Podcasts Technology Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career A framework for finding product-market fit | Todd Jackson (First Round Capital)

A framework for finding product-market fit | Todd Jackson (First Round Capital)

Published: April 11, 2024, 11:01 a.m.

Todd Jackson is a Partner at First Round Capital. Before moving into venture capital, he played a crucial role as VP of Product and Design at Dropbox, guiding the company until its IPO in 2018. Prior to Dropbox, Todd led product management for Twitter\u2019s Content and Discovery teams after selling his startup, Cover, to Twitter in 2014. Before Cover, Todd oversaw product development for Facebook\u2019s Newsfeed, Photos, and Groups. He kickstarted his career at Google as an associate product manager and eventually led product for Gmail, witnessing its growth from beta to 200 million users. In our conversation, we discuss:

\u2022 Why product-market fit (PMF) matters

\u2022 First Round Capital\u2019s four-part PMF framework

\u2022 Level one: Nascent product-market fit

\u2022 Level two: Developing product-market fit

\u2022 Level three: Strong product-market fit

\u2022 Level four: Extreme product-market fit

\u2022 Examples of companies at each level

\u2022 How to know if you\u2019re stuck at a level, and how to get unstuck

\u2022 What to change if you\u2019re stuck: persona, problem, promise, and product

\u2022 The goals and challenges at each stage

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-framework-for-finding-product-market

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Where to find Todd Jackson:

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/tjack

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/toddj0/

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Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Todd\u2019s background

(06:07) First Round Capital\u2019s PMF framework

(09:07) Why product-market fit is so important

(11:02) Who can benefit from this framework

(12:55) The product-market fit method

(16:54) Broad overview of the framework

(21:35) Level one: nascent product-market fit

(33:16) The four P\u2019s

(39:13) Level two: developing product-market fit

(49:13) Signs you\u2019re stuck at level two, and what to do

(55:12) Level three: strong product-market fit

(01:00:17) Signs you\u2019re stuck at level three, and what to do

(01:02:22) Level four: extreme product-market fit

(01:06:55) Rough timelines for each level

(01:11:18) A quick recap of the framework

(01:12:15) Diving deeper on the four P\u2019s: what to do if you\u2019re stuck

(01:13:56) Dollar-driven discovery

(01:25:11) Apply for the product-market-fit method program

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Referenced:

\u2022 First Round: https://firstround.com/

\u2022 Twitter Acquires Cover: https://www.vox.com/2014/4/7/11625332/twitter-acquires-cover-an-android-mobile-startup

\u2022 Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/

\u2022 Rahul Vohra on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulvohra/

\u2022 How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product Market Fit: https://review.firstround.com/how-superhuman-built-an-engine-to-find-product-market-fit/

\u2022 How to validate your startup idea: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/validating-your-startup-idea

\u2022 How the most successful B2B startups came up with their original idea: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-the-most-successful-b2b-startups

\u2022 How to know if you\u2019ve got product-market fit: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-know-if-youve-got-productmarket

\u2022 A guide for finding product-market fit in B2B: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-product-market-fit

\u2022 Product-market fit method: http://pmf.firstround.com/

\u2022 Stripe: https://stripe.com/

\u2022 Plaid: https://plaid.com/

\u2022 Paths to PMF: https://review.firstround.com/series/product-market-fit/

\u2022 WeWork: https://www.wework.com/

\u2022 Casper: https://casper.com/

\u2022 Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/

\u2022 Christina Cacioppo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccacioppo/

\u2022 Ramp: https://ramp.com/

\u2022 Velocity over everything: How Ramp became the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time | Geoff Charles (VP of Product): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/velocity-over-everything-how-ramp-became-the-fastest-growing-saas-startup-of-all-time-geoff-charl/

\u2022 Jack Altman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackealtman/

\u2022 Lattice: https://lattice.com/

\u2022 Zachary Perret on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zperret/

\u2022 Positioning: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning

\u2022 Retool: https://retool.com/

\u2022 David Hsu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dvdhsu/

\u2022 Persona: https://withpersona.com/

\u2022 Rick Song on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rick-song-25198b24/

\u2022 Lloyd Tabb on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lloydtabb/

\u2022 Looker: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Looker_(company)

\u2022 Jason Boehmig on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jboehmig/

\u2022 Ironclad: https://ironcladapp.com/

\u2022 Lessons in leadership | Scaling an org and tactical management advice | Jack Altman (Lattice): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZzXqf61mrQ

\u2022 Filip Kaliszan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kaliszan/

\u2022 Verkada: https://www.verkada.com/

\u2022 Ali Ghodsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alighodsi/

\u2022 Databricks: https://www.databricks.com/

\u2022 Stripe Radar: https://stripe.com/radar

\u2022 Stripe Atlas: https://stripe.com/atlas

\u2022 Square Stand: https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/us/en/products/ipad-pos-stand-integrated-card-reader

\u2022 Cash App: https://cash.app/

\u2022 Square Checking: https://squareup.com/us/en/campaign/banking/checking

\u2022 Square Loan: https://squareup.com/help/us/en/article/5654-get-started-with-square-capital

\u2022 Casey Winters on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/

\u2022 How to sell your ideas and rise within your company | Casey Winters, Eventbrite: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/

\u2022 Josh Kopelman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jkopelman/

\u2022 The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan-ramanujam-monetizing-innovation-simon-kucher/

\u2022 Simon Kucher: https://www.simon-kucher.com/

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.



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