The Power of Focus in Finding Product Market Fit

When coaching founders and developers I love using the “Yes, AND” technique to expand my clients’ thinking. But when it comes to finding Product Market Fit, “AND” is a big red flag. What you really want is a big, bold OR!

Clarity, Specificity, and Overcoming Fear

Finding your OR is about finding clarity, and clarity comes from being specific. It sounds simple, but it’s far from easy. Almost every early-stage founder I’ve worked with struggles with this concept. Because being specific means making choices.

A classic example is founders describing their product vision with vague terms like “engaging and easy to use.” But that’s like saying you want to be rich and famous - it’s so broad it becomes meaningless. Instead, you need to get specific about what engagement means for your target audience. What exact problem are you solving, and for whom?

This behaviour is often based in fear. Founders are afraid that by narrowing their focus, they might miss out on potential users. To avoid that, they hedge their bets with vague descriptions and broad target markets.

The thing to realise here is that they are right.

Narrowing focus will guarantee fewer users will like your product. But here’s the truth: you’re not in the business of making people like your product. You’re in the business of making people love your product.

To show you what I mean I want you to perform a short exercise. Start by taking out your phone (or close the email app if you’re reading this on your phone) and look at the apps you have installed. How many apps do you like enough to have installed on your phone? How many of those apps do you love enough to actually pay for? Exactly.

Focus in Action

Let me take you back to late 2020 when the Baby Journey app was first launched. It had a single focus: “Information for pregnant women in Sweden about their pregnancy, making them feel supported through the whole pregnancy journey.”

Notice what’s not there? Fathers. Grandparents. Other countries. This was not an accident. By focusing solely on mothers in Sweden, we could tailor everything to that specific group, which quickly made the app reach the top of the charts in the App Store.

Almost every week for the next two years we had discussions about how to include the groups of users we had intentionally left out. And every one of those discussions ended with us deciding to keep ignoring them and to continue doubling down on the core user group.

That’s a pretty story, but of course we weren’t completely without fault.

An example of failing to keep focus was when we tried to integrate dietary advice API into our app. It seemed simple, but we quickly discovered hidden complexities. We spent a month on this project. A month not serving our core users. A month not improving our main features.

Eventually, we scrapped the project. We realised it was just a side quest for us. Something better left to others who could make it their main focus.

The damage was done though. We lost precious time. Time we could have spent enhancing our core offering.

The Power of Focus (and Smart Evolution)

Successful products often start with a narrow, well-defined focus. As they grow, they evolve - but not randomly. Not by blindly adding features, chasing every market opportunity. Instead, they expand thoughtfully, always in service of their core mission and users.

Zoom is a great example of this hyper focused approach. Every feature in Zoom is built to support the core, which is video calls. While competitors like Google Meet and Slack (Huddles) need to switch focus between video calls and everything else that is a priority in their respective organisation, Zoom just keeps on doubling down on video calls.

Step by step they grow their group of people who love, not just like, their product. And before you know it, they have 300 million people participating in Zoom calls every day.

Embracing the Power of “OR”

Remember how we started this conversation? We said that in product development, “AND” is often a red flag. As you move forward, train yourself to think in terms of “OR” instead.

It’s not about building for pregnant women AND grandparents AND fathers. It’s about choosing pregnant women OR grandparents OR fathers. It’s not about being the best pregnancy app AND the best parenting community AND the best baby product marketplace. It’s about being the best at one thing.

To round this off, I want to leave you with a tactic and an exercise that I’ve found helpful. It comes from the late Charlie Munger, who famously said “Always inverse.”

Here’s how to put it into practice:

1. In your next product meeting, start with the usual discussion about what you want to build. Get all those ideas out on the table.
2. Then, flip the script. Spend equal time talking about what you’re NOT going to build. Be specific and unapologetic.
3. Go a step further. Identify who you’re NOT going to focus on. Which customer segments are you willing to ignore?
4. Write these “NO” decisions down. Make them visible. Let them guide your strategy.
5. This exercise might feel uncomfortable at first. It’s meant to. It forces you to make tough choices and embrace your “OR.”

And here’s where it gets interesting: Pay attention to the reactions. Does your team push back? Do new, more focused ideas emerge? Does it spark deeper discussions about your core value proposition?

It may sound scary, but trust me. Challenge yourself to do this for if only for a week.

If you do, I’d love to hear about your experience with this exercise. What did you say “NO” to? How did it impact your product decisions? Did it lead to any surprising insights about your market or users?