Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies. Reid Hoffman

concept of product/market fit originates in Marc Andreessen’s seminal blog post “The Only Thing That Matters.” In his essay, Andreessen argues that the most important factor in successful start-ups is the combination of market and product.

      His definition couldn’t be simpler: “Product/market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.”

      Without product/market fit, it’s impossible to grow a start-up into a successful business. As Andreessen notes,

      You see a surprising number of really well-run start-ups that have all aspects of operations completely buttoned down, HR policies in place, great sales model, thoroughly thought-through marketing plan, great interview processes, outstanding catered food, 30″ monitors for all the programmers, top tier VCs on the board—heading straight off a cliff due to not ever finding product/market fit.

      Unfortunately, it’s far easier to define product/market fit than it is to establish it!

      When you start a new company, the key product/market fit question you need to answer is whether you have discovered a nonobvious market opportunity where you have a unique advantage or approach, and one that competing players won’t see until you’ve had a chance to build a healthy lead. It’s usually difficult to find such an opportunity in a “hot” space; if an opportunity is obvious to everyone, the chance that you’ll be the one who succeeds is exceedingly low.