How I built (and evolved) product–market fit at Freska

Harry's got a point, which got me thinking about Freska's PMF evolution during 2 years and from €200K to €13M ARR.

When I joined Freska, there wasn’t really a market for home cleaning in Finland. Most people didn’t outsource cleaning. It wasn’t a habit, let alone a scalable business. So I didn’t search for product–market fit. I created it.

Step 1: Start with yourself as the ICP

The first ideal customer profile was simple: lazy startup millennials like me. People with some disposable income, zero time, and no interest in scrubbing floors.

I spoke their language - ran SEO and SEM campaigns around pain points and hit Meta with ads like:

“Vacuum cleaner or a glass of wine?”

One of our first big stunts was at Slush, where we placed Bluetooth sensors in the bathroom line to track wait times and launched that on the official Slush app.

It was weird, but it worked. Traffic and conversions went up. PMF version 1 unlocked.

Step 2: Shift as you scale – House moms

Next step: go broader. We had investor attention and some market recognition, so we expanded the ICP to “house moms” - parents at home managing the household who would happily trade a bit of money for peace of mind.

The tactics changed too:

• Meta ads with happy, trustworthy-looking cleaners
• Micro-influencer collaborations (especially on Instagram)
• A booth at the baby expo

Different segment, different channels, different copy.

Step 3: Target high-income career moms

From there, we moved toward career moms in high-income neighborhoods. This ICP wasn’t browsing cleaning memes on Instagram at noon. They were in back-to-back meetings and commuting in the car.

So we went more traditional:

• Radio ads timed for morning and afternoon commute slots
• Billboards near their neighborhoods and office parks
• Sponsoring their kids’ soccer and hockey teams
• Door-to-door sales in high-income postal codes

This wasn’t growth hacking, but building an actual market with segmented messaging.

PMF is a moving target

Most founders treat product–market fit like it’s something you find once. In reality, it evolves. You scale it, reshape it, unlock new ICPs, shift your channels, and rework the story.

What worked at one stage won’t work at the next. Your ICP changes. Your value prop sharpens. Your marketing moves from memes to meaningful trust-building.

You don’t “find” PMF - you earn it, adjust it, and expand it.