product-market-fit
Product-Market Fit
Frameworks for measuring, achieving, and maintaining the critical milestone where your product satisfies strong market demand.
Overview
Product-Market Fit (PMF) is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand - the inflection point where a product becomes a "must-have" for a well-defined market segment.
Core Principle: PMF is not a destination, it's a milestone that gives you permission to scale. Maintaining it requires continuous attention to customer needs and market evolution.
Key Insight: You can't manufacture PMF through marketing or sales tactics. PMF comes from deeply understanding a specific market segment and building something they desperately need. Scaling before PMF is the number one killer of startups.
Historical Context:
- Term coined by Marc Andreessen (2007)
- Operationalized by Sean Ellis with 40% rule (2010)
- Systematized by Rahul Vohra with Superhuman PMF Engine (2017)
When to Use This Skill
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