4 ms·
> There was a small universe of people who understood baseline concepts like getting to product market fit, how to measure and implement growth patterns, etc et
by gretch 3y ago
> There was a small universe of people who understood baseline concepts like getting to product market fit, how to measure and implement growth patterns, etc etc.
I'm a PM and I think veeerrrryyy few people understand this, including many of my fellow PMs.
I think it's like reading a book about how to pitch a baseball. Knowledge and application are entirely different. Someone might be able to regurgitate the theory on how to achieve product-market fit, but put them in the driver seat of a real product and lots of people flounder.
One of the most common mistakes is simply delusion - the believe that your product is 'there' when it's not. I believe there's a cognitive dissonance that impacts the product owner - you kinda have to believe (or at least outwardly project) that your product is doing well.
- idopmstuff 3y ago> I'm a PM and I think veeerrrryyy few people understand this, including many of my fellow PMs. Preach. And the universe of people who can actually do the work to start something and get it to PMF is a pretty small subset of those who understand the concepts in theory.
- achow 3y agoI would even go further and say that those who don't understand Product Market Fit but still can build, learn PMF by stumbling, falling. Same sports analogy- it is better to be someone who can play (but doesn't know the rules) than someone who has encyclopedic knowledge on the said sport but cannot play (physical limitations).
- idopmstuff 3y agoTotally agree. Someone who just understands that you need to go talk to customers and actually try to sell whatever you're building ASAP is going to fare way better as a founder than someone who learned what PMF is during their MBA but doesn't want to get out and do the dirty work.
- zamnos 3y agoWhat do you mean by "better"? There's room for lots of people to have jobs off the field. Think about all of the support staff we never see on TV during the game. Or off the field even during the game. The announcer/sports commentator, the coach, the physical therapists and doctors, the people that work the grounds. Stephen Curry doesn't work in vacuum and neither does Jeff Dean.