The thin line between FOMO and product-market fit

In this English-language episode of Datadrivet, Joni talks with Erwan Derlyn, founder of Odepar. Odepar gives early-stage startups strategic and operational support. Erwan looks at why so many young companies never make it.

The main reason companies fail is their inability to create something people want. Product-market fit, in his framing, comes down to making something that solves a real problem.

Instead of making a key first and then searching for a lock, find the lock first and then create a key that fits it. The lock is the customer need. The key is your product or service.

Founders who reverse that order build something clever, then go looking for someone who happens to have the matching problem. That is where FOMO creeps in. They chase a market because it looks hot rather than because they have evidence of demand.

Treating product-market fit as a slogan is easy. Treating it as the question of whether anyone needs what you are building is harder.

Listen to the full episode of Datadrivet for the conversation with Erwan Derlyn.