03 / Challenge
Find Product-Market Fit
When looking at successful startups you might think “What a great idea” and “I wish I’d thought of that”. While coming up with an idea might only take a few minutes of your time, coming up with an idea that could turn into a successful business takes way more than that. It needs Product-Market Fit, and it's often what investors look for.
Dan Olsen’s “Product-Market Fit Pyramid” visualised as a sailboat
What is Product-Market Fit and why do you need it?
To put the concept simply, it’s best visualised by Dan Olsen’s “Product-Market Fit Pyramid” in his book The Lean Product Playbook.
The "fit" is achieved when the product you are building, including your value proposition, product feature sets and user experience (UX) meets the market demand which are the underserved needs of your target customer.
The “why” is simple, you need it for sustainable growth (and sometimes investment funding). And to put it into our favourite analogy, to start scaling without having the Product-Market Fit is just like setting off on your voyage with a broken sail, and we all know it won’t take you too far.
How do you know if you have Product-Market Fit?
We often get these comments from clients:
- “I’ve worked in this industry for a long time and I know this is needed.”
- “I was able to sell it already to some customers", and
- “I am the exact target user, and it’s meeting my needs”.
Does this mean that they’ve had Product-Market Fit? Not necessarily!
Signs of lacking Product-Market Fit
01 / symptom
Little to no users
You have identified a real problem that your target users are struggling with, and you’ve built a solution. People seem interested in it, but nobody is using it.
02 / symptom
Users are not paying customers
You have built a product, and you've already got customers subscribing to try it, but nobody is buying it in the end.
03 / symptom
Too much customisation work
You have got paying customers for the product you've built (great!), but each customer seems to want different customised solutions built on top of it.
No fit yet? No worries!
We are here to help you build a solid ship for smooth sailing ⛵️.
01 / service
Research, research, research
We can't say it enough, and that's how important research is. To meet the underserved needs of your customer, we first need to know who they are and what they desire.
03 / service
Test and iterate
Set the metrics and start validating. Before putting the prototype in front of your target users for testing, we first need to define what success looks like and how to measure it. Once it's in place, we test and iterate until we reach the target.
Ahoy!
I'm Hannes
Captain & Design lead
If you’re drowning in client requests, complex prioritisation exercises and interface patterns, let us know. We’ll come and save your soul!