How did you know you were getting close to product market fit?
We’re in early beta with a few users using SmartDial — a powerful dialer for outbound sales teams using Zoom Phone. We’re learning fast. Curious what signs made you feel product-market fit was getting close — and what signals you chose to ignore.
👉 https://getcreel.com
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Hi @abe_storey ,
We knew we were getting close to product/market fit when three things started happening at the same time:
Usage was consistent and frequent — users were using the product without being reminded or pushed.
Retention went up — more users came back, re-purchased it on monthly basis, and integrated it into their daily workflow.
Referrals happened naturally — new signups started saying, “X told me to check this out and I bought it too”
We ignored vanity metrics like early revenue, media attention, or even NPS. They can be misleading. Instead, we focused on real behaviors: usage, retention, and reference growth — the trifecta that told us the product truly solved a pain. :)
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@abdessamad_qarmada No worries :) Good question, still!
@floris_meulensteen Thanks for the insight, Floris — super aligned with what we're seeing. We're building SmartDial, a powerful dialer that works with Zoom Phone for outbound teams, and starting to see early signs of traction.
Quick question: what tools were you using for outbound when you started seeing that consistent usage and referral loop?
When one or a few users constantly poke you on linkedin for more.
@sentry_co Ahahhahaha so so true, after being on here too my LinkedIn has gone crazzzy
@sentry_co Yeahhh that’s definitely a good sign — as long as it’s not the “hey just checking in again 😅” kind of poke.
@abe_qarm "Stalker users" are definitely a sign of PMF. You cant have fame and peace at the same time 😅😂
Motiff
@sentry_co Hahaha cannot agree more. This is a brilliant benchmark for how much potential the product has.
PMF comes when sales are repeatable and not forced. When you find yourself trying to hard sell most of the time, that's a sign that you haven't found PMF yet.
Pay attention to the feedback you get from your testing ideal client profile (ICP). If you are getting a lot of positive feedback from complete strangers in your ICP, take that as good early indicators. If you find yourself needing to explain a lot about our product, the pain it solves and the solution you have... there is still some work to do to find PMF
A great indicator of PMF is growing top-line revenue. It doesn't have to be 40% MoM, but an increase over time is what you're looking for.
@abdessamad_qarmada Sure thing, man. You got it, just keep that focus!
@bryce_york_ag Great perspective, Bryce — especially on not needing to over-explain when the pain is clear. We’re building the most powerful dialer that works directly with Zoom Phone for elite sales teams doing outbound.
Curious — in your early days, which channels gave you the clearest signal from your ICP? Cold outreach, communities, or something else?
Upp.Vote
PMF is not a 'fancy event'. PMF is a loosely used term in the startup world.
If you are finding new customers every month or every few months - you've a PMF. If you go viral - congratulations.
@kaustubhkatdare yeah viral is ideal as long as the product is in a good enough stage to warrant decent retention
@kaustubhkatdare yup PMF often looks like quiet, steady growth, not some big launch moment.
I found out in the last month or so when I began proper X ads for our CRM - Only doing a drip amount of £10-15/day but it's resulted in a cumulative 150 users in the last 3 weeks alone.
Been pretty good in terms of marketing itself given the fact it's a strong SMM tool :)
https://CRANQ.ai
@abdessamad_qarmada I'd say probably more leaning towards the actual figures which make a difference, people like results so displaying that is the best way for us to market our product.
@cranqnow Showing results really does cut through the noise! We're focused on similar tangible gains at SmartDial.
How are you currently tracking the efficiency and conversion rates of your sales outreach? We built SmartDial to streamline outbound calling within Zoom Phone and provide clear metrics for sales teams.
We took the approach of running an early access promotions before building to validate real demand and willingness to pay. That gave us the confidence to start.
For PMF signals, we focus on usage and unprompted feature requests. The only signal we ignore? Polite feedback without action — commitments and usage speak louder.
@abe_qarm I ran the early access for a month and it worked really well.
Most requested feature during that time was combining both GA4 and GSC data to get insights.