Knowledge Marketplace
My First Million

My First Million

The best business ideas come from noticing what's working and doing it better, faster, or for a different audience.

Back to Mental Models

Product in Search of Market Recognition

Identifying when you have strong technology or product capabilities but haven't found the right customer segment or use case that will pay sufficiently for the solution.

Decision Rule

If you have impressive technology but struggle with sales cycles, pricing, or customer adoption, focus on market fit rather than product development.

How It Works

Helps entrepreneurs avoid technology-first trap where they build impressive solutions for problems customers don't prioritize enough to pay for.

Failure Modes

Abandoning good technology too quickly due to initial market challenges

Continuing to build features instead of testing different market segments

Assuming product quality alone will create demand

Example Decision

AI video dubbing technology works well but education customers have no budget. Pivot to acquiring existing dubbing services with paying customers rather than pursuing new customer acquisition.