The Role of MVPs and the Product Evolution to Achieving Product Market Fit

McCabe mentions the importance of understanding your customer, particularly early adopters of your MVP. These, in large part, will give voice to your product’s robustness against the competition. In addition, he asserts these early adopters will form the driving voice behind your product at the onset, stating 

“… if we don’t have infinite marketing dollars and we have drip feeding, word of mouth marketing backing us right now, [and] we’re getting to that point of building that MVP and getting in a healthy position traction-wise, holding on to your customers, listening to them, and rewarding them for being those early adopters that took the plunge is crucial”. 

Developing this rewards system for customers in its early stages can benefit the company the long term. Additionally, establishing loyalty from early adopters helps validate an MVP’s market fit. The influx of adopters of a product serves as an indicator of market demand, an indicator that potential investors judge for potential investment.  Without this market validation it can become increasingly difficult for startups to remain afloat as they seek to bring their solution to a wider audience.  

On a recent TECH Uncensored episode titled “Establishing Product Market Fit Is Crucial To Success”, Hessie Jones spoke with Abishek Mathur, the VP of Product Management at Pipe. Mathur spoke about the importance of taking the necessary steps to understand the ideal customer profile to ensure they are addressing their specific pain point(s). In validating true product market fit Mathur asserts: 

“To say yes, it’s solved a problem and I want to use it; I want to buy it. I want to keep coming back… that’s … in a very simplistic terms [what describes] product market fit, what does that mean for your business? What does that mean for your customers? Customers have a problem and they’re looking to solve that problem. If your product can solve that in a good way and you can effectively distribute that that solution to your target customers well… this is a positive sign.