Originally published on Medium.

42% of startups fail because they don't meet their market (CB Insights, 2018).

This is a number that is both intriguing and concerning, especially considering that the reasoning taught to project leaders in support programs encourages building products as close to the user as possible.

A startup is first and foremost a temporary organization formed to seek a repeatable and scalable business model (Steve Blank). In other words, as long as it has not found its business model, a startup remains in an exploratory mode.

However, startup culture pushes us to think growth first.

A business that doesn't generate a weekly growth rate of 5% is not scalable and not a startup. So we reassure ourselves and others by manipulating KPIs to generate artificial growth, all of which is pointless work that leads to joining the 42%.

Premature scaling is a fatal error for the product.

Would you spend kerosene to launch an unfinished rocket? The answer is no. Without a product validated by users and the market, marketing expenses represent a waste of time and money. It's the same reasoning.

So why do business plans for projects that get funding in the seed stage (with a strong component of innovation and therefore risk) often plan to invest up to 40% in marketing?

In a lean and agile approach, this is also counterproductive. For example, you won't have any trouble building a community with growth hacking techniques, social media campaigns, etc. But what happens to this community and your time if you choose to pivot to a different target?

We forget a fundamental concept: you have two communities:

1. The first is limited to a few users during the (co-)construction phase of your product.
2. The second is intended to grow once you are committed to scaling.

Between the two is the product-market fit: "Being in the right market with a product that satisfies that market" (Marc Andreessen).

You have two communities: design & marketing.

Communities in the design process

When creating or improving a product/service, communities are useful for building with the user. By working at the heart of communities, the designer focuses their work on real needs with a clearly identified user. This is done with the goal of ultimately providing real added value by addressing the user's issues.

In the early stage of design, communities are used as a learning lever to limit the risk of failure before production. Through research methods, rapid prototyping, and testing, knowledge of the target audience is increased and the chances of success are maximized while conserving resources.

To co-create, your community is based on a persona. It should not exceed 10 individuals.