10 Books That Help You Find Product-Market Fit
Product-Market Fit is not a new concept anymore. However, it's still the key to success for startups and new products or as Marc Andreesen says it: "The only thing that matters". In this collection, we feature the best books that help you alongside the journey of finding and measuring Product-Market Fit.
Traction
Why read?
Most startups don’t fail because they can’t build a product. Most startups fail because they can’t get traction. Building a successful company is hard. Smart entrepreneurs know that the key to success isn’t the originality of your offering, the brilliance of your team, or how much money you raise. It’s how consistently you can grow and acquire new customers. Traction will teach you the nineteen channels you can use to build a customer base, and offers a three-step framework to figure out which ones will work best for your business
240 pages, 2015
Value Proposition Design
Why read?
Do you want to put in the market meaningful solutions for actual customer needs? Is your company struggling to involve the different parts required for generating outcomes that meet customer expectations? or are you just curious to learn more about building solid value props? This (together with the rest of Strategyzer books) is your answer!
320 pages, 2014
Product-Market Fit Analysis
Why read?
In 2007, VC Marc Andreessen drew a very simple graphic that changed the way smart start-ups think about their mission. His graphic was a hand-drawn scribble made of two circles and three words: Product – Market – Fit.
52 pages, 2015
FOCUS Framework
Why read?
FOCUS Frameworks provides real-world, step-by-step instructions on how to find Product-Market Fit by running experiments with your customers, not on them.
501 pages, 2016
The Lean Startup
Why read?
Most startups fail. But many of those failures are preventable. The Lean Startup turned into a classic and must-read book when it comes to changing the way companies are built and new products are launched. The Lean Startup approach fosters companies that are both more capital efficient and that leverage human creativity more effectively. Inspired by lessons from lean manufacturing, it relies on “validated learning,” rapid scientific experimentation, as well as a number of counter-intuitive practices that shorten product development cycles, measure actual progress without resorting to vanity metrics, and learn what customers really want. It enables a company to shift directions with agility, altering plans inch by inch, minute by minute. Rather than wasting time creating elaborate business plans, The Lean Startup offers entrepreneurs — in companies of all sizes — a way to test their vision continuously, to adapt and adjust before it’s too late. Ries provides a scientific approach to creating and managing successful startups in an age when companies need to innovate more than ever.
338 pages, 2011
The Four Steps to the Epiphany
Why read?
The book offers the practical and proven four-step Customer Development process and offers insight into what makes some startups successful and leaves others selling off their furniture. Rather than blindly execute a plan, The Four Steps helps uncover flaws in product and business plans and correct them before they become costly. Rapid iteration, customer feedback, testing your assumptions are all explained in this book.
384 pages, 2013
Crossing the Chasm
Why read?
The bible for bringing cutting-edge products to larger markets—now revised and updated with new insights into the realities of high-tech marketing In Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey A. Moore shows that in the Technology Adoption Life Cycle—which begins with innovators and moves to early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards—there is a vast chasm between the early adopters and the early majority. While early adopters are willing to sacrifice for the advantage of being first, the early majority waits until they know that the technology actually offers improvements in productivity. The challenge for innovators and marketers is to narrow this chasm and ultimately accelerate adoption across every segment. This third edition brings Moore’s classic work up to date with dozens of new examples of successes and failures, new strategies for marketing in the digital world, and Moore’s most current insights and findings. He also includes two new appendices, the first connecting the ideas in Crossing the Chasm to work subsequently published in his Inside the Tornado, and the second presenting his recent groundbreaking work for technology adoption models for high-tech consumer markets.
288 pages, 2014
The Startup Owner's Manual
Why read?
The Startup Owner’s Manual guides you, step-by-step, as you put the Customer Development process to work. This method was created by renowned Silicon Valley startup expert Steve Blank, co-creator with Eric Ries of the “Lean Startup” movement and tested and refined by him for more than a decade. This 608-page how-to guide includes over 100 charts, graphs, and diagrams, plus 77 valuable checklists that guide you as you drive your company toward profitability. It will help you: • Avoid the 9 deadly sins that destroy startups’ chances for success • Use the Customer Development method to bring your business idea to life • Incorporate the Business Model Canvas as the organizing principle for startup hypotheses • Identify your customers and determine how to “get, keep and grow” customers profitably • Compute how you’ll drive your startup to repeatable, scalable profits.
608 pages, 2020
Why Startups Fail
Why read?
If you want your startup to succeed, you need to understand why startups fail. “Whether you’re a first-time founder or looking to bring innovation into a corporate environment, Why Startups Fail is essential reading.”—Eric Ries, founder and CEO, LTSE, and New York Times bestselling author of The Lean Startup and The Startup Way Why do startups fail? That question caught Harvard Business School professor Tom Eisenmann by surprise when he realized he couldn’t answer it.
368 pages, 2021
Product-Led Growth
Why read?
What does it mean to be “product-led”? How do you know if a product-led growth strategy makes sense for your business? And most importantly, how do you execute it? You’ll find answers to all of these questions inside this book.
276 pages, 2019