Evil Martians introduces the PMF Compass, a scoring model for developer tools startups built on data from 37 devtools companies including Cursor, Supabase, Linear, and Twilio. The model addresses the shortcomings of the Sean Ellis 'very disappointed' survey by using five observable metrics: time to first value, retention, net revenue retention, free-to-paid conversion, and organic signups. It produces a dual score separating product signal (0–7) from revenue stage (0–7), helping founders diagnose whether they have a product problem or a go-to-market problem. The post includes detailed benchmarks for each metric specific to devtools (which outperform general SaaS), real-world examples at each PMF level from pre-seed through $200M+ ARR, and a live interactive tool on the Evil Martians homepage.
Table of contents
The Sean Ellis problemThe ideaDevtools are not generic SaaSThe datasetThe dual score: signal vs. revenueWhere are your PMF levels?Key product signalsTry the compassSort: