Product-market fit (PMF) is one of the big milestones every product creator dreams of reaching.

What is PMF? Simply put, it is the point at which a product starts to resonate with the market.

What does "resonate" mean?

There are two ways to answer that:

1. A quantitative definition: Would at least 40% of our users be "very disappointed" if they could no longer use the product?

2. A qualitative definition: There is so much buzz around the product that people rave about it and tell others.

So where are we with Spark?

Let me step back and share what has been going on.

One thing I am addicted to is building new product features.

Call it shiny object syndrome, if you will. But if an idea stays in my head for more than two weeks, I usually find a way to build it.

For every 10 ideas I get, I am lucky if one or two resonate with customers.

You would think that such a low success rate would deter me from building more, but it does not.

I am like the Energizer Bunny. I just keep going 🙂

Or at least, I have for the last 8+ years.

But over the last three months, things have been different.

I still have plenty of feature ideas and a long backlog, but it has been hard to sit down and flesh them out.

For the last few weeks, I've been buried in Google Docs far more than in my coding editor.

I've invested most of my time drafting or reviewing documents about:

• Enterprise-grade security

• Unit costs and pricing models

• Our IP protection

• Integration with existing LMS systems within enterprises

• Partnerships

• Go-to-market strategies

• And so on.

This shift was not random of course; it is a direct response to the kinds of questions serious customers and partners are now asking us about Spark.

Circling back to the original question, what does PMF feel like?

Is the fact that I have so little time for product work-because of all this "other" stuff-a sign of PMF?

It was starting to feel that way, because of the interest we are seeing in Spark from partners and friends.

But this is dangerous. It is not really an indication of product traction.

We need actual users to love the product, not just friends and partners.

The rubber really hits the road only when the end user proactively keeps coming back to the product and gets increasing value from it.

This ties back to the first definition of PMF I mentioned above: at least 40% of users should sorely miss Spark if it were no longer available.

So while I am thankful for the qualitative interest we are seeing, it is still a far cry from PMF.

My team and I now need to:

1. Turn the current interest into real usage by getting the product in front of end users: educators and learners.

2. Iterate with end users to create a delightful experience that makes the product "remarkable" for them.

Onward!