Product Market Fit (PMF) is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand and meets the needs of its target customers effectively. PMF is especially relevant and discussed in the context of hugely successful web businesses that scale. But PMF can apply to both physical and virtual products.
PMF is NOT:
- Minimum Viable Product (MVP): A Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for future product development.
- Rapid sales increase*: This is one potential symptom of a successful PMF, but is not definition of PMF.
- “You’ll know it when you have it” – PMF often feels obvious in retrospect but can be difficult to recognize and achieve.
- PMF is not binary – it’s more of spectrum. Products can have varying degrees of fit, and it can evolve as markets and products change over time.
*There are many reasons for rapid sales increase — a great marketing campaign; unexpected endorsement from an influencer; unexpected market disruption; promotional price. But these could be temporary increases not related to an ultimate PMF.
Who do we have to blame for this jargoney term?
All signs seem to point back to Mark Andreesen (of Netscape and a16z fame), and a blog post he made in 2007 titled “The Only Thing that Matters.” Go read the blog post. No reason for me to re-explain things here.