Product-market fit is not a vibe

Before you hire, spend, or scale, make sure you are not confusing hustle with demand.

Hugo Estrella
July 07, 2026

Hey hey, Happy Tuesday!

We know early traction can feel like proof, especially when you’re the founder making it happen.

You close a few deals, prospects say the idea is interesting, someone asks for a demo, and a friendly buyer tells you, “This could be big.” It’s tempting to treat those moments as if the market has spoken. Sometimes it has…

But sometimes what you’re really seeing isn’t product-market fit yet, it’s just founder effort.

Our PMF guide breaks down how to find that pull, how to spot false positives, how to measure fit strength, and what milestones should be in place before you go harder on GTM.

Founders make weak signals look stronger than they are.

You can explain the problem better than anyone else, create urgency in the room, chase every follow-up, handle every objection, and drag a deal across the line through sheer force. That kind of effort can create early revenue, but it doesn’t automatically create a repeatable business.

This is where teams get expensive fast.

They mistake early wins for scalable demand, then hire sales, spend on ads, build a bigger funnel, and push harder on outbound, and when growth stalls, they call it an execution problem. They blame the reps, swap out the sales leader, or look for a better playbook.

But sales doesn’t create demand, it finds it when it’s hidden.

If the fit is real, an urgent problem for a clear market, sales become a multiplier.
If the fit is weak, more sales activity just makes the weakness louder.

Before you scale, the better question is not “Who can sell this?” It’s “Can this be sold reliably, repeatedly, and profitably?”

That means looking for pull before you add volume.

Can someone besides the founder win the same type of customer?
Do customers move the process forward, or does every deal require pushing?
Is the pain urgent before your pitch begins?
Are people referring you because the problem is real, or because you asked?

Product-market fit is rarely universal at the start.

You’re looking for the pocket where the pain is sharpest, the urgency is clearest, and the market starts doing some of the work for you. Interest sounds like: “Cool idea.” Pull sounds like: “I need this.”