Jen Abel on Why Founders Fails to Find Product Market Fit

The Capital Stack

Jen is perhaps one of my favorite follows on twitter on Linkedin. She is relentlessly honest about why startup founders fail to find product market fit and self-destruct. This is a must listen for any early stage founder. You can watch/listen to the podcast on YouTube, Apple, or Spotify.

Do you know it’s almost impossible for a startup to succeed without the founder at the tip of the spear? For an early-stage startup to move from 0-1 and avoid premature scaling, it needs to be led by a visionary. Leading a startup as the founder is a competitive advantage that you can leverage.

In this episode of The Capital Stack, we have Jen Abbel, Co-Founder and partner at JJELLYFISH. She’s deeply passionate about helping startups in the 0-1 journey. JJELLYFISH has advised 200+ B2B/enterprise startups with customer discovery, define their initial go-to-market, and supported Fortune 500 companies seeking to validate new commercial ventures and prove traction.

Listen in to learn the importance of understanding the problem better than the market and how to build the product for early-stage success. You will also learn why, as a founder, you should give yourself at least two years of runway and time to truly understand the problem and your early adopters.

What You Will Discover:

· [01:45] Jen shares her track record and how she developed a passion for early-stage sales.

· [06:23] The importance of having a visionary to help an early-stage startup from zero to one.

· [09:47] How to succeed from zero to one stage by understanding the problem better than the market and having a clear vision.

· [13:48] How Jjellyfish supports founders in validating their vision to their ideal clients at the selling stage.

· [16:34] How Jjellyfish helps founders understand the problem and when they’ve earned their right to sell.

· [18:30] The framework that allows the founder to pick up false positives and stay focused on the real pain points.

· [23:16] The importance of giving yourself at least two years of runway and time to truly understand the problem and early adopters.

· [26:25] The power of invalidating yourself and constantly learning as a founder to find a product market fit.

· [29:49] Understanding how to justify the return on investment against the value you’re offering.

· [33:58] The important pieces of founder manage sales stage and why it’s so critical.

· [38:21] Jen describes Jjellyfish’s newest product – a lightweight version of their extensive discovery program.

· [43:18] Some random questions with Jen!

Memorable Quote:

· “Having an idea and having a product without knowing the specific problem or whom you’re building it for is the number one reason first-time founders fail.”- Jen Abbel [07:03]

Connect with James:

· Website: https://www.jjellyfish.com/

· LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlystagesales/