Forget Product-Market Fit: Let’s Talk Founder-Market Fit

Ask any Venture Capitalist, Angel Investor, Startup Accelerator Director, or Entrepreneurial Advisor what the number on criteria they use to forecast the future success of a startup is. You will be hard-pressed to get an answer other than “a strong founding team.”

There is no doubt about it, the founders of a startup will absolutely make or break the venture. They are the ones running the day to day operations. From consumer marketing to internal human resources- the founder(s) of a startup maintain a starring role in every department. It is crucial that the founding team is forward-thinking, bold, and objective. The qualities that determine a good founder vary depending on who you ask, but the general theme is the same: they need to be an expert in their field and they need to be constantly learning about the advancements of their industry.

This is why I believe that the hype over “product-market fit” is unwarranted in comparison to what should be considered the most important element of startup success: founder-market fit.

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