<\/p>\n
Finding product market fit (PMF), a crucial yet elusive startup milestone, can be one of the biggest challenges for early-stage founders. Crucial because it shows you, and potential investors, that people want your product. Elusive because, for starters, everyone defines it differently.<\/p>\n
If customers are ripping products out of your hands, congratulations \u2014 you have PMF. But that definition does not necessarily apply to every startup\u2019s product or service. Murky PMF definitions muddy challenging waters, but things become even more interesting during a changing market.<\/p>\n
Getting PMF right determines the future growth and profitability of your startup, which is why we\u2019re thrilled to have Pali Bhat, chief product officer at Reddit; Annie Pearl, CPO at Calendly; and Avlok Kohli, CEO at AngelList join us onstage at Disrupt on October 18\u201320 in San Francisco.<\/p>\n
When startups have access to greater (and cheaper) amounts of VC cash \u2014 as they did last year \u2014 they can afford to spend more. What might look like PMF could be an illusion driven by a huge sales and marketing spend.<\/p>\n
A downturn will likely tighten PMF definitions, making it an even more important milestone. Startups with products attuned to \u2014 and in demand from \u2014 their customers, don\u2019t need a lot of capital to grow.<\/p>\n
Our panelists will discuss the challenges of finding PMF and help founders hone their definitions. We\u2019ll also ask how to measure PMF in a more difficult market, and what founders should consider from both a fundraising and customer perspective. We consider this a must-see session for early-stage founders.<\/p>\n
Before joining Reddit as the company\u2019s first chief product officer, Pali Bhat held senior leadership roles at Google for more than 10 years. He recently led a team of nearly 1,000 engineers, product managers, user experience designers and researchers across a high-growth product suite.<\/p>\n
Bhat was also the vice president of product management and led Google\u2019s payment products globally. Prior to Google, Bhat held leadership positions at SAP Labs and McKinsey & Company.<\/p>\n
Annie Pearl brings nearly 15 years of startup and enterprise experience to her role as chief product officer at Calendly, where she oversees the company\u2019s product vision, strategy and roadmap. She leads and scales the product management and UX teams to deliver best-in-class scheduling experiences for customers.<\/p>\n
Prior to Calendly, Pearl served as CPO at Glassdoor and oversaw the product, UX and content moderation teams. Before that, she led enterprise product management teams at Box \u2014 both before and after the company\u2019s IPO. Earlier in her career, Pearl was the VP of product and a founding member of Xpert Financial. She is a board member of WorkRamp, Well Health and holds several advisory roles.<\/p>\n
Avlok Kohli is the CEO of AngelList. Prior to joining AngelList, Kohli founded and sold two companies \u2014 FastBite, a food delivery company (acquired by Square), and Fairy, a provider of high-frequency house-cleaning services.<\/p>\n
Disrupt takes place in San Francisco on October 18\u201320 with an online day October 21. Take advantage of our early-bird rollback sale and save up to $1,300 over full-price admission. Buy your Labor Day early-bird passes before the deadline expires Tuesday, September 6 at 11:59 p.m. PDT<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \t