Spot the evidence that your solution actually tackles a painful, specific problem. Use discovery signals and behavior tests to separate compliments from commitment.
Which signal most reliably indicates problem–solution fit before scale?
High website traffic from paid ads
A polished pitch deck
A large social media following
Repeated pull from a well‑defined ICP during discovery interviews
In early pilots, which metric best validates that your solution solves a painful problem?
Number of brainstorming sessions
Time‑on‑page growth
Willingness to pay or sign LOIs for the prototype
Newsletter sign‑ups
A team interviews 20 target users and hears the same job‑to‑be‑done phrased similarly with strong emotion. What’s the next best step?
Expand the feature list immediately
Hire a sales team to cold call
Run a brand awareness campaign
Design a small test to validate the riskiest assumption with real behavior
Which pattern is most consistent with problem–solution fit for a B2B tool?
Enterprise interest but no pilots
Traffic spikes from PR then churn
Short sales cycles in a niche plus organic referrals within that niche
Many demos with no next steps
For an AI product, which indicator is strongest pre‑PMF?
Viral one‑off trials
Benchmark scores on synthetic datasets
Number of models evaluated
Users repeatedly return for the same high‑value use case
A founder gets conflicting feedback across segments. What increases confidence in fit?
Adding more features to please everyone
Targeting all segments evenly
Lowering price across the board
Narrowing to one ICP and observing uniform, high‑intensity demand
Which retention pattern best supports problem–solution fit in early cohorts?
Seasonal spikes only
High sign‑up volume with steep week‑1 drop
Flat or rising cohort retention after activation
Usage tied solely to discounts
Which discovery artifact is most useful to communicate fit to stakeholders?
A long PRD with speculative features
A persona poster with stock photos
A concise opportunity–solution tree with evidence for each assumption
A roadmap without research links
What’s a pragmatic definition of ‘enough evidence’ to progress from discovery to build?
Behavioral validation on the riskiest assumptions plus clear success metrics
Stakeholder enthusiasm
Unanimous positive interview quotes
Competitive FOMO
Which signal suggests lack of problem–solution fit?
Requests to pay annually for a discount
Inbound referrals from early users
Prospects praise the idea but refuse to change workflows
Small pilot frictions
Starter
You’re spotting some signals, but dig deeper into behavioral validation and a tighter ICP.
Solid
Good grasp of discovery evidence—double down on testing riskiest assumptions sooner.
Expert!
Excellent—your instincts prioritise behavior over opinions and focus the ICP sharply.
