Sachin Rekhi
Thoughts on product management & entrepreneurship.
Top 50 Resources on Product/Market Fit
One of the critical journeys for any new product is finding product/market fit. Marc Andreessen, who coined the term, described it as being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.
Despite its simple definition, most new products fail because they never achieve this elusive fit. This challenge plagues both startups creating their first products and established companies trying to diversify their offerings. We can all recall notable product failures like Viddy, Quibi, and Google Wave. Many more fail quietly without much attention.
As a seasoned entrepreneur, I’ve been on a mission to learn the best ways to achieve product/market fit with each new product to avoid common pitfalls. Over the years, I’ve gathered some of the best resources on the subject by reading countless essays, books, and watching numerous videos. Now, I want to share a curated list of these top resources to help you increase your chances of finding product/market fit for your own product.
These resources cover various aspects: defining product/market fit, understanding its importance, fostering a culture of experimentation to pivot toward product/market fit, measuring it, and exploring case studies of startups on their journey to achieve it.
While these resources don’t guarantee success, being familiar with the concepts, tools, and processes they discuss will undoubtedly improve your odds.
Essays
– The only thing that matters – Marc Andreessen
– Why You Should Find Product-Market Fit Before Sniffing Around For Venture Money – Andy Rachleff
– 12 Things about Product-Market Fit – Tren Griffin
– Fundamentals of Product-Market Fit – Andy Sparks
– How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit – Rahul Vohra
– Using Product/Market Fit to Drive Sustainable Growth – Sean Ellis
– The Idea Maze – Chris Dixon
– Why premature scaling fails: The Traction Treadmill – Andrew Chen
– Zero to Product/Market Fit – Andrew Chen
– The Never Ending Road to Product Market Fit – Brian Balfour
– Four Fits for $100M+ Growth – Brian Balfour
– How To Build a Minimum Viable Company – Ann Miura-Ko
– Product/Market Fit: What it really means, How to Measure it, and Where to find it – Eric Jorgenson
– Product Market Fit – Marty Cagan
– Before You Grow – Sam Altman
– Experiments That Lead to Product-Market Fit – Jeff Bussgang
– 21 Solid Ways to Validate your Minimum Viable Product – Shrikant Srivastava
– Try More Things – Ev Williams
– Know Your Customers’ “Jobs to Be Done” – Clayton Christensen
– Do Pivots Matter? – Steve Blank
– The Revenge of the Fat Guy – Ben Horowitz
– A New Way to Think About Product-Market Fit – Erez Druk
– Product-Market Fit is a Broken Concept. There’s a Better Way. – Rand Fishkin
– A Quantitative Approach to Product Market Fit – Tribe Capital
– The Burn Multiple – David Sacks
– Casey’s Guide to Finding Product/Market Fit – Casey Winters
– The best metric for determining quantitative product market fit – Jeff Chang
– How to know if you’ve got product-market fit – Lenny Rachitsky
– What it feels like when you’ve found product-market fit – Lenny Rachitsky
– How to tell if you have product/market fit – Merci Victoria Grace
– Finding product-market fit… again! – Tido Carriero
– A Lean Alternative to a Business Plan: Documenting Your Product/Market Fit Hypotheses – Sachin Rekhi
Videos
– Finding a Compelling Product Market Fit – Andy Rachleff
– A Playbook for Achieving Product Market Fit – Dan Olsen
– The Foolproof Formula for Finding Product-Market Fit – Rahul Vohra
– The Art of Pivoting Towards Product/Market Fit – Hiten Shah
– The Real Product Market Fit – Michael Siebel
– Product-Market Fit Redefined – Ann Miura-Ko
– How to Evaluate Startup Ideas – Kevin Hale
– Timebox Your Way to Startup Product Market Fit – Garry Tan
– How to Find Product Market Fit – David Rusenko
– How to Find Product Market Fit – Peter Reinhardt
– The Hunt for Product/Market Fit – Sachin Rekhi
Books
– The Four Steps to the Epiphany – Steve Blank
– The Lean Startup – Eric Ries
– Zero to One – Peter Thiel
– The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development – Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits
– Running Lean – Ash Maurya
– The Lean Product Playbook – Dan Olsen
– Competing Against Luck – Clayton Christensen
– Continuous Discovery Habits – Teresa Torres
– The Mom Test – Rob Fitzpatrick
Want to accelerate your product career?
I’ve created a course based on more than 15 years of product experience to help PMs enhance their skills. Join the next cohort of Mastering Product Management.
Are you building a new product?
Discover how to use the Deliberate Startup methodology for finding product/market fit. Join the next cohort of Finding Product/Market Fit.
Enjoyed this essay?
Subscribe to get my monthly essays on product management and entrepreneurship delivered to your inbox.
About
My name is Sachin Rekhi, and I’m the Founder & CEO of Notejoy, a fast and efficient notes app for you and your team.