Product-channel fit: the quiet growth engine

Hi there,

If you’ve read my earlier post on Brian Balfour’s 4 Fits framework, you’ll know that product-channel fit is one of the most overlooked aspects of go-to-market.

It tends to get far less airtime than product-market fit. But if your product isn’t where your customers already are — if they can’t discover it, access it, or engage with it — then even the strongest value proposition won’t land.

The trap of too many channels

Too many teams get stuck here. They try to do too much — chasing traction across 4 or 5 channels, hoping something sticks. But the best go-to-market strategies usually go deep, not wide.

When the product fits the channel, everything gets easier: distribution, activation... even retention.

Apolitical’s 'Lo-Fi, High-Fit' approach

A great example of this came up at this week’s Growth Meetup Scotland, in a talk by Apolitical. 

The early version of their referral mechanism was intentionally lo-fi - just a simple sign-up flow, some email prompts, and a shared Google Doc.

That approach wasn’t cutting corners. It was grounded in empathy. 

They knew their audience: government professionals behind locked-down IT systems, where slick SaaS tools often don’t get through.

So they used what their users already trusted: email, Docs, and links that could be shared easily via internal 'approved' channels like Microsoft Teams. 

Each shared Google Doc included tracking links, helping the team see which content, topics, and share mechanisms drove the most effective referrals.

And they validated the fit not through big complex dashboards, but by observing the outcomes. Did they sign up? Did they share it? Did it spread?  When the answers were yes, they knew they had something. 

Today, that peer-to-peer sharing network has scaled to over 250,000 users.

That’s product-channel fit.

Not complex. Just well-matched to the customer’s world.

How to spot fit in your own strategy

The lesson? Don’t overthink your channels. Instead, obsess over how your users already behave. Ask yourself: where are they? What do they already trust? What’s frictionless for them?

🧠 One quick take away:

Before you launch your next GTM motion, map out how a user will get value, fast.
If the channel doesn’t support it - or adds friction - you may need to rethink the approach.

See you next week!

Peter

P.S. If this sparked something useful, feel free to pass it on to a teammate or colleague. Especially if they’re thinking through go-to-market or wrestling with their own channel strategy.