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University System of Maryland

Achieving Product-Market Fit

University System of Maryland and University of Maryland, College Park via edX

Overview

Entrepreneur and investor Marc Andreessen coined the term product-market fit in 2007 when he said, “Product-market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” While there are ample articles that mention the term, detailed guidance on how to actually achieve product-market fit is scarce.

Through our course we will explore an actionable model that defines product-market fit using five key components. From bottom to top, we will examine the layers of product-market fit beginning with your target customer and transitioning through your customer’s underserved needs, your value proposition, your feature set, and ultimately your user experience (UX).

Our process is an iterative, easy-to-follow guide through each layer to achieve product-market fit. This process helps you to articulate, test, and revise your key hypotheses about your product and the market so you can define and improve your product-market fit.

Using the principles of Lean Product Process, our course is structured in seven steps: determining your target customer, identifying underserved customer needs, defining your value proposition, specifying your minimum viable product (MVP) feature set, creating your MVP prototype, testing your MVP with customers, and iterating to improve product-market fit.

Syllabus

Module 1: Determining Your Target Customer

Module 2: Identifying Underserved Customer Needs

Module 3: Defining Your Value Proposition

Module 4: Specifying Your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) Feature Set

Module 5: Creating Your MVP Prototype

Module 6: Testing Your MVP with Customers

Module 7: Iterating to Improve Product-Market Fit

Taught by

James Green

Reviews

4.7 rating, based on 58 Class Central reviews

4.8 rating at edX based on 21 ratings

Start your review of Achieving Product-Market Fit

  • My instructor spoke with a patient tone and made the lesson clear and information rich to my mind. I am now "Market Fit".
  • Anonymous
    The information in this course was extremely helpful, especially for someone that is new to the product space. I feel that I have a better understanding of how to consider new products and how to test those theories with potential customers by selectively identifying both the product and the market.

    I did find that there was some repetition in the material, which could be cleaned up a bit for more brevity, but overall a great course.
  • Anonymous
    Excellent course! I learned a lot about how to align the Market with our product. Another thing that I liked was the digital product focus and the examples. They were very usessfull.
  • Anonymous
    I can't believe I paid $900 for this course....I could have learned about everything in this course for free elsewhere. I wish I could get a refund now...I don't care about the certificate at the end, my money back would be much more value than any certificate I can receive from this massive waste of time.
  • Isaac Mafume
    It was great and an eye opener it helped me to understand how to create products and target the customers as well as how to test the market
  • Anonymous
    thanks, i received great insights into products - market fit and the class is easy to follow and understand. great instructor and good materials
  • Anonymous
    This course is excellent to cover the requirement of market analysis as a Product Manager, thank you professor Green!
  • Anonymous
    The course is solid in terms of presenting the theoretical underpinnings of the work but two things really annoyed me: 1) It's not at all practical - so there's no chance for application of the ideas that Dr. Green is presenting. He is even sparse…
  • Anonymous
    The instructor's deep knowledge and real-world experience shine through every module, providing invaluable insights into the elusive concept of product-market fit. The course is structured in a way that caters to both beginners and seasoned entrepreneurs, making it accessible and relevant to a diverse audience.
  • Anonymous
    It's comprehensive, clear, and presented in a logical sequence. I appreciate the bite-size segmentation of content and the real-world examples. I'm also a big fan of the playback speed functionality!
  • Anonymous
    This course is excellent. It kept my attention and I will be able to use the knowledge I learned to advance my career.
  • Anonymous
    Instructor was very knowledgeable and was able to explain the concepts really well. The course was useful.
  • Anonymous
    Generally speaking, this course is helpful.
    It's not for the experienced people, but it's enough to build up a knowledge system for a fresh hand.
    Better to have more real examples, and more introduction for the tools mentioned in the course, how to use it, practice, etc
  • Anonymous
    Superficial content, I was expecting some 'wow' concepts as JTBD. Fortunately, I have spent a single penny on this. Also, the presenter's low-quality microphone makes it even harder to enjoy.
  • Anonymous
    Course is clear and well-focused, providing guidelines to understand the development and launch of a product that will mainly, satisfy customer needs while streamlining the process to get there.

  • Anonymous
    Good course. I loved the presentation. I wish they attached the course slide deck to the course. If the course had some exercises it would have helped solidify the learning.
  • Anonymous
    Great course, I wish I knew it before
    I learned a lot of practical concepts and tools that help me to work as a product manager in a more professional way
  • Anonymous
    Great course! Easy to follow and well structured. This course provides a lot of great insights for any new product manager.
  • Anonymous
    Have good material about product-market fit. Although, it have boring visualization with monotone of slide presentation.
  • Anonymous
    a very reliable and precise short course that provides adequate details on achieving product-market fit.

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