2021 we were working on multiple side projects. Some of our own products and services others as an helping hand for other companies.
As digital product builders we are always interested in figuring out how to reduce the early stage product risk of building something no-one wants.
One Framework that helps us to do so is the MAC fit.
The MAC fit
MAC stand for Message X Audience X Channel.
I wrote an article about this concept, you can read more about it here.
Beginning 2021 we had an idea to create a tool for Creators that makes their content family friendly.
Instead of hacking a solution right away we started with the MAC fit.
Within 1 day we created and launched a MVC – meaning Minimum Viable Content.
This content was all about the problem the users were facing. It was a simple blog post about the problem of family friendly content.
After that the hard part comes.
For product creators like us, the hardest thing is to wait.
It’s fun and can be challenging to create new things, that’s why sometimes we just want to start building something as soon as we have an idea.
But the truth is, this just occupies and does not help us to focus on the true meaning full projects we should work on.
Stage 2 – check for traction
After some months I realized this project got some traction (multiple people finding our MVC), we decided to program it.
Now we are one stop closer to know that we can offer something people want, since they actively search for a solution for this problem.
We know this even before 1 line of code or a mockup of the solution exist. Just the pure idea.
In another 2 days I built a MVP for this solution. And linked to this solution on the post that people with this problem were already finding.
Getting user Feedback fast
By doing that I immediately had user feedback. Every day 2-5 users are using this solution.
After that it took some more time of waiting to make new learnings.Through this MVP we learned that we would need to adapt the solution to work as a plugin in a different software.
This unique insight took us 3-4 days of work.
The success of the product as it is now is minimal. There is not a lot of traction.
But the idea of the MAC fit is first of all to reduce the risk of building something no-one wants. By heavily reducing the time from idea to user using the product this goal is definitely achieved.
3 days not only gave me a more realistic understanding about the opportunity – access to potentially future customers in this field but especially my thoughts are not occupied with this idea anymore.
The MAC fit definitely solves the „What if…“ question that many creators are fighting with daily.
If you are creating products yourself and you are looking for a smarter way to check if your product is needed – the MAC fit might be a good starting point.
Feel free to connect with me on Linkedin – I am happy to help with early product validation!
