From Rejection to $2.5B GMV: The Product-Market Fit Playbook

Check out SmartLing: https://www.smartling.com & their CEO Bryan Murphy https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanmurphy2/ Side note to Founders --> 🤔 VCs not responding to you? I’ll review your deck & send you a detailed video with my actionable recommendations: Submit here: https://airtable.com/appBXetKIMsy5r3bE/pagQlrExmVx38bk6W/form 😌 1 (of many) Top Insights From The Episode: 🔑 “Tie your product-market fit journey to measurable outcomes.” - A vague vision isn’t enough. Your product roadmap must link directly to clear, trackable KPIs that matter to your customer. 🔑 1. “Obsess over the customer’s job to be done.” Don’t build what’s interesting to you—build what solves a real problem for the customer. “We literally brought mechanics into our office, gave them coffee and donuts, showed them wireframes, and just listened.” 🔑 “Cheaper isn’t always better—especially when your buyer has a budget to spend.” Brian pitched AI translation as "same quality, half the cost." But users pushed back: “I don’t want to lose half my budget—I just want to get more done with it.” So they changed the message from "cut costs" to "translate 10x more with the same budget." 🧠 Insight: Understand your customer's incentives, not just their needs. Sometimes saving money isn’t the win—they want to justify the budget they already have. OVERVIEW: 02:00 - AutoZone rejects WHI idea: “No one will buy auto parts online” 05:20 - How they validated the idea with mechanics 09:35 - Building WHI’s MVP and early testing 12:50 - Key product insights from eBay 17:30 - Messaging mistake: Users didn’t want to save money 21:50 - How to define a real North Star and tie it to KPIs 26:15 - Making tough product decisions with limited data 30:45 - Final advice: Focus on the job to be done, make it a step change, and be first-ish 32:30 - Closing and how to connect with Brian and Adam