Product-Market Fit is Iterative

Good day to every unicorn in the galaxy.

My daughter hates math.

But she loves rainbows.

So I had the idea of creating a video game in which she would practice math and build rainbows with each correct answer.

Her response to having her very own video game created just for her was “Ok.”

She didn’t finish a single round.

I mentioned this to a friend and they said, “But she likes money, right?”

And there we have it.

My next iteration will be to increase the incentives for game play.

Rather than reward her with fully constructed rainbows, I will implement a system whereby each completed rainbow earns her a real-life monetary reward.

This, my friends, is an example of Product-Market Fit as an iterative process.

To accelerate progress, use Build-Measure-Learn loops (described below).

Product-Market Fit is Iterative

You’re unlikely to land on a viable and captivating product version on your first attempt.

Instead of giving up, gather customer feedback and use that to formulate a thesis for your next round of iteration.

In the parlance of the Lean Startup, this is what we call Build-Measure-Learn Loops.

Created by Eric Reis, these loops offer a simple blueprint for iterating your way to better products.

1) Build:

Create a basic product experience to get in front of users.

2) Measure:

Get the product in front of users and see how they respond.

3) Learn:

Collect data on user behavior and apply learnings to the next round of product iteration.

Takeaways

What my initial game lacked was a strong underlying desire or incentive.

The good news is that the first version only took me 45 minutes to build with ChatGPT.

The second version will take about 10 minutes more to add a counter that tracks money earned for every round of play completed.

I’ll report back on how it goes.

-Brian

PS - if you enjoyed this you may want to check out this article on building an MVP from first principles.

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