Product-market fit means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.

the five layers of the Product-Market Fit Pyramid are: your target customer, your customer’s underserved needs, your value proposition, your feature set, and your user experience (UX).

The Lean Product Process—also described in The Lean Product Playbook—is an iterative, easy-to-follow process based on the Product-Market Fit Pyramid.

Step 1: Determine your target customer

You may not have a precise definition of your target customer at the outset: that’s okay. You just need to start with a high-level hypothesis and then revise it as you learn and iterate.

Step 2: Identify underserved customer needs

Customers are going to judge your product in relation to the alternatives, so the relative degree to which your product meets their needs depends on the competitive landscape.

Step 3: Define your value proposition

Your value proposition is your plan for how your product will meet customer needs better than the alternatives

Step 4: Specify your MVP feature set

The MVP approach is aimed at building only what is needed to create enough value in the eyes of your target customer to validate that you are heading in the right direction.

The goal is to iterate until you have an MVP that customers agree is viable.

Step 5: Create your MVP prototype

it’s usually faster and more prudent to create an MVP prototype. A prototype is a representation of your product that you create without having to build your actual product.

Step 6: Test your MVP with customers

It’s important in this step to ensure the people from whom you are soliciting feedback are in your target market.

Non-leading, open-ended questions give customers latitude in their answers and also encourage them to tell you more.