Building the Product

My MVP works but nobody sticks around after signing up. How do I diagnose whether it's a product problem or an onboarding problem?

A starting point

Watch real sessions: if users never reach the core value moment, it's onboarding or activation; if they hit it and still leave, the product itself isn't solving a real enough problem. Run a few live walkthroughs and one blunt question to churned users (what would have made this a must-have), because retention is the honest verdict an MVP exists to get. Retention curves that flatten above zero mean something's working; ones that hit zero mean you haven't found the need yet. This is a starting point, fix activation before you touch acquisition.

Go deeper

Hand-picked from around the web, each with a note on why it earns your time.

3 resources 3 link-checked

Read

📄 Article
✓ Link checked Freemium Intermediate

Why we picked it When people sign up and vanish, the first fork is: did they never hit the moment where the product clicked (activation), or did they hit it and still leave (a deeper product or fit gap)? This piece gives you a concrete way to find that moment for your own product, brainstorm candidate aha actions, then check with data whether they actually cause retention rather than just correlate with it. That test is what tells you which problem you are staring at, so it is a starting point for the diagnosis, not the whole answer.

How to determine your activation metric

From Lenny's Newsletter by Lenny Rachitsky

  • A good activation metric is causal for retention, not just correlated, so run regression and then experiments before you trust it.
  • Find the specific early action that separates users who stick from users who churn, that is your aha moment made concrete.
  • If people activate and still leave, the problem is likely core product or fit, not onboarding, and you fix a different thing.
Open lennysnewsletter.com →
✍️ Essay
✓ Link checked Free Intermediate

Why we picked it If your worry is whether the product itself is the problem, the honest signal is the shape of your retention curve, and Balfour explains how to read it. A curve that keeps sliding to zero means no fit yet, a curve that flattens for some segment means you have found fit for that group. He frames fit as a progression through survey signal, engagement, and retention rather than a single yes or no, which keeps you from over reading one week of churn.

The Never Ending Road To Product Market Fit

From brianbalfour.com by Brian Balfour

  • A retention curve that flattens (levels off) for some segment is the clearest product side signal of fit, one that never flattens is not.
  • Pair the curve with engagement data and qualitative survey signal, no single metric decides it.
  • Fit is not a permanent verdict, markets move, so treat the diagnosis as ongoing.
Open brianbalfour.com →
📖 Book
✓ Link checked Paid Beginner

Why we picked it The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past behaviour, not your idea, so you can't be lied to. If a founder reads one thing before talking to a single customer, it's this.

The Mom Test

From momtestbook.com by Rob Fitzpatrick ~130 pages

  • Talk about their life, not your idea.
  • Ask about specifics in the past, not opinions about the future.
  • 'That's so cool, I'd totally buy it' is a compliment, not data, dig for commitment and evidence.
Open momtestbook.com →

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