

Ask HN: When should a founder shut down vs. pursue product/market fit? - polysaturate

HN, what are your thoughts, or experiences on when to keep pursuing marking and product&#x2F;market fit, versus realizing there is absolutely no chance and should just shut down?
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tarkeshwarsingh
I think you should think about it in this way: Do you see any branch leading
out of your current product? By a branch leading out of your current business,
I mean not both of product and market should change at the same time(minor
tweaks are obviously ok). If you don't see that at all then it's time to shut
down. One thing that I'm over-simplifying is the patience required to make it
to product market fit. If you are making big pivots every month then you are
basically trying to avoid the trough of sorrow but if your product is not
changing at all even after 6 months despite nothing working and everything
being tried out on marketing, then you are too late in making a pivot. Here's
an interesting article about this by Mattermark founder:
[http://www.daniellemorrill.fundamine.com/2013/03/zombie-
star...](http://www.daniellemorrill.fundamine.com/2013/03/zombie-
startups/?fmid=oaXu2nMLAC)

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spinuplabs
Since you are using some lean startup terminology, what is your data telling
you?

How much empathy have you gained around your particular customer and problem?
Have you seen any other obvious pain points that you could be passionate about
solving?

