Product Market Fit
A friend I haven't spoken to in nearly 20 years reached out to me recently. Many moons ago he left the hustle and bustle of city life and purchased an old farmhouse in Wales along with around 16 acres of mixed land including woodland and a beautiful stretch of river (with a good head of trout and salmon).
Due to health conditions of an elderly relative the family will soon be relocating overseas to help support the relative and see the move as a long-term thing.
My friend wanted to ask if my family would consider a move, understanding that we have been looking into alternative lifestyles forever and knowing we are lovers of the countryside, outdoor sports and time spent with family in the woods. He knew I would understand that the price of all the upside is the management of the estate and woodland. He also knows that I am good at spotting commercial opportunities and would ensure that they would align to his vision for the estate and the be sympathetic to the surroundings.
I discussed this for a long time with my wife. It seemed mad to even consider upping sticks and moving to the middle of nowhere, but... its simply a stunning space, and the kids would adore spending so much time outdoors.
We were incredibly tempted but nervous. Would we find a community? How much work would the maintenance be? Would we have the bandwidth to focus on multiple businesses whilst running a fledgling start-up? Would our kids find the positives outweigh the negatives of the move?
And then it hit me.
Two other very close friends of ours moved to Wales a few years back. They are serial entrepreneurs, who have set up multiple successful outdoor businesses through to exit, have no dependants, have run smallholdings before, have juggled the joys of running multiple business simultaneously AND have been looking for a place they could settle down in for some time. They also adore spending days on end wandering through the Welsh mountains and embracing all that they offer.
It all clicked into place.
I realised that the move wasn't for us, and that there were others out there far more suited to the venture than we
were.
I called my entrepreneur friend. As it turns out he currently lives and works 4 miles away from the person that had
reached out to me.
It seemed a match made in heaven.
We shall see where it goes, I’ve introduced them and ducked out of the conversation.
As I was musing this over last night I
realised that the situation was almost the perfect analogy for what constitutes
"product market fit”.
We COULD have given it a go but there was a far better option.
Products and ventures need to find the right audience, in the right place, at the right time, for the right price. Trying to put a round peg through a square hole is always destined to fail.
I will probably always regret not taking the opportunity offered but the "fit" immediately felt right (and we can still visit)