The document outlines the product market fit cycle, emphasizing the importance of identifying a minimum viable segment (MVS) and a clear positioning strategy for startups. It discusses key concepts like MVP, pirate metrics, and go-to-market strategies, and stresses the need for efficient scaling only after achieving product/market fit. Additionally, it highlights the significance of testing and iterating on product offerings and marketing strategies to successfully navigate the startup landscape.

1. THE PRODUCT MARKET FIT CYCLE
Carlos Eduardo Espinal @cee
Copyright - Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/deed.en_US

2. A QUICK JARGON BUSTER...
• What is Product / Market Fit
• What is Positioning?
• What is an MVP? and an MVS?
• What are Pirate Metrics?
• What is a Go 2 Market Strategy?
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3. PRODUCT MARKET FIT
• When it is not happening:
Poor conversions, no word of mouth, slow usage growth, long sales cycle, and high
churn
• When it is happening:
“The customers are buying the product just as fast as you can make it — or usage is
growing just as fast as you can add more servers.” - Marc Andreessen
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4. POSITIONING
• What is Positioning? - It is “how you
differentiate yourself in the mind of your
prospect.”
• What is RePositioning? - It is “how you
adjust perceptions about you and/or about
your competitors.”
• ..And... It’s not just about a ‘positioning
statement’
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5. POSITIONING
• Avis ‘WeTry Harder’
• Positioned around customer service & experience
vs. car count or availability which Hertz led
• Re-Positioned the leader as not caring about you
• Success = In 1 year, Avis went from -$3.2 million
to +$1.2 million for the first time in 13 years.
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6. MVP &THE LEAN STARTUP
• Build a ‘good enough’ product that fits
the minimum criteria to test out your
hypothesis
• Measure interactions with the product
• Learn from the results and generate
new ideas
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7. MINIMUMVIABLE SEGMENT (MVS*)
• Building an MVP for a small segment
(vs. the whole market):
• Allows for better differentiation with
out-group competing products
• Allows for easier referrals in-group
• Allows for efficient capital use in
reaching your market
* Defined by Michael J. Skok (NorthbridgeVentures)
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8. PIRATE METRICS* - AARRR
*As defined by Dave McClure
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9. GO 2 MARKET
• Includes key partnerships and key
distribution channels to reach your MVS
• Includes pricing strategies, sales
strategies, and marketing methods
(internet marketing, direct marketing,
PR, etc)
• Note: Make sure to include cost
‘assumptions’
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10. RESUMINGTHE BROADCAST...
• What has been going wrong?
• What is the solution?
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11. HACKERS ARE REALLY GOOD AT
BUILDING
• It is human nature to focus on what you
are good at not on what you suck at
and...
• Most Founders are ‘hackers’ and love
building
so....
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12. FOUNDERS CAN SOMETIMES:
• Get stuck at the “MVP stage”
• Build and Measure quickly but not
necessarily be “Learning”
• Not find Product Market Fit fast enough
(before the money runs out)
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13. THE DIAGNOSIS
• The identification of a specific MinimumViable Segment
• The definition of a clear positioning strategy that shapes their MVP
• The testing of a complimentary go 2 market strategy
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14. DEFINE “THETARGET”
MinimumViable Segment
You cannot be
everything
to everybody
so pick something
for someone
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15. DEFINE “THE BULLET”
• The Positioning Strategy =The Shell
• The MVP =The Projectile
• The Go 2 Market Strategy =The Powder
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16. The Product Market
Fit Cycle
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17. SCALING PRODUCT MARKET FIT
• Find Product Market FitTHEN Scale
• Otherwise = Inefficient Scaling
• Shouldn’t optimize around growth
(growth hacking) until you have found
product/market fit
Sean Ellis’s Growth Stage Pyramid
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18. THE PRODUCT MARKET FIT CYCLE
SUMMARY
• Identify a MVS
• Design your Company’s ‘Bullet’ -
Positioning, MVP, & Go2Market
• Test & Measure w/ Pirate Metrics
• Iterate on MVS or one variable within
Bullet
• Rinse & Repeat or Pivot
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19. THE SEEDCAMP LEARNING PROGRAM
• New Companies go through each part
of the cycle with mentors starting now
& cover the basics of cycle in first week
• Our Program is designed around the
Product Market Fit Cycle
• Annual Program focuses on each aspect
of the cycle but “in depth”
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