The journey to finding product/market fit is crucial for any new product. This concept, emphasized by Marc Andreessen, means being in a market that can be satisfied by your product. Although it sounds simple, many new products fail to achieve this fit, whether they’re from new startups or established organizations trying to expand. Examples of famous product failures include Viddy, Quibi, and Google Wave, while many others fail quietly without recognition.
As a serial entrepreneur, I’ve been dedicated to figuring out how to achieve product/market fit for each new product I develop to avoid common pitfalls. Over the years, I’ve gathered a wealth of top-tier resources on this topic. After diving into hundreds of essays, books, and videos, I wanted to share a curated list of the best resources that can greatly enhance your chances of finding product/market fit for your product.
These resources cover various aspects, including defining product/market fit, explaining its importance, fostering a culture of experimentation to pivot towards product/market fit, measuring it, and providing case studies of startups’ journeys to achieving it.
While these resources don’t guarantee success, understanding the mental models, tools, and processes they present will significantly boost your chances.
Essays:
– “The only thing that matters” by Marc Andreessen
– “Why You Should Find Product-Market Fit Before Sniffing Around For Venture Money” by Andy Rachleff
– “12 Things about Product-Market Fit” by Tren Griffin
– “Fundamentals of Product-Market Fit” by Andy Sparks
– “How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit” by Rahul Vohra
– “Using Product/Market Fit to Drive Sustainable Growth” by Sean Ellis
– “The Idea Maze” by Chris Dixon
– “Why premature scaling fails: The Traction Treadmill” by Andrew Chen
– “Zero to Product/Market Fit” by Andrew Chen
– “The Never Ending Road to Product Market Fit” by Brian Balfour
– “Four Fits for $100M+ Growth” by Brian Balfour
– “How To Build a Minimum Viable Company” by Ann Miura-Ko
– “Product/Market Fit: What it really means, How to Measure it, and Where to find it” by Eric Jorgenson
– “Product Market Fit” by Marty Cagan
– “Before You Grow” by Sam Altman
– “Experiments That Lead to Product-Market Fit” by Jeff Bussgang
– “21 Solid Ways to Validate your Minimum Viable Product” by Shrikant Srivastava
– “Try More Things” by Ev Williams
– “Know Your Customers’ ‘Jobs to Be Done'” by Clayton Christensen
– “Do Pivots Matter?” by Steve Blank
– “The Revenge of the Fat Guy” by Ben Horowitz
– “A New Way to Think About Product-Market Fit” by Erez Druk
– “Product-Market Fit is a Broken Concept. There’s a Better Way.” by Rand Fishkin
– “A Quantitative Approach to Product Market Fit” by Tribe Capital
– “The Burn Multiple” by David Sacks
– “Casey’s Guide to Finding Product/Market Fit” by Casey Winters
– “The best metric for determining quantitative product market fit” by Jeff Chang
– “How to know if you’ve got product-market fit” by Lenny Rachitsky
– “What it feels like when you’ve found product-market fit” by Lenny Rachitsky
– “How to tell if you have product/market fit” by Merci Victoria Grace
– “Finding product-market fit… again!” by Tido Carriero
– “A Lean Alternative to a Business Plan: Documenting Your Product/Market Fit Hypotheses” by Sachin Rekhi
Videos:
– “Finding a Compelling Product Market Fit” by Andy Rachleff
– “A Playbook for Achieving Product Market Fit” by Dan Olsen
– “The Foolproof Formula for Finding Product-Market Fit” by Rahul Vohra
– “The Art of Pivoting Towards Product/Market Fit” by Hiten Shah
– “The Real Product Market Fit” by Michael Siebel
– “Product-Market Fit Redefined” by Ann Miura-Ko
– “How to Evaluate Startup Ideas” by Kevin Hale
– “Timebox Your Way to Startup Product Market Fit” by Garry Tan
– “How to Find Product Market Fit” by David Rusenko
– “How to Find Product Market Fit” by Peter Reinhardt
– “The Hunt for Product/Market Fit” by Sachin Rekhi
Books:
– “The Four Steps to the Epiphany” by Steve Blank
– “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries
– “Zero to One” by Peter Thiel
– “The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development” by Brant Cooper and Patrick Vlaskovits
– “Running Lean” by Ash Maurya
– “The Lean Product Playbook” by Dan Olsen
– “Competing Against Luck” by Clayton Christensen
– “Continuous Discovery Habits” by Teresa Torres
– “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick
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About
I’m Sachin Rekhi, Founder & CEO of Notejoy, a fast and focused notes app for you and your team.
Explore more essays and videos on various aspects of product management on my website.