As I’m building my startup, I’ve gotten back into reading about startup theory: how others have done it, how to succeed, how to find product-market fit, what to build, how to build a business.
One framework I’ve recently discovered is Rob Snyder’s PULL framework, and I’m finding it quite useful. It’s quite distinct from other theories.
I won't go into describing Rob's framework here. I recommend reading his blog and watching his Youtube videos.
Rob distinguishes between push and pull. Either you try to push a product onto the market, or you look for genuine demand and pull from the market, building what they want to buy.
I think most products live on a continuum between these two. It’s not a black and white thing. You can’t just push a product. There has to be pull at some level, otherwise nobody will use or buy it.
Even when you find strong pull, the biggest, fastest growing companies have big sales teams. And in sales, by definition, there is an element of push.
Rob gives an example of a founder who was in a deal battle with an incumbent, and the founder took an overnight flight and showed up at the prospect’s office to close the deal. That is not just pull. That is push combined with strong pull.
Most products live on a continuum. It’s not binary push or pull.
And over the lifetime of a product, that push-pull equilibrium changes.