Product Market fit framework

/ Product Market Fit / By

This five-step framework combines some of the best recommendations about how to get to product market fit.  

How do you get to the almighty product-market fit?

Honestly, no one can tell you for sure. When you start a business, you are doing something no one has done before. So by definition, no one knows exactly what the journey to product-market fit will look like for you.

How do you get to the almighty product-market fit? Honestly, no one can tell you for sure.

When you start a business, you are doing something no one has done before. So by definition, no one knows exactly what the journey to product-market fit will look like for you.

So like anything a startup does, think of your journey to product-market fit as an experiment. A smart starting point for your experiment is to try out the ways that have worked well for others.

And that’s exactly what this framework does. It’s based on some of the best advice out there from seasoned entrepreneurs, on the critical elements of a product-market fit plan.

The advice in this area is remarkably consistent, which is a promising sign (and not often the case). This framework includes elements from Eric Ries (Lean Startup), Y Combinator, Todd Jackson (First Round Capital), Jason Cohen (A Smart Bear), and many others.

The advice in this area is remarkably consistent, which is a promising sign (and not often the case).

This framework includes elements from Eric Ries (Lean Startup), Y Combinator, Todd Jackson (First Round Capital), Jason Cohen (A Smart Bear), and many others.

Write down your assumptions

No matter how much you want to start developing your product, pause for just a moment. One of the worst and most common mistakes founders make is to spend months on building something, only to hear from the first user that they got it all wrong.

No matter how much you want to start developing your product, pause for just a moment.

One of the worst and most common mistakes founders make is to spend months on building something, only to hear from the first user that they got it all wrong.

Instead, write down everything you know (or assume) about:

  1. The problem you want to solve
  2. The market you want to address
  3. How you want to create new value in that market (and differentiate yourself from the competition)

Your three answers should algin with and reinforce each other. They form the basis for your go-to-market and product-market fit strategy. If you want to know more about how to formulate a good and actionable strategy as a startup, take a look at the five-question strategy framework.

Your three answers should algin with and reinforce each other. They form the basis for your go-to-market and product-market fit strategy.

If you want to know more about how to formulate a good and actionable strategy as a startup, take a look at the five-question strategy framework.

Validate with the market

After you have your initial assumptions, it’s time to talk to the market and find out how wrong you are.

Joke aside, it is of course possible that your assumptions turn out to be right. Especially if you know your market well from previous experience.

But it’s important to stay open minded. When we have great ideas, we can easily get defensive and turn a blind eye to signs that we may need to adjust them.

Don’t think too much about how you should test your assumptions with the people in your target market. The only way to really understand them is to talk to them directly.

“Founders, if you’re not talking to your customers, you’re guessing. Stop guessing and start understanding.”

Hiten Shah

Find out where you can reach them and send an honest email or message explaining your situation.

You can even offer to compensate them for their time. This will show them that you appreciate the time they are giving you, and most of them will probably say no to your money anyways.

I am not saying that other methods, like setting up a landing page or sending out surveys, are bad. But they should always be combined with one-on-one conversations that allow you to really dive into the minds of your target audience.

When you talk to someone, try to forget about your idea and just focus on exploring and understanding people’s problems. No one wants to tell you that your idea is bad, so they will be nice and say that your solutions sound great and they would buy it from you, wheather that’s true or not.

When you talk to someone, try to forget about your idea and just focus on exploring and understanding people’s problems.

No one wants to tell you that your idea is bad, so they will be nice and say that your solutions sound great and they would buy it from you, wheather that’s true or not.

If you realize that your assumptions are wrong, go back to the first step and start the process over again.

Build an MVP

Now that you understand the problem, it’s time to develop your idea for a solution. Yes, I wrote “idea” “because you don’t know if the thing you have in your head really is what the market wants. So now you start the famous “build, test and iterate” loop.

Now that you understand the problem, it’s time to develop your idea for a solution.

Yes, I wrote “idea” “because you don’t know if the thing you have in your head really is what the market wants. So now you start the famous “build, test and iterate” loop.

Just as you validated your basic assumptions, you now need to validate your solution. MVP stands for «Minimum Viable Product», which refers to the simplest product that still gets the job done.

Take a look at the Startup MVP Framework for a step-by-step guide to building the right MVP for your unique situation.

A funny example of an MVP product.
A funny example of an MVP product.

There are many people who say that the term MVP leads to products being launched on the market that are so crappy that not even your early adapters want to use them. And there is probably some truth to that.

Two-time Unicorn founder Jason Cohen, for example, suggests using the term SLC instead. A simple, lovable but complete product. In doing so, he’s trying to account for the fact that even your first customers have certain expectations that you want to fulfill in order to wow them.

Eric Rise himself, creator of the “lean startup method» and father of the term MVP, suggests to not get hung up on the definition of the term, but instead asking yourself:

“Whatever the hypothesis is that we are trying to test, what is the most efficient way to get to the validation we need to say whether it is true or not”.

Every case is different. Maybe a simple PowerPoint deck or a clickable design mockup is a good start for you. Or if you’re building a marketplace, maybe you can test your solution idea in a Facebook group. And in some cases, you may need to build a full-fledged product to get feedback and test your hypothesis.

Every case is different. Maybe a simple PowerPoint deck or a clickable design mockup is a good start for you. Or if you’re building a marketplace, maybe you can test your solution idea in a Facebook group.

And in some cases, you may need to build a full-fledged product to get feedback and test your hypothesis.

Collect feedback

As soon as your first customers have your product in their hands, collect all the feedback you get. But you don’t just want to collect bugs, complaints or feature requests, you also want to really understand how they use (or often don’t use) your product.

As soon as your first customers have your product in their hands, collect all the feedback you get.

But you don’t just want to collect bugs, complaints or feature requests, you also want to really understand how they use (or often don’t use) your product.

Conduct test-sessions with your customers where you observe them using your product, or prepare short interviews after the first use.

If the feedback reveals fundamental flaws in your solution or you realize that you are targeting the wrong market, go back to step one and adjust your assumptions.

Prioritize feedback

This step is more important than it might seem. After the first usage, you will have a long list of improvements and requests from your first users. Deciding which of these you want to focus on is crucial for your path to product-market fit.

Your top priority is to make your existing users happy. So focus on the things that they need and that will keep them using your product. In other words, focus on retention.

It’s easy to give in to the temptation to build new things that will allow you to sell to more people. But your goal at this stage should not be to grow, but to build something that your initial market really loves. Attracting new customers and growing will be much easier if your product has market fit.

Take a look at the Startup Focus Framework to find out more about when you should focus on which goals.

Once you know what you need to focus on, you can continue to improve your product and start the cycle all over again until you find that product-market fit.

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