Your data model is your destiny

Summary

Product market fit is the startup holy grail. “Product” and “market” are essential, but a startup’s data model is the dark matter that holds them together.“Data model” refers to what a startup emphasizes in its product, i.e., which parts of reality matter most in how the product represents the world. It’s the core concepts or objects a startup prioritizes and builds around, the load-bearing assumptions at the heart of their strategy and worldview. It’s partially captured in the database architecture (hence the name), but it shapes everything from the UI/UX to the product marketing, pricing model, and GTM strategy.This shows up differently depending on the layer. In the database, it’s which tables are central and how they relate. In the product, it’s which UI elements dominate and what actions are easiest. In pricing, it’s what you charge by. In GTM, it’s the workflow or pain point you lead with. But they all stem from the same choice about what deserves to be the center of gravity.Every founder has a data model, whether they realize it or not. Either you choose it explicitly or it gets inherited from whatever you’re copying. Most founders never articulate it. By the time the architecture solidifies around these implicit choices, it’s nearly impossible to change.And that’s generally fine, because most companies shouldn’t innovate on their data model. Customers have existing mental models and workflows built around incumbent tools. Fighting that is expensive and slow. But at the extreme ends of markets—where you’re toppling multi-billion-dollar incumbents or creating entirely new categories—a distinctive data model becomes a critical and non-obvious edge.The biggest breakout companies of the last decade often trace their success to an early, non-obvious data model choice that seemed minor at the time but proved decisive. Consider:Slack’s persistent channels vs 1:1/group messages: While Yammer and HipChat replicated email’s ephemeral group messages, Slack made persiste...