Product-Market Fit.

The term was popularised by Marc Andreessen and describes a gradient rather than a moment. Before the fit, every single use has to be fought for; afterwards, demand pulls. A widely used benchmark from startup practice is Sean Ellis's test: at least forty per cent of active users say they would be very disappointed if the product no longer existed. That figure is a market convention, not a law of nature. It is useful anyway, because it asks an uncomfortable question instead of surveying satisfaction — plenty of people are satisfied, almost nobody misses a product.

The fit becomes measurable in behaviour, not in interviews. The most telling curve is retention over time: if the share of users still active after four, eight and twelve weeks flattens out at a level clearly above zero, there is a core of genuine use. If it keeps falling towards zero, more reach will not help. Further signals are renewals without negotiation, use without training pressure, and enquiries arriving on their own through recommendation. Revenue on its own is not enough, because it can also come from sales pressure.

An example: a small Swiss software product for appointment scheduling in medical practices wins twenty trial customers. After three months, five use the tool daily, eleven have dropped out and four use it occasionally. That is not a fit, but it is a clue. The question is then not how to win more trial customers, but what connects those five — perhaps practice size, perhaps a particular workflow. Sharpen the product towards that segment and a broad mediocrity can become a narrow, viable market. Narrowing is progress here, not defeat.

For marketing and SEO an uncomfortable order follows. Before the fit, additional reach is usually money lost: it brings more people to an offer they will not keep using. Small, targeted channels with direct contact to users make more sense at that stage. Only once retention holds does building content, visibility and campaigns justify itself — there, every extra visitor lands on an offer that delivers what it promises. This sequence guarantees nothing, but it does prevent the most expensive version of failing.