Achieving product-market fit is one of the hardest challenges for startups. Rob Snyder’s session at “Cyber Runway: Scale” provides a practical guide to navigating the “pain cave” and building repeatable success by focusing on customer demand, case studies, and quick iterations.

Product-market fit (PMF) is often the make-or-break point for startups. Rob Snyder shared a roadmap for achieving PMF during a recent Cyber Runway: Scale session provided by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and hosted by Plexal, where I attended on behalf of Cyber Tzar, the Enterprise Supply Chain Risk Management platform.

Rob’s lessons, learned from taking multiple startups from zero to scale, emphasized focusing on customer demand, avoiding the dreaded “pain cave,” and building repeatable case studies that serve as the foundation for sustainable growth. For founders struggling to get their product off the ground, this session offers actionable advice and a clear path forward.

Contents

The Path to Product Market Fit with Rob Snyder

This video is publicly available on the Plexal YouTube playlist for the Cyber Runway programme.

Key Insights and Findings

Here are the key findings, insights, and advice from “The Path to Product Market Fit with Rob Snyder” Cyber Runway Scale session. These insights highlight the importance of flexibility, customer focus, and iterative learning in achieving product-market fit.

Challenges in Achieving Product-Market Fit (PMF)

• Achieving PMF is not always a linear process and often involves false starts. Founders may encounter situations where customers express pain points but do not buy the solution, leading to a “pain cave” where startups struggle to understand the reasons behind their product’s failure to gain traction.

Importance of Intense Demand

• Rob emphasized the importance of identifying “intense demand” — customers who not only have a pain point but are actively seeking solutions and are willing to act quickly. Without intense demand, even well-researched pain points may not convert into sales.
• PMF should be approached as finding at least one customer case study where demand is strong, and then repeating that success. The process involves debugging what’s not working, adjusting the product or service, and delivering based on real customer feedback.

Discovery Process

• Hundreds of customer interviews may provide valuable insights, but they can also create false confidence. The real value lies in discovering what truly resonates with customers who are ready to buy, not just what sounds good in interviews.
• Rob advocates for a focus on iterative discovery — instead of building a perfect product upfront, startups should focus on selling and delivering something quickly, learning from real-world feedback, and making adjustments as necessary.

Case Studies as the Foundation of Business:

• Building repeatable case studies is key to scaling. Once a startup achieves one successful case study, it can use that as the foundation for marketing and sales. The goal is to show potential customers how the product has worked for someone like them and use that as a blueprint to scale.

Practical Advice for PMF

• Founders should start by selling with a simple slide deck that sets expectations with potential customers. The product doesn’t have to be perfect—an MVP or even a hybrid of product and service can work if it meets customers’ needs.
• It’s important to “debug” the product based on where it falls short and continue improving until the product creates strong, repeatable demand.

Insights

• Avoiding the “Pain Cave”: Startups can get stuck when they assume they understand their customers’ needs based on research and feedback, only to realize their solution doesn’t resonate in the market. Founders should be prepared to pivot and adjust until they find a solution that truly meets customer demand.
• Selling the Meeting, Not the Product: In early outreach, startups should focus on selling the conversation with potential customers rather than pitching a fully built product. This allows them to gather real feedback without over-investing in development too early.
• Building on Customer Success: Once a startup has one clear customer success story, it should aim to replicate that success across the market. The case study becomes the foundation for future growth.

Advice

1. Start Selling Early: Don’t wait for the perfect product. Use early sales and feedback to guide development.
2. Create Case Studies: Focus on achieving one strong customer case study and use that as the foundation for scaling.
3. Iterate Quickly: Be prepared for customers to criticize or reject early versions of the product. Use their feedback to improve rapidly.

Conclusion

Achieving product-market fit isn’t about having the perfect product—it’s about aligning with customer demand and creating repeatable success. Rob Snyder’s practical approach offers a blueprint for founders to navigate uncertainty, learn from customer feedback, and build the foundation for scalable growth. By focusing on customer-driven case studies and continuous iteration, startups can move from struggling to thriving.