Sep 4, 2023 · 22m · founders-journal
The Difference Between Demand and Product Market Fit
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In this unscripted episode of Founder's Journal, Morning Brew co-founder Alex Lieberman shares six practical entrepreneurial reflections covering product-market fit, hype cycles, deliberate pacing, executive hiring, and personal discipline.
Statements from this episode (9)
Lieberman: StoryArb generated single-digit millions in inbound client interest
“There is, let's just call it single digit millions worth of interest in people who want to be StoryArb clients.”
Lieberman: Early customer demand does not equal product-market fit
“Having a lot of demand for a business does not mean you have found product market fit. It simply means there are enough people interested in the problem you are trying to solve that they want to talk more with you about your business.”
Lieberman: Reaching product-market fit probably takes a year of iteration
“My views is like, it probably takes you a year to truly figure out what you're offering and who you're offering it to actually reach product market fit.”
Lieberman: Bullish on B2B creators, Disney, fractional executives, and automation tools
“I said I'm bullish on B to B creators, I'm bullish on Disney as a company, I'm bullish on fractional executives, and I'm bullish on Zapier or automation tools.”
Lieberman is bearish on cold plunges, pickleball, and 99% of AI startups
“And then I said, I'm bearish on cold plunges. Sorry to people who enjoy cold plunges. Pickleball, 99% of AI startups, and BTC creator businesses.”
Lieberman paused his new business's customer growth to secure product retention
“I think the right thing to do with this business right now is to not grow our customers. It is to make sure, going back to, you know, the first thought I had, it is to make sure we have the right product, we know who the right audience is, and we are serving t…”
Lieberman: First-time leaders should assume they are mediocre due to blind spots
“Anytime you're doing something net new, you can assume that you're going to be mediocre at it because you have a lot of blind spots. And so, like, the first time you're a CEO, the first time you're a manager, the first time you do any job, the first time you h…”
Internal benchmarking causes founders to hire 2x instead of 10x executives
“The more you use a reference point from your own business, the more you open yourself to possibly making the mistake of hiring someone who maybe is one or two X better versus the 10 to 15 X better because you don't truly have an understanding of what really se…”