Build an AI Product: Finding Product-Market Fit

→ Guest Lecture Rana Mumtaz

Objectives

Understand how to identify and validate true user problem

Learn how to engage and leverage Superfans of your product

Gain insights into the iterative process of developing and refining and MVP

Early stage of product development requires a simplified strategy that focuses on identifying true user problems

Three misconceptions

Build it and they will come: 99% of products fail because they assume users will adopt if they just build the product

You need 1M users: focusing on a super specific users and solving problems for them is the only way to succeed

I can build alone: it is important to collaborate with co-founders and advisors

5 questions of product strategy

What user problem are you trying to solve?

Developing a problem statement

I am a [user type] trying to [goal/objective] but [problem/challenge] because [reason/cause] which makes me feel [emotion/impact]

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I am a Product Manager trying to improve our sales forecasting and strategy adjustments but lack accurate and timely insights into sales trends because our current data analysis methods are slow and often outdated, which makes me feel frustrated and concerned about missing out on potential revenue opportunities.

Who are your superfans?

a.k.a the ICP or Ideal Customer Profile are users who deeply care about the success of your product

Do the users have a problem?

conduct in-depth interviews, surverys, user feedback sessions to gather quantitative and qualitative data

Is your user profile super specific?

validate the initial user group by targeting a small super specific 1000 users

Are they motivated enough to solve the problem?

if your users can live with their problem, you cannot sell to them

What are they doing to solve their problem?

if they have a duct tape solution let’s try to understand that

Who do you attract the first 1000 users?

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Exercise

Think of 3-5 channels where you could acquire and engage your users

What are the major risks to finding PMF?

Identify your hypotheses for risks that could prevent you from reaching the first 1000 users

Think of all of the things that could possible go wrong:

User adoption risks

Competitive risks

Market risks

What series of MVP tests are you planning to run to de-risk?

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