Product-market fit is the magical moment in a company's life when the product becomes a must-have in the eyes of the customers, which typically suggests that the product generates actual value. Therefore, product-market fit is usually critical for the company's long-term growth and the success of any business.

Product-market fit is the stage in your startup life when customers love your service and love you as a company, it's when "word of mouth" starts to work in the best possible manner. This is most certainly the ultimate objective of every organization: to deliver enough benefits to clients to become your product's supporters and allow you to build your client base. Considering this, it is no longer surprising why every startup company should orient on achieving their product-market fit.

So, this article goes into more about Product-Market fit, what it is and how to find it, we will also explain some of the significant factors that will help you find the product-market fit for your startup.

Customer Interaction

Wondering what you should do for your product to reach that magic moment? One of the most essential factors in finding the product-market fit is customer interaction. Using customer insight in product development generally allows the company to create more valuable services that better solve customer needs. 

So yea, customers matter the most. Customer feedback helps the product to progress in the right direction. These are the insights that will assist you in avoiding designing the incorrect functionality in the product. Overall, this improves the whole development process since you have an opportunity to find out what is wrong or right, and that way, you also manage to reduce development costs.

Receiving customer feedback is a well-known approach to integrating customers in product development. Customers that participate in beta testing test new services or updated versions, finding any issues before they are launched to the market. This sort of method gives companies a crucial input on the performance of a particular product before it is released to the broader public. So generally, the advantages of receiving user feedback promote long-term benefits for the company, and eventually, this is how they manage to find the right product-market fit.

What's more? Another thing to mention is the Product-market Fit Framework Questions that usually are asked in the surveys. The common question is: How will your clients feel if your company stops working tomorrow? This technique evaluates how many people appreciate your product and measures how many users are there who would be upset if they could no longer have your service. This is a simple test with only the following answers:

• Very dissatisfied 
• A little disappointed  
• Not disappointed

If you discover that more than 40% of your customers would be "extremely dissatisfied" if they did not have your product, there is a strong probability that you will be able to achieve product-market fit in a short period of time and develop a "must-have" product for your loyal customers. After this type of survey, the company might go forward with a qualitative approach to understanding "why" people use their product, assisting the startup in developing and retaining more beloved customers.

After all, here is one important quote about Product-Market Fit: ''The life of any startup can be divided into two parts — before product/market fit and after product/market fit.'' — Marc Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz General Partner, and Serial Entrepreneur. So in case, 40% of your customers think they will be very unhappy if your company shut down, it definitely means that you're on the right track.

Defining the Right Minimum Viable Product

It is impossible not to mention the concept of Minimum Viable Product (MVP) while talking about finding the product-market fit. Building the right MVP is one of the perfect ways to reach the company's objective. The primary goal is to produce a viable product that provides customers with immediate value while reducing expenditures and employing data to increase customer value steadily.

MVP is the one that evaluates market expectations, reconsiders product concepts and methodology, and decides where to invest resources in product development. As a result, great MVPs are incredibly powerful and one of the essential strategies in finding a product-market fit.

Your startup's objective is to iterate till you have an MVP that clients feel is viable. Then, present a product version to your target customers to collect input and include that insight into the product. You must also gather information from potential users to see whether it meets their requirements or is an option they would appreciate. It allows you to improve design, content, mistakes, errors, and other functional qualities.

Before launching the finished version of the product, you can also determine how efficient your product will be for your customers. Therefore, it is not surprising that getting the right MVP plays a significant role in defining your product-market fit for your startup.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you determine the market fit for a product?

In order to determine the market fit for your product, you are required to select the target audience and have active customer interaction. Using consumer feedback in product development helps a firm build more useful offerings that address customer problems more effectively. Besides, you are recommended to define your product's value proposition, which means finding out how a product will outperform its competitors in meeting customer demands. On top of that, defining the right minimum viable product is also crucial in determining your product-market fit.

Who determines product/market fit?

Target customers are one of the most influential people that play an essential role in determining a product-market fit for your startup. Product-market fit occurs when the supplied product becomes a must-have in the eyes of the customer, implying that the product provides considerable value. Therefore, customers are the principal actors in product development as they provide companies with critical feedback on the performance of a specific product before it is launched to the public.

How do you define market fit?

Product market fit is all about understanding who your buyers are and what they say about you as a company. This is, without a doubt, the ultimate goal of every business: to provide enough advantages to clients so that they become advocates of your product and help you to grow your customer base. Product-market fit is often crucial for any organization's long-term growth and profitability.