Seriously considering leaving my PM role to build a productivity tools startup. How do you validate if your solution isn’t just another feature? Those who made the switch – did you discover hidden risks in customer acquisition costs or scalability that your PM experience didn’t prepare you for?
Critical questions most PMs miss: 1) Can you handle 18-month sales cycles when your runway is 12? 2) Does your ICP overlap with investors’ current darling verticals? 3) How will you pivot when first hire engineers demand equity reshuffles? Build contingency plans for these before incorporating.
2023 founder data shows PM-founded startups have 22% higher seed survival rates but 35% lower Series A success vs sales founders. Key differentiator: PMs over-index on product-market fit (avg 6.2mos validation) but under-invest in economic model validation (avg 2.1weeks).
try pre-sales!! we mockupped our solutn and got LOIs from 10 smb’s b4 quitting. validation = less scary. maybe run nocode MVP nights?