Product-Market Fit Happens at Different Speeds Everyone talks about PMF like it’s the finish line, but it’s really just the point where the market gives you permission to keep going. A lot of founders assume fast PMF automatically means a better company, but history doesn’t really support that. Roblox took almost 10 years to become Roblox. Airbnb looked fragile and uncertain for years before it became inevitable in hindsight. Most startups don’t actually die because the market is too small or the idea is terrible. A lot of them die because the founders lose conviction before the insight has enough time to compound. When you’re in the middle of it, it’s very hard to tell the difference between “this isn’t working” and “this just needs more time.” Another thing people miss is that PMF looks completely different depending on the market. Consumer #AI companies often show PMF through explosive growth, virality, and rapid adoption. Security companies can look almost slow from the outside, but their PMF shows up through renewals, large contracts, and deep customer dependence. That’s why comparing PMF timelines across industries is dangerous. Wiz got to $100M ARR with only a few hundred customers because each customer had enormous pain and very high willingness to pay. That signal is just as real as a product growing through millions of users. In the end, the speed of #PMF mostly depends on two things: how quickly customers understand the value, and how long their organization takes to actually act on it. A consumer can make a decision in 30 seconds. A large enterprise might take 9 months, multiple approvals, and procurement reviews. Sometimes slow traction means weak demand. But sometimes you’re just building in a market where trust and buying behavior naturally move slower. The hardest part is that you usually can’t tell which situation you’re in until years later. #ai #security #PMF #investment