This One Formula Will Help You Achieve Product/Market Fit

The formula 𝗜𝗖𝗣 + 𝗩𝗣 + 𝗖𝗧𝗔 = 𝗘𝗫𝗣.𝗩1 outlines your startup’s first steps toward achieving Product/Market Fit, which is…

“the only thing that matters.”
- Marc Andreessen

Once you understand it (hopefully by the end of this article), you’ll have the most critical tool for building your P/MF strategy.

I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments (or feel free to DM me).

Let’s break 𝗜𝗖𝗣 + 𝗩𝗣 + 𝗖𝗧𝗔 = 𝗘𝗫𝗣.𝗩1 down:

𝗜𝗖𝗣 = 𝗜𝗱𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗹𝗲

This is your ideal customer profile, essentially the customer you’ll find easiest to acquire. Why is this important? You can only truly discover this with hypotheses, experiments, and conclusions.

𝗩𝗣 = 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

In other words, the value proposition. What can you offer this ideal customer that they can’t refuse or at least have to listen to?

Hint:
It’s not about you;
it’s about the customer,
their problem,
and their sought-after, desirable future.

If your proposition discusses how great you are or how amazing your tech is, prepare for low conversions.
If it shows the impact on your ideal customer’s life, that’s an exciting experiment!

𝗖𝗧𝗔 = 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

A call to action is how you can say if your proposition truly interests the ideal customer. It can be anything, like:

• signing up for a newsletter
• attending a webinar
• joining a waiting list
• scheduling a sales call
• VIP onboarding
• Anything else that brings the customer closer to you.

𝗘𝗫𝗣.𝗩1 = 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗩𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 1

I made this part up so the formula looks good, but it has a meaning.
Experiment Version 1 is the first experiment you conduct with the market. It simultaneously tests both your ICP and value proposition hypotheses.

That’s it!
Things get easier once you understand (and validate) who your ideal customer is and why they should care about you. You’ll figure out

• The scope of your MVP
• Your Go-To-Markert Strategy
• Your CAC baseline
• Your sales pitch and playbook
• scheduling a sales call
• You’ll even get leads and maybe even early customers.

Now, this might seem very tactical, and yes, experiments are very tactical, but as Sun Tzu said in “The Art of War,” “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory.”

He continued, “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”

So, whats your P/MF Strategy? Need a hand?