Is Product/Market Fit a wrong naming?
Startup Founders, Corporate Innovators or Intrepreneurs build prototypes or minimum viable products and observe customer’s reactions.
They often pick 1 target market (without really knowing why, probably ‘following their guts’) and try to design a product/market fit for that market only. The problem is that it is never validated that that specific target market is the one they need to focus on. Example:
Start-up X is building a 1-click-button smart oven to cook delivered food in just a few minutes. They sell to families, whereas I can’t hold myself to wonder: couldn’t they sell it to businesses, schools, … instead?
The delivery itself would be much easier and they would only need to sell 1 oven for 20 daily meal subscriptions instead of 4. Those potential B2B customers are worth a little interview to measure their interest don’t you think?
Product/Market fit is not a wrong naming. However, too many people interpret product/market fit as: ‘matching (read pushing) your product to a market and make it fit’.
So should we call it market/product fit instead?
Marc Andreessen said it right: product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.
How you call it doesn’t matter, but you better make sure you are developing your product for the right target-market. As we all know, finding the best market/product fit is an iterative process that can keep on going, even to eternity :). But let us get one thing clear:
The product listens to the market, and not vice versa.
It’s great to see that entrepreneurs or intrepreneurs go validate their prototypes out in the field, but what if they could reach a much bigger and more valuable customer segment using the startup’s same product, service or technology, just like start-up X?
It’s not very time-consuming, nor is it expensive and the return can be tremendous: Make a list of target-markets that relate to your product, service or technology offer and go out in the field to talk with them and validate the potential. Find the best possible Product/Market Fit.
