The “go-to” answer for almost every question in startups, is “build a great product.”  Every time I hear that answer it feels completely unsatisfied. Building a great product is a piece of the puzzle, but it’s far from the full picture.

The second “go-to” answer is product market fit. While product market fit is a component of the framework, it is far from the answer. The issue with the product market fit mantra is that we have taken it to the extreme and developed tunnel vision. Statements like “Product Market fit is the only thing that matters” have become more common. It is not the only thing that matters.

The difference between the $100M+ companies, and those that struggle are the ones that are able to make four pieces in a puzzle fit:

There are four essential fits: Market Product Fit, Product Channel Fit, Channel Model Fit, Model Market Fit