Essay
August 7th, 2025
Product-Market Fit Doesn't Exist
ELLIOT CRANE, JULIANA NORTH
ELLIOT CRANE, JULIANA NORTH
793 words
5 min. read
Founders love to talk about product-market fit as though it’s a magical threshold. You hit a point where customers come easily, growth compounds, and the hard part is behind you. It’s treated like snapping a puzzle piece into place—once it fits, it stays. But this story is misleading. Fit doesn’t exist. What really exists is tension.
Founders love to talk about product-market fit as though it’s a magical threshold. You hit a point where customers come easily, growth compounds, and the hard part is behind you. It’s treated like snapping a puzzle piece into place—once it fits, it stays. But this story is misleading. Fit doesn’t exist. What really exists is tension.
Products and markets don’t sit neatly together. They pull on each other. The market shifts as new expectations form, competitors appear, and culture changes. The product pulls back with its own innovations, features, and decisions about what not to do. The relationship is always moving, and it only creates value when both sides are pulling at once. Call it product-market tension.
Products and markets don’t sit neatly together. They pull on each other. The market shifts as new expectations form, competitors appear, and culture changes. The product pulls back with its own innovations, features, and decisions about what not to do. The relationship is always moving, and it only creates value when both sides are pulling at once. Call it product-market tension.
This tension isn’t a flaw. It’s the engine. A company’s strength comes from how well it manages that constant strain—building enough pull to move people toward something new, while being pulled back by their real needs and limits. Lose that tension and the whole thing goes slack. And slack is what kills products that looked unstoppable a few months earlier.
This tension isn’t a flaw. It’s the engine. A company’s strength comes from how well it manages that constant strain—building enough pull to move people toward something new, while being pulled back by their real needs and limits. Lose that tension and the whole thing goes slack. And slack is what kills products that looked unstoppable a few months earlier.
Take Slack, often held up as the poster child for product-market fit. The story goes that it found the perfect audience, grew without effort, and cemented its place. Look closer and you see something different. Slack survived by managing tension constantly. In the early years they shipped features at a relentless pace, not because they had “fit,” but because companies were pulling them in a hundred different directions. When Microsoft Teams entered the scene, Slack had to increase tension again through differentiation and integrations. When the pandemic reshaped office life, Slack shifted again to meet the new force pulling on it. Their success wasn’t about reaching stability. It was about maintaining strain without breaking.
Take Slack, often held up as the poster child for product-market fit. The story goes that it found the perfect audience, grew without effort, and cemented its place. Look closer and you see something different. Slack survived by managing tension constantly. In the early years they shipped features at a relentless pace, not because they had “fit,” but because companies were pulling them in a hundred different directions. When Microsoft Teams entered the scene, Slack had to increase tension again through differentiation and integrations. When the pandemic reshaped office life, Slack shifted again to meet the new force pulling on it. Their success wasn’t about reaching stability. It was about maintaining strain without breaking.
Think about Amazon. Their dominance didn’t come from fitting a neat need. It came from pushing consumers into new behaviors—two-day shipping, one-click checkout—while being pulled constantly by expectations for lower prices, more selection, faster service. The tension never stopped. The company simply built the infrastructure to carry it.
Think about Amazon. Their dominance didn’t come from fitting a neat need. It came from pushing consumers into new behaviors—two-day shipping, one-click checkout—while being pulled constantly by expectations for lower prices, more selection, faster service. The tension never stopped. The company simply built the infrastructure to carry it.
Or Facebook. They didn’t “find” perfect fit with social networking. They managed tension between what users wanted to share, how norms were evolving, and what privacy concerns were pushing back. When the strain grew too heavy, they adjusted their product to distribute it differently. The relationship was always unstable, and that instability was the point.
Or Facebook. They didn’t “find” perfect fit with social networking. They managed tension between what users wanted to share, how norms were evolving, and what privacy concerns were pushing back. When the strain grew too heavy, they adjusted their product to distribute it differently. The relationship was always unstable, and that instability was the point.
