Emmet Sheer, Twitch Co-Founder
I'm not sure if I can give a precise definition, but I can share my subjective perception of the difference when there is a product / market fit, and when it is not, how it feels. Starting a startup means taking on the burden of Sisyphus: pushing a rock to the top of a mountain.
If you stop pushing, the stone will not move. Every centimeter of stone movement requires all your efforts. If you get distracted and stop working, the stone may slide down. You sweat, you push, and progress is slow and gradual.
The trick is that you are not a real Sisyphus. The gods did not punish you. You can feel like Sisyphus, the stone can roll down over and over again. You can try to roll it up a nearby mountain and fail again.
But in the end, there will come a moment when you climb to the top of the hill. And suddenly it becomes easier to push the stone! You push the stone to the top, and the mountain does not resist you. Moving forward now requires minimal effort.
You have reached the “promised land” - product / market fit. Now the stone starts rolling down the mountain, you don't need to push it. Users crowd in lines to see you, the demand exceeds your capacity. The stone starts to accelerate.
Now your task is to keep up with the stone. First it is a step, then it is a run, and then a run as fast as possible. Instead of strength, you now need stamina. Instead of focusing on how to reclaim the next millimeter of the path, you need to look a hundred meters ahead and choose the path where the rock will roll.
Pushing a stone is not a product / market fit. Catching up with the stone is product / market fit. Both stages are very important and require attention, but they feel completely different. If you are still pushing a stone, then you have not achieved product / market fit.
This is why co-founders are so important at the start of the startup journey. If someone has enough strength to push the stone up, then you badly need someone else who will help and, possibly, will not allow the stone to roll down. An assistant for pushing upward is needed more than for "catching up" a stone rolling downward.
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