Product Market Fit
I recently reviewed a digital product that had been developed in an organisation over the course of the previous two years. The product was incomplete and the key person developing it had left the organisation. However, the product represented an investment by the organisation, and something they hoped would provide value to others. The question the team had was – what do we do with this product now?
I provided an independent review of the product and revealed several red flags about its status and how it might be leveraged in future. One thing stood out. The product specifications were listed as the value proposition. Prof. Tim Kastelle and I observed this common mistake many times during our delivery of Lean Launch Pad (ON accelerator) and business model innovation training at CSIRO. When a value proposition is specification led, it completely ignores something called:
Product – Market fit
It provides a strong indication that either developers/inventors/designers/etc haven’t listened to their target market or are so blind to the potential user, all they can see is the greatness of their product. In short, it wasn’t a good sign that the product development process had adequately engaged with its intended market.
No matter how amazing your product’s specifications are, they alone are not a value proposition. A product specification will not translate customer value and benefits those specifications provide your target market.
Here is a basic example:
Product Specification - 2 x faster battery charging
Value proposition – More time using, less time charging
See the difference? One is a product feature, the other is how that feature benefits the user. Another way to view this is the specification is internally focused, whereas the value proposition is externally focused. Subtle but very important.
The review I provided pointed this and a few other key design issues out to the product owners. Unfortunately, my recommendation was that the product represented significant organisational risk and any additional work would be fruitless as it couldn’t resolve fundamental design issues. This was a sad result as the original intentions of the product were good, however the development pathway lacked good design, oversight and was tone deaf to the product user and market it was intended to serve.
For anyone developing a product or technology (physical or digital), this can all be easily avoided if you listen to your intended user/client/market and build that feedback into your product. Market insights are GOLD for any new product development. Don’t ignore that step.
