that Google was a hair-on-fire problem: everybody searched for things on the Internet and nobody found what they were looking for. But was Facebook? I started using Facebook in 2004, before they'd taken VC, and I honestly didn't see the point (and still kinda don't). Perhaps I just wasn't the target market (and still am not), but then, how do you recognize a hair-on-fire problem when you're not necessarily in the target market for it?
(Interestingly, LiveJournal solved a hair-on-fire problem for me about 2 years before Facebook came out: how to keep in touch with friends that I'd met over the Internet but lived thousands of miles away. And yet Facebook is apparently a whole lot more successful than LiveJournal.)
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#33Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know about Airbnb personally and it started with a hair on fire problem - a design conference where all the hotel rooms in the city where sold out. Brian and Joe hosted attendees in their apartment on air beds. That sounds like a hair on fire problem and a brick solution :)
I see your point but that implies that on rare occasions hotels are sold out at a specific time and place. I don't think that is the problem AirBnB solves
That is the problem they started solving - and customers pulled the rest of the product out of them
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see your point but that implies that on rare occasions hotels are sold out at a specific time and place. I don't think that is the problem AirBnB solves
I'm wondering if this may dovetail with another piece of common YC advice, "start by going narrow & deep". I didn't start using AirBnB until 2013, and I used them because they were remarkably polished and made the experience super-easy. They weren't at all a "hair on fire" problem for me . But I could imagine that at some point in time, there was a group of people who were so desperate for a place to stay that they'd…
Exactly!!!
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#35Hey folks - this is Michael from YC - happy to hear your thoughts on the post
I'd be curious to see examples of what "hair on fire" problems looked like when they were buggy, incomplete solutions to poorly-defined problems. For example, I know that Google was a hair-on-fire problem: everybody searched for things on the Internet and nobody found what they were looking for. But was Facebook? I started using Facebook in 2004, before they'd taken VC, and I honestly didn't see the point (and still…
Facebook totally was a hair on fire problem - if you saw a cute girl on campus and you wanted to look her up - all we had was a stupid freshman "facebook" (book of faces and names) and a crapy web version of the same.
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#36Hey folks - this is Michael from YC - happy to hear your thoughts on the post
Hey Michael! Great piece. Signs of product/market fit are often strong and unambiguous, and that needs to be emphasized. That said, many startups get v1 wrong. Not necessarily because their MVP is too clunky, but because they fail to frame (or graap) the correct problem in the first place. Or because their solution to that problem just isn't the right one. (As you aptly put it, founders can get hung up on their solut…
I strongly second this request. As a founder working through a v1 and currently thinking a great deal about product/market fit, it would be fantastic to hear more about this.
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'd be curious to see examples of what "hair on fire" problems looked like when they were buggy, incomplete solutions to poorly-defined problems. For example, I know that Google was a hair-on-fire problem: everybody searched for things on the Internet and nobody found what they were looking for. But was Facebook? I started using Facebook in 2004, before they'd taken VC, and I honestly didn't see the point (and still…
Facebook totally was a hair on fire problem - if you saw a cute girl on campus and you wanted to look her up - all we had was a stupid freshman "facebook" (book of faces and names) and a crapy web version of the same.
Heh, interesting. That may have been my problem - I didn't particularly care about the cute girls on campus.
So then, an amended question: given that you do much better solving a problem that you personally have, what happens if you're a person of few desires? Someone who enjoys having a simple life and focuses intently on a few things that matter to them, but doesn't really sweat or even notice many of the things that annoy other people?
It seems like this personality type would be well-suited for entrepreneurship in general, between having a low personal burn rate and being able to focus intently on a topic, but the inability to recognize and get seriously worked up about a problem seems like a killer.
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
Facebook totally was a hair on fire problem - if you saw a cute girl on campus and you wanted to look her up - all we had was a stupid freshman "facebook" (book of faces and names) and a crapy web version of the same.
Heh, interesting. That may have been my problem - I didn't particularly care about the cute girls on campus. So then, an amended question: given that you do much better solving a problem that you personally have, what happens if you're a person of few desires? Someone who enjoys having a simple life and focuses intently on a few things that matter to them, but doesn't really sweat or even notice many of the things th…
Solve the problem of your family or friends
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
I see your point but that implies that on rare occasions hotels are sold out at a specific time and place. I don't think that is the problem AirBnB solves
That is the problem they started solving - and customers pulled the rest of the product out of them
I don't remember their story in detail but I think they started as a couch surfing alternative. Given the rule of supply and demand I'm guess there was not "no hotel rooms available" there was "no hotel rooms available cheaply". offering a cheaper alternative is great, but I can't consider it a hair on fire problem
Re: The Real Product Market Fit
#40Here's the most important lesson...
This kind of starving crowd is rare and you should expecting it to be rare. That's why people are willing to pay you millions of dollars if you find one.
If you find a truly hot market, it can be worth billions and most any idiot can make a lot of money in a hot market. If you are good, all the better.
But remember, it's rare and hard to find. Assume that 99.5% of all businesses aren't in that kind of market situation.