Lesson 2 of 6
Product-market fit and customer validation
Learning objectives
- Define the one customer your product is for
- Validate demand before you spend on stock
- Use pre-orders, waitlists and interviews as evidence
- Kill ideas early when the signal is weak
Fit is a customer, not a logo
Product-market fit is not 'people like it'. It is a clear customer who pays, comes back and tells someone else. If you cannot describe that customer in one sentence — age, life stage, training context, what they currently buy — you do not have fit yet, you have a hypothesis.
Validate before you order stock
Talk to fifteen of that customer. Show samples, mock-ups or landing pages. Run a small waitlist or a pre-order window. A landing page with a real price, a real photo and a real 'notify me / pre-order' button will teach you more in two weeks than three months of brand work.
Be willing to kill it
Weak waitlist sign-ups, vague interview answers, and 'I'd buy it for a friend' are not validation. They are warning signs. It is cheaper to kill an idea now than to sit on £12k of unsold stock in nine months.
Founder insight — Derrick Twum
Pre-orders are honest. Likes are not. Real customer money is the only signal that survives contact with stock, fulfilment and returns.
Key takeaway
Define one specific customer, then make them pay or commit before you order stock.
Reflection questions
- 1Who exactly is this product for?
- 2What evidence do you have that they will pay?
- 3What would tell you to stop?
Action task
Write a one-sentence customer description, then list three ways you will collect real signal (interviews, waitlist, pre-orders, sample sell-through) in the next 30 days.
Worksheet
Work through these prompts. Answers save to this device.
Answers are saved to this device only. Cloud sync coming soon.
Related MEM tools
- AI Marketer
- Post Scheduler
- CRM