1. 10 STEPS TO
PRODUCT/MARKET FIT
hashtag: #startupfest
ASH MAURYA
@ashmaurya
http://www.ashmaurya.com

2. products
9/10 startups fail

3. 66% drastically change
their original plans

4. Not a better Plan A but a path
to a plan that works.

5. Lean Startup is a systematic process for iterating from
Plan A to a plan that works before
running out of resources.

6. Plan that works = Scalable, repeatable, business model

7. Product/Market Fit is the first thing that matters.

8. via Tara Hunt (@missrogue)

9. Agenda: 10 Steps to Product/Market Fit
1. Document your Plan A
2. Tackle the riskiest parts first
3. Maximize for speed, learning, and focus

10. Agenda: 10 Steps to Product/Market Fit
1. Document your Plan A
2. Tackle the riskiest parts first
3. Maximize for speed, learning, and focus

11. Reasonably smart people can rationalize anything
but entrepreneurs are especially gifted at this.

12. Business Model versus Business Plan

13. Business Model versus Business Plan
A document investors make you write
that they don’t read

14. Business Model versus Business Plan
A single diagram of your business

15. Problem Solution Unique Value Unfair Customer
Proposition Advantage Segments
Top 3 problems Top 3 features
Single, clear, Can’t be easily Target
compelling copied or customers
message that bought
states why you
are different and
Key Metrics worth buying Channels
Key activities Path to
you measure customers
Cost Structure Revenue Streams
Customer Acquisition Costs Revenue Model
Distribution Costs Life Time Value
Hosting Revenue
People, etc. Gross Margin
PRODUCT MARKET
Lean Canvas is adapted from The Business Model Canvas (http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com) and is licensed under the
Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Un-ported License.

16. 1 Your product is NOT “the product”.

17. Your “product” is NOT the product
Problem Solution Unique Unfair Customer
Value Advantage Segments
Proposition
Key Metrics Channels
Cost Structure Revenue Streams

18. Your “business model” IS the product
Problem Solution Unique Unfair Customer
Value Advantage Segments
Proposition
Key Metrics Channels
Cost Structure Revenue Streams

19. 2 Brainstorm multiple models and
prioritize where to start.

20. Brainstorm possible models
Time

21. Prioritize where to start
1. Customer Pain Level
2. Ease of Reach
3. Price/Gross Margin
4. Market Size
Time

22. Agenda: 10 Steps to Product/Market Fit
1. Document your Plan A
2. Tackle the riskiest parts first
3. Maximize for speed, learning, and focus

23. Identify the riskiest parts of your model
Time

24. 3 Understand the three stages
of a startup.

25. 3 Stages of a Startup
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3

26. 3 Stages of a Startup
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
Do I have a problem worth solving?

27. 3 Stages of a Startup
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
Have I built something people want?

28. 3 Stages of a Startup
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
How do I accelerate growth?

29. Before Product/Market Fit
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
Focus: Validated Learning
Experiments: Pivots
Terrain: Qualitative

30. After Product/Market Fit
Problem/Solution Product/Market
Scale
Fit Fit
Focus: Validated Learning Focus: Growth
Experiments: Pivots Experiments: Optimizations
Terrain: Qualitative Terrain: Quantitative

31. 4 Focus on the right macro metrics.

32. Key Metrics
Acquisition How do users find you?
Activation Do users have a great first experience?
Retention Do users come back?
Revenue How do you make money?
Referral Do users tell others?

33. Before Product/Market Fit
Acquisition How do users find you?
Activation Do users have a great first experience?
Retention Do users come back?
Revenue How do you make money?
Referral Do users tell others?
Value metrics

34. After Product/Market Fit
Acquisition
Activation
Retention Growth metrics
Revenue
Referral

35. Agenda: 10 Steps to Product/Market Fit
1. Document your Plan A
2. Tackle the riskiest parts first
3. Maximize for speed, learning, and focus

37. Speed

38. Learning
Speed

39. Focus
Learning
Speed

40. The optimal
learning loop
Premature Speed
Optimization Chasing your
tail
Learning Focus
Run out of
resources

41. 5 Formulate falsifiable hypotheses.

42. Too Vague: Being known as an “expert” will drive early adopters
Specific and Testable: Blog post will drive >100 early sign-ups

43. 6 Architect for learning.

46. Landing Page > Pricing > Signup

47. Landing Page > Pricing > Signup

48. Landing Page > Pricing > Signup

49. 7 Architect for speed.

50. Most learning happens
Some learning
here
Requirements Development QA Release
Very little learning

51. Most learning happens
Some learning
here
Continuous
Requirements Release
Deployment
Shorten cycle time

52. 8 Go only as fast as you can learn.

53. BACKLOG IN-PROGRESS (1) DONE

54. BACKLOG IN-PROGRESS (1) DONE

55. BACKLOG IN-PROGRESS (1) DONE

56. VALIDATED
LEARNING
BACKLOG IN-PROGRESS (1) DONE

57. 9 Validate Qualitatively, Verify Quantitatively.

58. Qualitative Quantitative
Start here Verify with data

59. The ideal conversion dashboard is part analytics
and part customer relationship management.

60. 10 Systematically test your model.

61. Systematically test your model
Time

62. Systematically test your model
Time

63. Systematically test your model
Time

64. Systematically test your model
Time

65. Systematically test your model
Time

66. Systematically test your model
...
Time

67. Systematically test your model
...
Time

68. Questions?
RUNNING LEAN
http://RunningLeanHQ.com
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Ash Maurya
twitter: ashmaurya
blog: http://www.ashmaurya.com