Product.

The framework

1. 01

   Name your specific unfair advantage in this market.

   Not 'we work hard' or 'we're passionate.' Something structural: ten years running ops in this vertical, a personal network of the exact buyer persona, a proprietary dataset, a regulatory credential competitors can't replicate. Write the advantage in one sentence. If you can't, that's the finding.

2. 02

   Test whether the market trusts you before it trusts your product.

   Founder-market fit shows up in early sales. Do customers take your calls because of who you are, or despite who you are? Do they share information they wouldn't share with a cold outreach? Early sales that come from the founder's personal credibility are a signal; early sales that require full product demos and reference checks are neutral.

3. 03

   Identify where your insight advantage actually lives.

   Every strong founder-market fit has an insight advantage — something you know about this market that isn't in the public record. It might be a pain point the category doesn't talk about openly, a buying behaviour the standard analyst reports miss, or a regulatory change coming in 18 months that you know from the inside. Name it explicitly.

4. 04

   Be honest about the markets where the fit is weak.

   Founder-market fit doesn't mean you can only operate in one domain. It means you move faster where the fit is strong, and you hire around the gaps where it's weak. The mistake is pretending the fit exists when it doesn't — and building a GTM strategy that assumes domain credibility you haven't earned.