Churn is a Feature, Not a Bug.

I just wanted to share a quick note and remind us all (myself included) that churn is an important part of the process in early-stage product development as you walk your way (slowly) toward product-market fit.

So much so that I've discovered this important truth: Churn is absolutely necessary so that you can learn about what resonates with your customers and take that learning into actionable insights and data that will drive you product design process!

This helps keep things small which is important, especially in the beginning stages of building a new community.

So, this month, I've churned quite a bit. In fact, I've gone from $2,204 in MRR and I've lost 5 customers, bringing the monthly recurring revenue down to ~$1,300 — this could hurt my feelings but I'm not worried because this is, again, just part of the process!

Losing customers isn't always a bad thing, sometimes they drop for very legitimate reasons; that's good because holding too tightly to dissatisfied customers is really, really bad for long-term business-building!

You and I are going to earn new customers and lose them just as quick in the early-stages of product-market fit — getting used to this "rotating door," sotospeak, is important to be able to weather and stomach as a business operator!

Thankfully, my community and my customers are happy, even while some of them aren't re-upping their monthly subscription; I've provided them with meaningful value and it's been worth the price of admission.

Remember: Early sales is not about revenue optimization, it's about learning (via @robfitz and "The Mom Test"!:

In early stage sales, the real goal is learning. Revenue is a side-effect.

So, let's focus on getting back to the basics of early-stage product development: Learning. There's so much that I still have to learn (and listen) to my customer's problems and churn is part of the process of that fundamental learning cycle.

Let's not worry about it so much — of course, it hurts when it happens but it's going to hurt even more when folks leave after you have product-market fit! Then, we have a real problem on our hands...!

Let's keep going. Let's keep building. Let's keep building in the open!