Product-market fit

How you know you have it

Marc Andreessen, who popularised the term, described it by how it feels: customers buy as fast as you can serve them, and usage grows on its own. Before it, every user is hard work. More measurable signs are retention that flattens instead of falling to zero, a growing share of new users who come from word of mouth, and users who complain loudly when something breaks.

A common survey test, from Sean Ellis, asks users how they would feel if they could no longer use the product. When about 40 percent or more answer "very disappointed", the product is likely close to fit.

Launch before fit, or after?

Both, in different ways. Small launches to early adopters help you find fit: each launch brings new people to talk to and new feedback. A large launch is best after fit, because the people it brings will stay. Launching big before fit spends your one moment of attention on a product that cannot keep it.

Finding it

Narrow the market before widening the product. Find the group of users who love the product most, learn what they have in common and why they use it, and build for them. Product-market fit in a small market is a better starting point than lukewarm interest from everyone.

Example

A scheduling app gets a burst of sign-ups from a launch, but only a few percent still use it a month later. When the founders interview the ones who stayed, all of them run small dental practices. They rebuild the onboarding for dentists, and retention after a month rises to over 40 percent.

Questions people ask

What does PMF mean?

Product-market fit: a product that a clear market wants enough to keep using and to recommend.

Can you lose product-market fit?

Yes. Markets change, competitors arrive and customer needs move on, so fit has to be kept, not just found once.