| name | product-market-fit |
| description | Assess product-market fit as evidence across a specific customer, problem, value proposition, behavior, retention, and viable business model. Use when the user asks whether a product has fit, which segment to pursue, why adoption or retention is weak, or what evidence is required before scaling. |
Product-Market Fit
Evaluate fit as a segment-specific evidence stack, not a universal label or a single survey score.
Inputs
- Target segment and qualifying situation
- Underserved need or job
- Current value proposition and alternatives
- Acquisition, activation, retention, and revenue evidence
- Qualitative behavior and churn evidence
- Cost-to-serve and operating constraints
Workflow
- Narrow the segment until members share a meaningful situation, alternatives, and success criteria.
- Define the underserved need and current workaround.
- Explain why the product creates differentiated value for that segment.
- Trace the user journey from acquisition through recurring value and payment.
- Examine cohorts and repeated behavior; distinguish curiosity from durable use.
- Analyze churn, failed activation, and non-adoption as evidence, not noise.
- Test whether the value can be acquired, delivered, and supported economically.
- Classify fit by stage: unproven, problem evidence, solution evidence, repeatable value, or scalable fit.
- Define the next threshold and the cheapest evidence needed to cross it.
Output contract
Return the segment, need, alternatives, value proposition, evidence by lifecycle stage, strongest and weakest fit signals, business viability, fit classification, scaling recommendation, and next test.
Quality gate
- Fit claims are scoped to one segment and use case.
- Retention or repeated value matters more than top-line signups.
- Qualitative evidence explains the quantitative pattern.
- Distribution and willingness to pay are not deferred until after “fit.”
- The recommendation states what not to scale yet.
Avoid
- Declaring fit from launch demand, waitlists, or aggregate growth
- Combining incompatible cohorts
- Treating a high satisfaction score as sufficient
- Scaling acquisition before recurring value is understood
- Ignoring service cost or operational fragility
Source grounding
Operational synthesis informed by the stage-and-business-model discipline in Lean Analytics, customer-value and four-risk concepts in Inspired, and outcome orientation in Escaping the Build Trap.
