First Round Capital’s PMF framework consists of four levels: nascent, developing, strong, extreme

1. Level one: Nascent product-market fit. Likely a pre-seed or seed-stage company. The goal in this stage is to find three to five customers with a problem worth solving, engage with them, deliver a solution, and validate that solution. [examples: Vanta,

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HOW TO BUILD A BIG CONSUMER B2C MOBILE APP IN 2026 1. start with a single recurring behavior people already document, like meals, sleep, workouts, studying, dating, or routines. 2. anchor the app to one question users already ask themselves daily, like “am I doing this... See more

Many are lean startups with traction before product. Their advantage is proximity. They learn by talking to their audience, experimenting, and watching what resonates. So many startups fail because they make something nobody wants. When “audience-founders” decide to build, there’s already someone waiting for and interested in what they make.