What is WTP?
Willingness To Pay is not simply about asking:
“Will customers pay?”
but rather:
“Are customers willing to pay the right price, without subsidies or external support, and continue paying repeatedly over time?”
A common and risky misconception
Many startups assume:
“Customers have paid → therefore the product has value.”
However, KisStartup’s practical observations show that customers may pay:
- for a pilot project,
- due to grant or donor funding, or
- because there are no alternatives at the time.
Yet they may not:
- purchase a second time,
- expand usage, or
- recommend the product to others.
In such cases, WTP exists momentarily, but Product–Market Fit (PMF) does not.
WTP alone is not enough – repurchase and continued usage matter
A product with genuine PMF typically shows that:
- customers return for second and third purchases,
- perceived value increases over time rather than declines,
- customers proactively request additional features, service tiers, or expansions.
Conversely, when:
- only a small number of customers pay,
- the observation period is too short, and
- data is not analyzed by cohorts and cycles,
startups are highly prone to false positives about PMF.
KisStartup’s perspective: PMF is a process, not a milestone
Across our incubation and acceleration programs, we emphasize that PMF is not something you “achieve” in a single month.
PMF is an ongoing process of validating assumptions through real behavior and real data.
We therefore advise startups to:
- observe at least 3–6 months before declaring PMF,
- track activation, retention, and WTP simultaneously, and
- avoid premature scaling when evidence is still weak.
Do not celebrate too early
The first paying customer matters.
But PMF only emerges when customers stay, return, and pay repeatedly.
If you are building a startup, ask yourself:
- Do customers come back?
- How long do they continue using the product?
- Do they buy more or upgrade?
- Will they still pay when support or incentives are removed?
Only when these questions are answered with data rather than intuition are you truly approaching PMF.
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