Published on: 06/10/2025
By Aastha Thilwal
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The startup graveyard is full of MVPs that no one truly needs.
At Eximius, we’ve seen it happen too often: founders pour their hearts into building an MVP, launch with excitement, even acquire a few hundred early users… only to hit a wall. Growth stalls. Feedback is lukewarm. Retention drops. Not because the team lacked talent or hustle but because the product wasn’t solving a real, urgent problem.
An MVP is a test of usability, not necessity. It tells you whether someone can use your product not whether they need to. And that’s a dangerous blind spot.
Before chasing Product-Market Fit (PMF), we believe startups should focus on something even more foundational: problem solution fit.
In this blog, we’ll unpack what that means, why your MVP isn’t enough, what problem solution fit and product market fit is and how we at Eximius evaluate this crucial early-stage milestone.
Problem-Solution Fit is the stage where you’ve clearly identified a significant, recurring problem faced by a specific group of people and shown that your proposed solution directly and meaningfully addresses that problem.
It’s the difference between a “nice-to-have” and a “need-to-have.” When you’ve hit Problem-Solution Fit, your users aren’t just willing to try your product, they’re actively asking for it, excited about it, and ready to commit their time, energy, or money to it.
This fit is critical because it lays the foundation for everything that follows. Without it, you risk building in a vacuum, tweaking features endlessly for a problem that didn’t really matter in the first place.
Let’s start with some clarity.
Problem-Solution Fit (PSF): Do users need this solution?
Product-Market Fit (PMF): Do users love this product and would they pay for it?
Many founders jump straight to chasing PMF: growth hacks, paid marketing, user retention metrics. But if you haven’t nailed problem-solution fit, it’s like scaling a house with a shaky foundation.
Problem-Solution Fit and Product-Market Fit are not interchangeable. PMF comes after you’ve deeply validated the problem and proved that your approach is not just novel, but necessary.
Take Startup X. They launched a beautiful app that let freelancers manage client invoices. The UI was sleek, and engagement was decent—but user interviews later revealed a hard truth: most freelancers were already solving the problem manually with spreadsheets, and didn’t feel enough pain to switch.
They had PMF aspirations without a PSF foundation.
MVPs are often misunderstood.
They’re meant to help test your idea quickly without spending too much time or money. But in reality, MVPs often show whether someone can use your product, not whether they actually need it. Just because people try your MVP doesn’t mean they care enough to keep using it or that they’d ever pay for it.
This leads to false signals. You might see a bunch of signups, but users don’t return. People might say “That’s interesting,” but they’re not willing to commit. Most early interest comes from curiosity, not real conviction.
Here’s a common example. A startup builds a no-code automation tool for online sellers. The MVP gets some initial trials, but usage drops quickly. When the team digs deeper, they realize that most users were just experimenting. Only a small group of power users actually felt the problem strongly. So the startup shifts focus serving just that niche with a more focused, powerful solution. That’s when things start to click: more engagement, better retention, and real traction.
That’s the difference between building something people will try and building something they truly need.
Imagine a startup building an app to help busy parents organize their kids’ schedules. Their MVP lets parents add events and reminders. Lots of parents try it out and use it once or twice, but then stop.
The team realizes the problem isn’t just about adding events, it’s about parents feeling overwhelmed trying to keep track of everything in the first place. So, they talk to more parents and find that what they really need is a way to share schedules easily with other caregivers and get important alerts without extra work.
The startup adjusts their solution to focus on shared calendars and automatic reminders. Now, parents feel the app truly helps solve their biggest stress. Usage and retention go up because the app fits a real problem, not just a nice-to-have feature.
This is problem-solution fit: knowing exactly what problem you’re solving and making sure your solution actually solves it for real users.
At Eximius, we’ve developed a Problem-Solution Fit Framework to evaluate startups even before they write a single line of code. Here’s how it works:
Is the problem frequent, painful, and costly enough to demand a solution?
We dig deep into understanding the problem’s nature. How often does the user face this issue? Is it a minor inconvenience or something that causes real disruption in their day-to-day life?
What happens if the problem goes unresolved does it lead to lost revenue, wasted time, or increased stress? We differentiate between a “vitamin” (nice to have) and a “painkiller” (must have). Only problems causing significant pain or cost warrant urgent solutions.
Are you truly speaking to the right user persona?
Founders often try to target broad markets, hoping for maximum reach. But this can dilute focus and confuse product direction.
We look for precision in defining who the problem affects the most. Is it small business owners struggling with inventory management? Or is it remote workers battling isolation?
Understanding the specific persona ensures that the solution is tailored, relevant, and resonates with the users’ unique context and needs.
Does your solution concept address the top 1-2 pain points clearly and effectively?
We’re not interested in a laundry list of features or bells and whistles. The core question is: does your solution hit the bullseye of the user’s most pressing problems?
Can users clearly see how your product eases their pain or simplifies their life? Validation at this stage often comes through qualitative feedback or prototype testing, where the focus is on core benefits, not added extras.
How do users emotionally respond when presented with your idea?
Are they frustrated because the problem has been ignored for too long? Excited because they finally see a possible fix? Or indifferent because they don’t see the problem as urgent?
Emotional buy-in is a powerful indicator of necessity. If users don’t lean in, ask questions, or express strong feelings, it’s a sign that the problem-solution connection isn’t strong enough.
Are users willing to put something real on the line time, money, or reputation before launch?
This is the clearest test of whether your solution is truly needed. Would potential customers pay upfront for early access? Commit their time to onboard or learn your product? Recommend it to peers even before it officially exists?
These signals show genuine demand and a readiness to adopt your solution, which is much stronger than casual interest or polite curiosity.
If there’s one thing we want every founder to remember, it’s this:
Don’t just ask if your MVP works. Ask if your solution really matters to people.
An MVP shows if your product functions, but it can’t tell you if it solves a real problem that people care about. You can always add more features later, but you can’t create real need or urgency out of thin air. That’s why some products get used once and forgotten.
At Eximius, we believe in supporting founders who start by understanding the problems people face not just focusing on the technology. Finding problem-solution fit is the most important first step before anything else.
So before spending too much time or money building and growing, ask yourself: Is my product solving a real, urgent problem? If yes, then you’re on the right path.
Because building what people truly need is the best way to build a successful and lasting business.
It’s risky. Without problem-solution fit, you might build something people don’t really need, wasting time and money.
Pay attention to how they react are they excited, frustrated, or just indifferent? This shows if your idea matters to them.
No. Every business needs to solve a real problem first, no matter the industry.
