In this webinar, Daniel Elizalde will share key concepts on why product managers should stop using the phrase "product market fit" and how they can instead use a number of tangible milestones to show their teams that they are moving closer to alleviating actual customer pains.

1. THE PROBLEM WITH
PRODUCT MARKET FIT
(AND WHAT TO USE
INSTEAD)
WEBINAR EXCLUSIVE
WITH DANIEL ELIZALDE - PRODUCT EXECUTIVE AND
ADVISOR
MODERATOR:
RAYVONNE CARTER
WEBINAR PRODUCTION MANAGER
PRODUCT MANAGEMENT TODAY
MAY 9, 2023
12:30 PM PT,
3:30 PM ET,
8:30 PM GMT

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4. THE PROBLEM WITH
PRODUCT MARKET FIT
(AND WHAT TO USE
INSTEAD)
WEBINAR EXCLUSIVE
WITH DANIEL ELIZALDE - PRODUCT EXECUTIVE AND
ADVISOR

5. Hi, I’m Daniel Elizalde!
• Product Executive & Advisor – B2B SaaS & IoT
• Startup mentor
• Bestselling author: The B2B Innovator’s Map
• Former VP, Head of IoT at Ericsson
• Former Head of Products at Stem (AI-powered
energy storage)
• IoT PM Instructor at Stanford University
Continuing Studies
• Trained over 1,500 product professionals

6. danielelizalde.com
What is
Product Market Fit (PMF)?

7. PMF is:
• Abstract
• Not measurable

8. danielelizalde.com
Instead of PMF, you need
a structured and measurable approach
to innovation.

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PMF was intended as an investment marker

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But investment is a continuum…

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Your first critical milestone is
delivering value to your first ten
customers.

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The B2B Innovator’s Map
The journey from idea to your first ten customers

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The B2B Innovator’s Map
Iteratively design, test
& build your solution
Understand your
customer’s problem

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Strategic Alignment stage

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Articulating the problem you plan to solve
• “We help companies save money on their electricity bill”
• ”We help utilities meet demand via DER aggregation”
• ”We help buildings become more resilient”

16. danielelizalde.com
Describe the problem you
are solving.

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Market Discovery stage

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Who (specifically) has the
problem you are working to
solve?

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Components of a target market
• Industry
• Company size
• Geography
• Champion role (person responsible for delivering the business
outcome)
• Use case

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Example: Energy storage company
Problem to explore: “We help buildings become
more resilient”
Target market:
• Industry: Commercial Real Estate - Focus on office
buildings with 2-20 floors
• Company size: $1B+
• Geography: United States
• Champion’s role: Director of Operations
• Use case: Backup power

21. danielelizalde.com
What is the pain of your target
customer?

22. danielelizalde.com
Understanding the pain of your customer
• Industry: Commercial Real Estate - Focus
on office buildings with 2-20 floors
• Company size: $1B+
• Geography: United States
• Champion role: Director of Operations
• Use case: Backup power
Why is this a problem?

23. danielelizalde.com
There is no magic formula for
figuring out your customer’s pain.
The only way to discover their
pain is to talk to them.

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User Discovery stage

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To find the most profitable
opportunities, you need to
understand the needs of ALL users.

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Discovering your User Ecosystem
1. External / Customers
2. Internal
3. Partners and vendors
4. Compliance
1. Evaluation and Purchase
2. Installation
3. Deployment
4. Onboarding
5. Operations
6. Maintenance
7. Decommissioning
Four types of users
Across the 7 stages of the
Enterprise Customer Lifecycle

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Solution Planning stage

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Create an experiment roadmap
From the B2B Innovator’s Map:
“An experiment roadmap is simply the prioritized list of assumptions
(and their corresponding experiments) you plan to test with your target
market to reduce the risk of building the wrong product.”
Assumption
Importance (low,
medium, high)
Amount of
evidence (low,
medium, high)
Experiment Testing for (D, F, V) Success criteria
We believe…

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Prototyping stage

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Your goal during the Prototyping stage
Desirability
Feasibility
Viability
Does the market
want your product?
Can you build, operate,
and maintain the
product?
Can your product be
profitable?

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Prototype fidelity
Clickthrough prototypes
Working software
Evidence
Less evidence:
Mockups
More evidence:
Product development

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Early Adopter stage

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Early adopters are for learning.

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Pro tip:
Instrument your product early on to
leverage user analytics.
(Actions speak louder than words)

35. danielelizalde.com
In summary: Avoid PFM and use these
concrete milestones instead

36. MODERATOR:
RAYVONNE CARTER
WEBINAR PRODUCTION MANAGER
Q&A
Product Executive and Advisor
Daniel Elizalde
/in/danielelizalde/
danielelizalde.co
m
/in/rayvonnecarter/