Feb 28, 2025

Finding Product-Market Fit in Fintech: No Maps, Just Patterns

Finding Product-Market Fit in Fintech: No Maps, Just Patterns

Finding Product-Market Fit in Fintech: No Maps, Just Patterns

Product-market fit (PMF) is the holy grail of every early-stage startup. In fintech, it’s even harder—and more important.

Because here, trust, regulation, and money itself are the product.

Finding PMF means solving urgent, high-stakes problems while navigating a thicket of compliance and credibility barriers. It’s the prerequisite to scale, secure funding, and survive in a crowded market.

But if you came looking for a step-by-step guide to PMF, you’ll be disappointed.

No such playbook exists. And it probably never will.

As Rick Rubin put it:

“If we’re aiming to create works that are exceptional, most rules don’t apply.”

Why PMF in Fintech Is Especially Tricky

  • It’s messy and non-linear — no matter what stage you’re at.

  • It looks very different in B2B vs B2C fintech.

  • And it's a different beast inside an established fintech versus a zero-to-one startup.

Sure, frameworks like Sequoia's Arc or the Lean Product Pyramid help. But many fintech founders need something simpler, contextual, and more grounded in real-world patterns.

Good News: PMF Can’t Be Forced, But It Can Be Found

You can’t manufacture PMF. But you can dramatically increase your odds by:

  • Studying pattern recognition from successful fintechs

  • Learning from false positives and near-misses

  • Mapping trust-building and compliance into your product loop

  • And moving fast enough to iterate before your runway runs out

Final Word: PMF Is a Moving Target

You don’t "achieve" product-market fit and move on.
You expand it. Defend it. Stretch it to new segments, new geos, and new problems.

As Coda CEO Shishir Mehrotra said:

“You always have PMF with one group and not with the next. You’re always stretching it.”

The best fintechs don’t just find PMF.
They build the muscle to chase it—faster, smarter, and longer than anyone else.