Understanding Product-Market Fit
As a new Product Manager, you’ll encounter an abundance of information and knowledge that can feel a bit overwhelming. However, one crucial concept that you must grasp is Product-Market Fit.
What Exactly is Product-Market Fit?
Product-Market Fit is the measure of whether your product meets a demand or user need. The primary objective of development teams is to pinpoint a group of users with a problem or an unmet requirement and devise a product or service that will fulfill their needs. Although several similar products may exist, it’s crucial to have a unique selling proposition that differentiates you from others. If your product lacks a distinctive advantage or if users can get the same result from one of your competitors, then your product doesn’t have a Product-Market Fit.
MVP: Journey Towards Product Market Fit
A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) refers to the most basic version of your product that still addresses the problem faced by your potential customers. By creating an MVP, you can test your product with your target market and obtain valuable feedback. The concept of an MVP was introduced by Marc Andreessen and popularized by Eric Ries and Steve Blank’s book, The Lean Startup.
The MVP provides a working model of the product you intend to develop, allowing you to test your hypotheses more accurately. It enables you to obtain a better understanding of your product-market fit by giving users an idea of what you plan to build. This approach is vastly different from simply asking your tech friends whether your idea would work. By actually building the product and offering it to your customers for testing, you can obtain invaluable insights and feedback.
Some Questions Product Managers Need to Ask
As product managers, our job is all about finding answers to the question to understand and make sure that our product offer value to the users and won’t fail in the market, there are some important questions you have to ask.
- Is there anyone interested in this product?
- Are they willing to pay money for it?
- Is it addressing an actual issue or contributing genuine worth?
- Is there something unique and superior in comparison to our competitors that it provides?
What if You Don’t Achieve Product-Market Fit
If you’re unable to attain Product-Market Fit, there are two options available. The initial one involves modifying your product, potentially necessitating a pivot to completely alter your product to match your target user’s needs.
The second option is to tap a different market that your product could serve well. You may begin experimenting with your product in other market segments that are experiencing a similar problem to the one you intended to solve. It’s crucial to remember that your Product Vision should not be so inflexible that it prevents you from pivoting or iterating if necessary.
As a Product Manager, it is your duty to guarantee that your product attains product-market fit. Along with executing strategies such as creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) and conducting thorough research, it is vital to incorporate your Product-Market Fit approach into your daily routine. Prioritize your objective of developing a product that fulfills a need and appeals to your intended users.
