Early-stage founders often claim they’ve reached product market fit, but when you look closer, it’s usually built on vibes, not data.

In this episode of In Demand, Asia and Kim unpack what real product market fit looks like, how to measure it quantitatively, and why most early-stage SaaS companies are too quick to assume they’ve found it. 

If you’ve ever wondered how to know when you’ve actually hit product market fit, or if you might be fooling yourself, this episode gives you the frameworks and numbers to tell the difference.

Got a question you’d like Asia to unpack on the podcast? Record a voicemail here.

Links: 

• DemandMaven


• Previous In Demand Episodes that discuss NRR: episode 46 and episode 37


• Superhuman Product Market Fit Survey


• ProfitWell


• Chart Mogul

Chapters

• (00:02:20 ) - What is product market fit, and how was it historically measured?
• (00:07:00 ) - The product market fit survey and its limitations.
• (00:11:30 ) - Gross customer retention (GCR) as an underrated metric for measuring product market fit.
• (00:16:00 ) - Net Revenue Retention (NRR) as a deeper sign of product-market alignment.
• (00:20:10 ) - How GCR and NRR tell different parts of the story.
• (00:26:05 ) - Secondary indicators: churn rate, close rate, and trial-to-paid conversions.
• (00:28:05 ) - Why cohorting/segmenting reveals where PMF actually exists.
• (00:34:50 ) - You might have PMF for one segment but not another.
• (00:36:45 ) - The cautionary tale of assuming PMF too soon and how DemandMaven sets expectations with new clients.
• (00:44:30 ) - The reality check: if you’ve never charged customers, you don’t have PMF.