5 Ways to Make Money Before Finding Product-Market Fit

Here are some creative monetization moves your startup can make right now.

Illustration: Adobe Stock

Like Christmas movies that all have the same plot, stories of startups scaling too quickly typically contain, “We moved before the product was ready,” “We hired too fast,” or “We ran out of runway.” Scaling too fast, however, isn’t the cause of failure. It’s a symptom. It’s the predictably sad ending that comes after the boardroom scene where the founder declares, “We’ll figure out monetization later.”

AI funding hit $189 billion in a single month this past February (the highest amount on record), but 83 percent of it went to three companies: OpenAI, Anthropic, and Waymo. Investors aren’t entertaining decks and dreams the way they used to. Bootstrapping is back, but inflation-fearing friends and families are clinging to their cash.

So, what can you do if you haven’t found product-market fit yet—or if you’re worried that it’ll vanish with the next technology or market change?

Take a page out of the Jerry Maguire screenplay. Whenever someone normalizes operating while underfunded, jump........

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