Product-Market Fit vs Escape Velocity

Product-Market Fit and Escape Velocity are two distinct, sequential stages in the growth of a SaaS company. This playbook is primarily for founders navigating the transition from one to the other.

1. Product-Market Fit (Product-market fit)

• Definition: You have built something that a specific market wants and is willing to pay for.
• Characteristics:
  • Early revenue (often around $10k-$20k Monthly Recurring Revenue).
  • Customers are happy and getting value.
  • Growth is often manual, inconsistent, and not yet scalable.
  • You have "a product people love."

2. Escape Velocity

• Definition: You have built one or more repeatable, scalable channels to acquire new customers profitably.
• Characteristics:
  • Growth is predictable and consistent.
  • You have a well-defined marketing and sales engine.
  • The business is moving beyond founder-led sales and marketing.
  • You have "a product people love, and you know how to find more of them every week."

The journey from Product-market fit to Escape Velocity is the core challenge of scaling a SaaS business. It involves moving from a great product to a great business by systematically building out marketing, sales, pricing, and team structures.

Tags: #SaaS #growth #product-market-fit #escape-velocity #scaling #marketing