finding product / market fit: introducing the pmf matrix - presentation by rishi dean to mit sloan...
DESCRIPTION
These slides were used to facilitate a discussion of entrepreneurial MIT alums, mainly from the MIT Sloan business school. My intention was to introduce many of the newer, leaner concepts of early stage start-up development to a group that often sees "technology first" businesses. This presentation centers on the concept of Product / Market Fit: what it is, why it's important, and how to achieve it. I propose my "Product Market Fit Matrix" that helps to characterize the issues of the start-up and presents various frameworks that can help guide development. In a sense the Product / Market Fit Matrix is a meta-framework. For more information please visit: http://www.rishidean.comTRANSCRIPT
[ Using the PMF Matrix to uncover your killer app ]
MIT Sloan Breakfast Club March 12, 2010
Rishi Dean [email protected] www.rishidean.com
Foundingmemberof:
Otherexperiences:
Formal&informalstart‐upadvisor(EIR@MIT)
Hundredsofproductcycles…withscarstoproveit2RishiDean–www.rishidean.com
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6outof1,000funded
60%fail,30%flounder
<10%+returns,<1%getbig
.01%”majorsuccess”Source:
http://bit.ly/startupfailurerates
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1) Whydidyoufail?
2) Whydidyourunoutofmoney?
3) Whydoyouhavenocustomers?
4) Whydidtheyhaveunfilledneeds?
5) Whydidyounotachieveproduct/marketfit?
Uncheckedfalseassumptionskillcompanies
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Startwithafirmvision Design&developspecifications Followa“waterfall”developmentmodel Convergetoamassive“launch” Letthesalesrollin
FAIL
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Source:SteveBlank,The4Steps
toEpiphany
*
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Globalizationincreasescompetition Lowertechnicalbarrierstoentry Increasedcapitalefficiency Costofacquisitionisnearzero
Marketsevolvefaster‘Revolutionary’innovationisharder
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Engineerswanttobuildformassadoptionbyprovidingahighperformanceandresponsivesystemthatwill“satisfy”customers Fearthatreleasing“junk”tooearlywilltickoffcustomersandkillthe
company
Butyoudon’tknowwhatcustomerswant,northeiraccesspatterns,untilyoureleasea“suboptimal”product
Ifyoureleasea“fullyoperational”systemtoolate,itmaynotconformtowhatuser’swantandyou’veoptimizedforthewrongthingdon’tbuildtheelegantthingnoonewilluse
Getfeedback.Learnfast.Movefast…afterall,you’reastartup,right?
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Source:http://bit.ly/engineersparadox
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BEFOREProduct/MarketFit
AFTERProduct/MarketFit
Buildthesales,marketing,anddeliverymachine
Buildthecompany Getbig,fast
Customerdiscovery&validation
Measure,iterate,pivot Burnaslittleaspossible
tosurvive
But,howdoyoufindProduct/Marketfit?See:
http://bit.ly/8YwPIn
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“Manyrightanswers” “Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
“Builditandtheywillcome”
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Strong Weak
Weak
Strong
Figureoutwhereyoureallyare
Differentresourcesandinputswilldetermineyourstartingpoint
Whereyouareshoulddictatemilestones,revenueprojections,fundingrequirements,etc.
Assumeyouknowlessthanyoudo,untilrevenueprovesotherwise
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“Manyrightanswers” “Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
“Builditandtheywillcome”
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Strong Weak
Weak
Strong
Youwillmovebetweenblocksasbusiness/marketevolve,ordiversityacrossproductlines
Youcanremoveuncertaintyovertime,butuncoverothersasyoudigdeeper
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“Manyrightanswers” “Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
“Builditandtheywillcome”
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Strong Weak
Weak
Strong
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Moststart‐upsbeingwithagreatdealofuncertainty–goalisthesame,butstartingpointdiffersdependingonavailableresources
Notmutuallyexclusivemodels–overlappingprinciples:
Prototyping Customerdevelopment MVP
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GAINSLOSSES
SubjectiveValue
(Utility)
1)RapidPrototyping:gainfeedbackfast 2)Cuttothecore:it’shardtotakeaway
3)MeasureEverything:understandwhatworks,andmoreimportantly‐whatdoesn’t
See:http://bit.ly/prototyping See:http://bit.ly/prospecttheory
Source(DaveMcClure):http://www.500hats.com
Weak
“Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Manyrightanswers”
Strong
“Builditandtheywillcome”
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Locatekeymarketswithcompellingdynamics
“Whereelsewoulditwork?”
Pickafewapplications/marketsandidentifyahypothesistosolvefor
Lookformarketsprimedforspeedofinnovationdiffusion
Understandtheflowof$andinjectintoanexistingpattern
Weak
Strong
WhyNot?Rigorousmarketexploration
“Technologyw/oaproblem”
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1) RelativeAdvantage Howmuchbetterisyourinnovationthantheincumbentsolution?
2) Compatibility Howeasilycanyourinnovationfitwiththeexistinginfrastructureandecosystem?
3) Complexity Isyourinnovationeasytoadoptanduse,relativetothecurrentmethod?
4) Observability Howeasilycancustomersseethedifferentiationandbenefitsofyourproduct?
5) Trialability Howeasycancustomerspilotortestyourproduct?
6) SocialAcceptability Doesyourproductimpactcurrentsocialnorms?
7) Regulatory Aretherelegalorbureaucraticissuesrelatedtoyourinnovation?
Source:http://bit.ly/innovationdiffusion
“Builditandtheywillcome”
“Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
WeakStrong
Strong
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Leadusersareeasiestpath:transformanad‐hocsolutiontosomethingmainstream
“Imaginaryassistant”notion
DesignThinkingDesignThinking+Agile
“Manyrightanswers”
Weak
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See:http://bit.ly/webdesignthinking
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Source:IDEOAlsosee:http://bit.ly/webdesignthinking
“Manyrightanswers”
Strong
“Builditandtheywillcome”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
Strong
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Fundamentalfeedbacklooppowersallstartups:
Minimizestotaltimethroughthisloopuntilyoufigure“it”out
Weak
Weak
LeanStartupCustomer+AgileDev’t
“Failsmall,failfast”
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LEARN BUILD
MEASURE
IDEAS
CODEDATA
See:http://startuplessonslearned.com
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Source:SteveBlank,4StepstoEpiphany
“Manyrightanswers” “Goodhypothesis,noconclusions”
“Technologyinsearchofaproblem”
Weak
Weak
ProductDevelopmentWaterfall–butagiletoo
“Builditandtheywillcome”
Strong
Strong
Market/PainUnderstanding
Prod
uct/Rem
edyUnd
erstan
ding
Worksinincrementalorevolutionaryinnovation
Slicker,quicker,better,cheaper
Technology‐drivenproblems(e.g.curecancer,buildateleporter)
Therearespecialcaseswhereafirmvision(bethecustomer)+iterativereleasescanworkwell(e.g.37Signals)
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Embraceignorance Characterizeyoursituation PicktherightstartingpointandemploytherequisiteapproachestofindPMF Setthebusinessgoalsaccordingly Commonthemes:prototype,listen,measure,learn,iterate
Traversethematrix THENscaleupthebusiness
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Blogs LeanStartup:http://startuplessonslearned.com CustomerDev’t:http://steveblank.comLotsmorelikeDaveMcClure,SeanEllis,BrantCooper,AndrewChen,DiegoRodriguez
Books
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CustomerDev’tBible
DesignThinking
Techinsearchofaproblem
Designfortechies
ProdDev’tdoneright
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E‐mail: [email protected] Blog: rishidean.com Twitter: @rishidean