If you’re struggling to find product/market fit,<ul><li> F<a href="https://deepstash.com/article/119692/finding-language-market-fit-introduction">igure out the language/market fit</a>.</li><li>Finding language/market fit should be "step zero" for startups as it can save you a lot of time and wasted cycles.</li><li>Consider <a href="https://deepstash.com/article/119833/finding-language-market-fit-use-this-four-step-process-to-unlock-language-market-fit">the four-step process</a> to find the language that unlocks the language/market fit.</li></ul>

Struggling to find product/market fit

<ul><li>Speed. While product build-measure-learn cycles can take weeks, you can iterate language 5X in one day.</li><li>Traction. A pre-launch lead-capture site to confirm demand with 25% conversion is a clear indication for potential investors.</li><li>Clarity. Articulating your value prop in a clear, validated, and plain language helps the team understand what they're building and why.</li></ul>You can use product/market fit with a build-measure-learn loop, but using a language/market fit gets you there faster.

Advantages with starting with a language/market fit

People don't read startups' websites like they read books. They scan and occasionally scroll or click. This is called attentional control. Visitors decide how much attention to direct to your website or app store listing.Attentional control modes:<ul><li>Goal-directed attention. When you need to find something specific, you will direct your attention to get it. (Google)</li><li>Stimulus driven. When your mind is focused on raw sensory input, looking or engaging things. (Facebook)</li></ul>To get prospects to invest more time considering your features or pricing, you need to find the exact language they scan for.

Attentional control

Founders who want to "educate the market" need to fully capture users' attention, stop their current beliefs and then get them to adopt a new way of operating.  For most startups, it's hard enough to get people to read or click your ads, much less change their habits or beliefs.

Why exact language is critical

Finding language/market fit should be "step zero" for startups as it can save you a lot of time and wasted cycles. Founders should generally consider the search for language/market fit as part of the customer discovery process. (There are examples where this is less critical in certain contexts such as biotech startups or founders who are building products to scratch their own itch.) However, if you've started with building and aren't finding a product/market fit yet, take a step back to find a language/market fit.

Step zero

People don't think about a list of product features or platitudes. Instead, what is running in their mind are anxieties, fears, doubts, hopes, dreams. So your headline needs to be about the stuff in their heads. If your headline completes the sentence "Our product is...", you're not using your prospects' words. A good marketer will complete the sentence "Now you can..." or "I wish I could..." or " I hope to..."

How to find the exact language

If you’re struggling to find a product/market fit, first figure out what “looks like food” to your prospects. Find the language/market fit first and everything else will be much easier.

After more than a decade of running B2B growth teams at PayPal and investing at 500 Startups, Matt Lerner now spends his days helping early-stage startups with growth. He's seen firsthand how changes in a handful of words can yield jaw-dropping differences in conversion — and accelerate a startup's course to product/market fit. Here, he makes the case for starting with language/market fit first, and offers up his 4-step process for getting there.

Why exact language is critical

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