How To Build a PMF Machine - Guest post by a16z speedrun investor Marcus Segal sharing a framework for finding and maintaining product-market fit based on decades of startup experience at Zynga and beyond.
Key Principles:
- Engineering time is your most valuable resource
- A CEO's job is to avoid running out of money before finding PMF
- Deliberate roadmapping increases chances of finding and keeping PMF
Recommended Process:
- Start with the metric you want to move before coding
- List all ideas, then stack rank by probability of moving your metric
- T-shirt size effort estimates (critical in AI era)
- Prioritize by impact-to-effort ratio
- Review one-week-back, one-week-forward cadence for fast course correction
- Measure everything and build a culture that celebrates accurate predictions
Announcement: a16z speedrun seeking hosts for New York Tech Week events (June 1-7) including founder dinners, demo days, and networking happy hours.