• VC: "Tell me your vision."
• Entrepreneur: "We are a company that will build a the next generation VR headset".
• VC: "Cool, so what?"

The vision question is not "what your want to build." The question is aimed to get entrepreneurs to describe product-market fit.

In startups, discussions about 'vision' and 'Product Market Fit' are ubiquitous among employees, founders, and investors. But often, these concepts are misunderstood or superficially addressed. Vision is not just a grandiose term for 'what you want to build'. Nor is it a hallucinatory dream of the future. Vision, in its true essence, is an 'insight'—an acute perception into a growing, profound pain that a market is experiencing. When stakeholders ask about your company's vision, they're probing for a unique market insight that incumbents, be they established companies or burgeoning startups, have overlooked.

I argue that vision and Product Market Fit are inherently intertwined. You can't talk about one without implicating the other. Product Market Fit revolves around creating a product that resonates so well with a target market that it sells itself. Vision, as we've defined it, is the insight into a market's deep-seated pain. They are two sides of the same coin. When a venture capitalist inquires about your vision, it's a misstep to respond with aspirations like, "We want to be the next Google," or describe your product in isolation. This approach is too superficial, too generic, and frankly, it sounds more like mid-level product management rhetoric than a founder’s vision.

Instead, articulate your vision with the market’s desperation at its core. For instance, consider a formula like, "W users are desperate for X, and we will build Y to solve it by charging them Z amount of dollars." This formula not only identifies a problem but also proposes a tangible solution and a business model. Furthermore, a powerful vision often highlights the existing market gap: "W users are desperate for X, and we will build Y to solve it. Our solution spans 2 different incumbents who aren't seeing the connection, and we'll charge Z dollars." This approach not only identifies the problem and the solution but also underlines why the problem persists—because current players are too busy or inept to address it.

Compelling Vision Statements Include

Desperation of the market and a current inflection point in the market that make building possible now and not earlier. Think of Steve Jobs’ vision of a personal computer: "Now is the time to build a computer for everyday people because all the parts are available, and the market is ready." This kind of vision captures not just the what and the how, but also the why now.

Here are some other examples

• PayPay - "The internet is going to power all commerce, and we will build a payment system to enable it. We are going to create a global currency for the internet." The internet was already powering things like eBay's meteoric rise, and the market was ready for a payment system that could enable commerce. PayPal's vision was to build a payment system that would enable commerce on the internet. PayPal could not have been created 10 years earlier because the internet was not ready for it. And PayPal could not have been created 10 years later because the internet would have already had a payment system.
• NVidia - "Computers are becoming ubiquitous in the enterprise and consumer space. Almost all graphics and visualizations will be done on the computers, we will build a company that powers this growing demand."
• Shopify - "The internet is powering all commerce and small businesses are left out of creating their own online stores. We will build a platform that enables small businesses to create their own online stores."

All great vision descriptions talk about:

• The user
• The desperation
• The inflection point in the market that makes building possible now and not earlier

Remember, if your vision statement focuses solely on building, you're unlikely to grab the attention of public relations or venture capitalists. Money and interest flow to stories, narratives that encapsulate not just the product, but also the market, the timing—essentially, the Product Market Fit. It's about crafting a story that resonates, one that goes beyond features and specifications. Vision in the startup world is a profound insight into a market pain point that others have missed. It’s about understanding a deep need and addressing it with a timely, unique solution. When aligned with Product Market Fit, this vision becomes a powerful narrative, one that can attract investors, inspire teams, and resonate with the market. It’s more than building a product; it’s about creating a solution for a desperate need at the perfect time. Remember, in the world of startups, vision isn't just a dream—it's a strategic insight that can propel your venture to unprecedented heights.