This is why the metaphor of fit is dangerous. It suggests a destination, when in reality the work never ends. Believing in fit makes founders complacent. They stop pulling, assuming alignment will hold. Markets never let that happen. Needs evolve, habits shift, and competitors introduce new forces. When a company treats product-market fit as an arrival, it misses the constant adjustment required to keep tension alive.
This is why the metaphor of fit is dangerous. It suggests a destination, when in reality the work never ends. Believing in fit makes founders complacent. They stop pulling, assuming alignment will hold. Markets never let that happen. Needs evolve, habits shift, and competitors introduce new forces. When a company treats product-market fit as an arrival, it misses the constant adjustment required to keep tension alive.
Managing tension means designing the organization itself to hold and distribute force. Too much concentration in one place and the product snaps. Too little energy and it drifts into irrelevance. Companies that thrive at scale are not the ones that found a niche and sat comfortably. They are the ones that built systems for sensing where tension is changing and responding quickly enough to keep the strain productive.
Managing tension means designing the organization itself to hold and distribute force. Too much concentration in one place and the product snaps. Too little energy and it drifts into irrelevance. Companies that thrive at scale are not the ones that found a niche and sat comfortably. They are the ones that built systems for sensing where tension is changing and responding quickly enough to keep the strain productive.
It also changes how we think about metrics. Fit implies you’re tracking whether you’ve arrived. Tension suggests you’re measuring whether the pull is still healthy. Not just whether customers are using the product, but how usage is evolving. Not just whether revenue is growing, but whether it’s growing in ways that deepen strain rather than relax it. The signals worth watching are the ones that tell you whether the rope is taut.
It also changes how we think about metrics. Fit implies you’re tracking whether you’ve arrived. Tension suggests you’re measuring whether the pull is still healthy. Not just whether customers are using the product, but how usage is evolving. Not just whether revenue is growing, but whether it’s growing in ways that deepen strain rather than relax it. The signals worth watching are the ones that tell you whether the rope is taut.
The cultural shift inside a company is equally important. Teams need to see value creation not as a problem solved once, but as a relationship that always requires energy. The work doesn’t get easier at some mythical point. If anything, it demands more vigilance over time. The organizations that internalize this truth avoid the trap of thinking growth is about maintaining a stable position. They know success is about keeping the tension alive without snapping it.
The cultural shift inside a company is equally important. Teams need to see value creation not as a problem solved once, but as a relationship that always requires energy. The work doesn’t get easier at some mythical point. If anything, it demands more vigilance over time. The organizations that internalize this truth avoid the trap of thinking growth is about maintaining a stable position. They know success is about keeping the tension alive without snapping it.
So product-market fit doesn’t exist. What exists is product-market tension, and the companies that survive long enough to matter are the ones that understand this. They build products that can absorb and channel pressure. They create infrastructures flexible enough to adjust to new pulls without collapsing. They keep their cultures wired for continuous exertion rather than one-time arrival.
So product-market fit doesn’t exist. What exists is product-market tension, and the companies that survive long enough to matter are the ones that understand this. They build products that can absorb and channel pressure. They create infrastructures flexible enough to adjust to new pulls without collapsing. They keep their cultures wired for continuous exertion rather than one-time arrival.
Value lives in the strain. When the rope is taut, the product and the market are moving each other forward. When it slackens, the relationship dissolves, and the value dissolves with it. There is no finish line, no moment when the work is complete. There is only the ongoing practice of pulling, being pulled, and keeping the rope alive.
Value lives in the strain. When the rope is taut, the product and the market are moving each other forward. When it slackens, the relationship dissolves, and the value dissolves with it. There is no finish line, no moment when the work is complete. There is only the ongoing practice of pulling, being pulled, and keeping the rope alive.
-Crane, North
-Crane, North
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Product-Market Fit Doesn't Exist
Essay
August 7th, 2025