“When a great team meets a lousy market, the market wins. When a lousy team meets a great market, the market wins. When a great team meets a great market, something special happens.” Andy Rachleff

One of the most common reasons why startups fail is “premature scaling”. That means they spend a lot of money on growing before they even found their product-market fit. Finding the product-market fit is crucial for the vitality of a startup.

Product-Market Fit

What is a product-market fit?

“The term product-market fit describes ‘the moment when a startup finally finds a widespread set of customers that resonate with its product’.” Eric Ries

A product-market fit happens when you have a killer product and you’ve found a perfect market for it. Subsequently, a lot of people want to buy your product, and they want to buy it now, which is why the growth of the startup skyrockets. You can screw up almost everything, but if you have a product-market fit you will succeed. After all, the customers want your product no matter what.

How to create a product-market fit?

“Getting the product right means finding a product-market fit. It does not mean launching the product. It means getting to the point where the market accepts your product and wants more of it.” Fred Wilson

A well-thought process of creating a product-market fit is crucial for both the growth of the startup and providing the customers with what they really need. In order to do that you have to understand what kinds of problems are your customers facing and what can you do in order to solve them? While doing so, make sure that you’re as precise as possible. The best way to attract customers to your product is a clear explanation in your brand story on how you’re going to solve the problems they’ve been facing.

How to know whether you’ve achieved the product-market fit?

A good way to know whether your product is loved by the customers or not is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). Customers can score your product/service with a score from 0 to 10 and provide you with their essential feedback. This way you’ll know whether you’re on the right track or not.

If the product sells without marketing you know you’ve achieved it. However, the market is constantly changing due to the changing needs of the customers and the actions of the competitors. Make sure to adapt your product to the needs of the customer, and always work on improving it.

Expanding your startup before making sure that you have a product-market fit doesn’t make sense, and it will only slow you down. Think first, then react!

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