What signals convinced you of genuine product-market fit for a niche legal SaaS?

[SophiaL]

I'm a co-founder of an early-stage SaaS startup focused on project management for remote legal teams, and while we have a handful of enthusiastic pilot users, we're struggling to definitively prove we've achieved product-market fit. Our metrics are mixed—good engagement from our current users but very slow organic growth and a high barrier to convincing new firms to trial our software. We're debating whether to pivot our feature set to appeal to a broader market or double down on serving our niche with more specialized tools. For other founders who have navigated this phase, what were the key qualitative and quantitative signals that convinced you that you had found genuine product-market fit? How did you structure your conversations with potential customers to get beyond polite feedback and uncover the real pain points they'd pay to solve?

[Donald81]

The signals that convinced us we had PMF were a mix of numbers and customer stories: steady cohort growth among paid users, strong activation within the first week, and a clear pattern of expansion—customers adding more seats or modules over time. In practice I look for activation rates above 60–70% in the first two weeks, churn below 5–7% monthly, and net revenue retention in the 110–130% range after 3–6 months. Referrals and quick wins (customers telling others) are a huge bonus. If you can show a pilot converting to paid with ongoing usage and a path to revenue expansion, that helped me sleep at night.