Inside Rocketlane’s 0–1 Product Strategy That Worked

Overview

Most startups fumble their way to PMF. Rocketlane didn’t.

Here’s how Vignesh Girishankar and team nailed it, without pivots, panic, or wasted code.

🧭Step 1: Being Different, Not 20% Better

• [ ] Solve a real problem in a large, growing market.
• [ ] Articulate your wedge: Not discounts or design. It’s “Why you?” in 5 years.
• [ ] Don’t fall in love with your first idea. Debate it. Validate it. Break it.

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How Rocketlane did it: “We asked ourselves, what’s our right to win? A better UI? Cheaper pricing? None of that gives you structural advantage.”

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🔍 Step 2: Talking to 100s of Users, Before You Code

• [ ] Don’t ask what users want—watch what they do.
• [ ] Look for intensity, not just presence of pain.
• [ ] Ignore solution requests. Beware of false positives (optimism + politeness).

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How Rocketlane did it:

80+ user interviews. 200+ hours of calls. They asked users to show them internal trackers, email hacks, templates, and messy workarounds.

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🧪 Step 3: Validating Like a Scientist