Do you product market fit?

We all heard about those amazing start-ups, starting from scratch with an incredible hyper growth! As an example, we can name Airbnb, Uber, pinterest for USA, Alibaba for China and let’s say Blablacar in France!

What do they all have in common?

If you read most of interviews or books from the founders, they refer to a D day in their history. This D day is when their product or service product market fit!!!

They all mention the days before, this early stage, when everything had to be built from scratch with no cash (or a really limited) in bootstraps mode… And like the messiah, the day after arrived! This day is when their products/services meet its market. This alchemy produces a curve of hyper growth, synonymous of traction, conversion, cash, investors but also more troubles… J

But what does it mean product market fit exactly?

Well well well! Beyond the legends, let’s focused on facts and ask yourself what do you need to product market fit?

•           First you need a market
•      Then you need a product/service meeting customers’ expectation or need
•        Finally, you need your customers to understand your products and use it.

Let’s take some example:

First scenario: You are a company specialized in the production and distribution of water melon seeds and you are located in the middle of the Sahara. Do you have a market? Obviously not! Because the culture of water melon needs a huge amount of water, which the Sahara does not have.

2^ND scenario: Now you are still a water melon seeds seller located in the Desert but you found out a process to produce water melon and others fruits or legumes but with really few water. However, you need lots of sun and heat. Do you product market fit? Obviously Yes!

But will you sell millions of those miracle seeds and become in less than 1 year the new Jeff Bezos? I don’t think so, simply because nobody will believe you. Today it is unbelievable to produce water-melon in the middle of Sahara.

Why?

-          Because as that never be done before they can’t project themselves.

-          Because they don’t know how to use it?

-          Can they afford it? Do they have the cash?

-          Do they have the structures, skills or what’s so ever to use?

How many excellent products in the world fail per year because the founders are not able to explain how easy to use the product/service is! Or simply how good is it for them? To grow you need to convert customers on large scale and make them adopt your solution...

So how to convince them? 

Same way, in all those success stories there was the same pattern…

Here is a first way:

-          First of all, forget the strategy “it is the best product in world”. Be focused instead on what your client really wants and not on your (hypothetical) brand awareness and your outstanding technical specifications. In another way, you need first to prove your says before sell it. It is easier to do so when you understand customers frustrations and bring to them a solution which really matter.

-          If your customer does not buy, try to identify your customer ‘s concerns and fears. Too expansive? Value proposition not clear enough? Difficult to use? Identify the risks and then find a solution for each.

-          Understand his codes and his core values. Build a persona who will speak his own language to help your customers to project himself with your product or service.

Here is a second way:

-          First, find the early adopters. What is an early adopter? I like to qualify them in that way… they are obviously customers and their only purpose is to test new products or services until they find the right one able to satisfy all their expectations… Try to convert as much as early adopters as possible and turn them into hardcore fans! Statistically, they represent less than 1%...

-          The second step consists to find gurus or the evangelists… We can also name them influencers, brands ambassadors…. Their purposes? Bring your products/services out of the void where it is stuck for now and turn it into a trend…

At that stage, you may ask yourself what is a trend and how to evaluate it?

Difficult question, so difficult response. But I like the following one…

It is said in the secret services when a phenomenon reaches 5% of the population targeted it’s just a matter of time before it becomes a main stream…

What does that mean main stream? 30%? 50%? 80%? That is another subject.

Finally there is a third way, called the blue ocean strategy. This is a really big and complex subject which might be the reason of a future publication.

So to conclude, until the early 2000, the key to unlock the market was based on a mix between the size of your marketing/communication budget, innovative tech and the key advantage of success you had over your competitors. Nowadays the barriers to get into a market are more focused on producing the right product for the right customer with the right message.

Sebastien Vanhoecke