So you have a business idea and you want to turn it into a product or service, that's great. Before you race off and spend a ton of cash setting up an office, hiring staff, and paying for advertising - have you actually thought about your Product-Market Fit?

Below are a few things that you should consider when determining what exactly is your Product-Market Fit.

1. Your one thing

Knowing the one thing that you do is key. Focusing on doing one thing really well before you expand the business will reduce the risk that the business fails. Only when you are successfully doing your one thing well should you look to expand into other areas.

An example of this is Nike. They originally started distributing running shoes, then moved on to other sports apparel. They now recognised as one of the largest sports brands on the planet.

2. Target Personas

What is a "target persona"? Quite simply this is the type of person that will have a need for your product. Remember to keep it small to start with, much the same as "your one thing".

Find the right persona and then dig a little deeper within that persona, find out what they like, find out what frustrates them, what problem do you solve for them, what gets them excited when they use your product or a product like yours.

Knowing your target persona will help you decide where you need to target things such as your marketing campaigns, product development and areas to avoid.

3. Market Research

An obvious one really, but some startup's fail to do the basics and spend time researching the marketplace. Knowing who your competition is, and what they do, will help you understand what you will need to do differently.

If you are entering a marketplace that is crowded, make sure you add something that makes you stand out from the pack. Customers can be loyal but if you have a better product or something the competition doesn't they will easily shift.

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There are many exercises that can be undertaken to understand exactly what it is you do, these are just a few that should help you take a step back, look at the bigger picture and understand exactly what it is you do
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