SUNDAY REWIND: Mastering the problem space for product/market fit by Dan Olsen

November 20, 2022 at 10:00 AM
SUNDAY REWIND: Mastering the problem space for product/market fit by Dan Olsen

This week's Sunday rewind is Dan Olsen’s talk from mtpcon San Francisco on mastering the problem space for product/market fit.

In it, Dan, author of The Lean Product Playbook, tackles the key components of product/market fit and how to achieve it.

Dan starts by running through the elements of his product/market fit pyramid and then looks at the differences between what he calls the problem space – target customers and underserved needs the the bottom of the pyramid – and the solution space – the value proposition, feature set and UX at the top of the pyramid.

Many new products and companies fail because they don’t achieve product/market fit and Dan argues that this is because too many teams focus too much on the top two parts of the pyramid – the solution space of features and UX – while ignoring the foundations of the problem space.

A product manager’s job is to focus on the problem space, says Dan. It also lets you understand who your competitors really are and what other ways your customers can solve the problem you’re solving

Read the post and watch the video in full: Mastering the problem space for product/market fit by Dan Olsen

About the author

Eira Hayward

Eira Hayward

Eira is an editor for Mind the Product. She's been a business journalist, editor, and copywriter for longer than she cares to think about.

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