Genesisism

Hey, I am writing this post to stress on the importance of product/market fit. Product fit is very critical from point of view of marketers and product development team. I would rather call it as Concurrent Business. Concurrent business means that product development is more comprehensive and incorporates critical business functions simultaneously, specifically, marketing and technical. In more traditional business language, you can call it as a blend of market research and product development.

No wonder! a group of techies make a product. They claim they made a great product. Then, after few months, they don't see enough traction and the final words, "We built something that no body wants". Is it really easy to kick off start-ups from the ground? Do you really think that you have made something that is really game changing? Can you gain some immediate traction and in turn, earn some revenue.

For example, you have built a feature Y in your product X based on your brainstorming and intution. However, when you take this product to the actual user, he says, "I don't need it". Then you feel frustrated and think,"I have spent hours of time and energy in building this feature and this person doesn't need it. May be, he is immature enough to understand what I have to offer or he is not the right target audience." Then, you also think that my target customers have to be educated so that they understand the feature. If you are ignorant, you would probably say, he is a fool!

One thing is sure that customers are everything. You are trying to outsmart your own customer. Beware! your customer is not fool! but, you are! If you would have put some effort in understanding what the customer needs and likes, you would have saved your time, effort and money. Some companies call this process as Customer-centric.
I define it as a concurrent business, where product development involves customers, technical team, marketing, sales and your intuition & brainstorming. I am sure, you don't want to be in a situation of grind where you just say, "we built something that no body wants".

What really important is to entail feedback from your early adopters in the process of product development. Just capturing requirements is not enough! It is an iterative process. Build a great relationship with your early adopters and incentivise them. Sometimes, it is not easy to find early adopters. If it is too hard, then probably, you have not thought enough before starting your business. Product must be directly proportional to your potential customer. One thing is sure that if your sales people say, "Product is real hard sell", then your product definitely needs more development or idea is crap. Accept the facts and reality. Face it.

How do you ensure the product market fit? There are a lot of metrics one can put to measure product/market fit. One such powerful metrics was highlighted by Sean Ellis in his most recent interview at Venture Hacks. He says that if 40% of the people you survey for product feedback claim to be disappointed in case your product is absent from the market, your product is ready to accelerate in the market. I strongly recommend to listen to this podcast. Click here


Thank you
GP