{"id":7067,"date":"2022-11-30T07:53:21","date_gmt":"2022-11-30T07:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/demo.slitigenz.io\/the-journey-from-poc-to-mvp-to-pmf-5-things-that-every-startup-founder-needs-to-know\/"},"modified":"2024-05-16T05:51:19","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T05:51:19","slug":"the-journey-from-poc-to-mvp-to-pmf-5-things-that-every-startup-founder-needs-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/old.slitigenz.io\/vi\/the-journey-from-poc-to-mvp-to-pmf-5-things-that-every-startup-founder-needs-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"The Journey from POC to MVP to PMF: 5 things that every startup founder needs to know"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The concept of a minimum viable product (MVP) is now pervasive. But it is not the only way to think about market development for new products. What\u2019s the right way to be entrepreneurial, especially if you work in a highly regulated industry like finance?<\/p>

MVP reflects a widely acceptable view that innovation is often experimental, and perhaps nowhere more experimental than in the startup community where entrepreneurs are, in effect, building a hypothesis about a product and its suitability for the market.<\/p>

Product-Market Fit is an on older idea. It has much more fluidity about it \u2013 rather than proposing a series of iteration cycles it better reflects the reality of much entrepreneurship. \u00a0Whatever the merits of \u00a0product, and however aligned with customers, there is nonetheless an x factor that allows some products fly while others stay grounded.<\/p>

The challenge to startup growth can be the presence of oligopolies or market entry barriers that come from deeply entrenched incumbents. \u00a0This is very much the case in financial services. To date very few startups have managed to breakthrough as alternative providers. The banking community, by and large, already has a tier of suppliers in its core system portfolio. Why would they need another? The answer is process model innovation. Banks, and financial service companies, need processes that radically reduce costs and, potentially, provide new services.<\/p>

But in a game where oligopolies still rule what do terms like MVP and Product Market Fit mean for startups?<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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1. Market Validation<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Andreessen is not the only one who has emphasized the importance of so-called product-market fit in determining a startup\u2019s success or failure. Research from\u00a0CBinsights<\/a>\u00a0supports this notion, finding that 42% of startup failures were due to a lack of market need. The lesson we can distill from this is, \u201cdon\u2019t offer something people don\u2019t want.\u201d<\/p>

Essentially, those failed startups did not achieve\u00a0market validation<\/strong>.<\/p>

Market validation<\/strong>\u00a0is the way to confirm that your idea is a solution to a problem people actually have.<\/p>

Some business advisors define market validation as a survey distributed to specific user segments, testing their attachment to your solution. However, we take the view that market validation is not a single action or event, but the thread that ties your whole business model together from\u00a0proof of concept<\/strong>\u00a0(POC) to\u00a0product-market fit<\/strong>\u00a0(PMF).<\/p>

You don\u2019t need a\u00a0minimum viable product<\/strong>\u00a0(MVP), or even a\u00a0prototype<\/strong>, to start market validation. You just need an idea, open ears, and honest tongues. As soon as you have an idea you want to execute, you should\u00a0talk about it!<\/strong><\/p>

First, you can ask friends, family, and other founders and entrepreneurs you know. Then, to the greatest extent possible, reach outside of your network to hear from people that are more likely to give it to you straight. If you get to this point, and everyone has told you it\u2019s a stupid idea, you should probably consider the possibility that it is, indeed, a stupid idea.<\/p>

If your idea is validated through your internal and external network, you should\u00a0design and write a plan\u00a0to continue market validation through your product development cycle. An initial step is to\u00a0define your market<\/strong>. Who will be using your product? Whose pain point are you helping to alleviate?<\/p>

Here are some basic questions to help you construct customer profiles and define your market:<\/p>