Reimagining Ikigai: A Founder’s Guide to Product-Market Fit

This week I wanted to write about the mystery of product-market fit, and how I found inspiration for it in the most unusual place – a Japanese diagram about the purpose of life.

Before I started working in product, I read the book “Ikigai” by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. The book is an investigation into how we might live longer, healthier, happier lives. Their enquiry focuses on the blue zones, areas of earth where people live significantly longer and healthier lives than average. One of these blue zones is Okinawa, Japan. In Okinawa, there are 35 centenarians per 100,000 residents, which is the highest ratio worldwide. Amongst the author's conclusions about what could cause this remarkable statistic is that the people of Okinawa have found alignment between the personal and the meaningful. They call this concept “Ikigai” (生き甲斐), which means “life’s purpose”.

How can we achieve Ikigai?

Those seeking to achieve Ikigai must align their purpose with:

1. Something that they love

2. Something that they are good at

3. Something that they can be paid for

4. Something that the world needs

This is often expressed as a Venn diagram that neatly creates pockets that show some of the pitfalls you might find if you only manage to align three of the four. The diagram also hints at the initial states of being you might find yourself in when managing to align two of the three – for example a sense of mission when doing what you love and what the world needs, or a sense of profession when doing something you are good at and can be paid for.

The Ikigai diagram had a profound effect on me early in my career. I had initially become intoxicated by the sense of Profession, for example, only to find myself comfortable but with the feeling of emptiness the diagram suggests might be possible. I had not found my Ikigai.

Ikigai and Product-Market Fit

To be perfectly truthful, I’m still not sure I’ve found my Ikigai. I’m certainly closer now than I have been until now, but it’s hard to tell. X does not mark the spot for Ikigai. It can be felt, but it’s hard to see. Recently, while reflecting on Ikigai, it struck me that the problem space it occupies is remarkably similar to that of finding product-market fit. It’s nebulous, hard to define, felt but not seen.

Most founders, strategists, and product managers will tell you that product-market fit is an incredibly important concept. But few will be able to give you a concrete definition for it, less still a useful visualisation that helps you to understand how close you are to it, and where you might be getting stuck.

I’ll have a go at giving you my definition. Product-market fit is the term to describe the phase of a product’s lifecycle when the product is clicking with the users you’re building it for, and when they are adopting it with enthusiasm.

How does this relate to Ikigai? In the same way that we can all tell you the component pieces of Ikigai – it’s well known that we should seek occupations that we are good at, that can sustain us, et cetera – we might also be able to articulate the component parts of product-market fit. If we can, it’s possible that we can articulate product-market fit as a Venn diagram. This would allow us to spot the potential traps in the overlapping pockets – areas where people are close to achieving product-market fit but ultimately are falling short.

To achieve product-market fit, founders must seek to answer whether or not their product is:

• Something that customers will pay for

• Something that solves a deep & persistent problem

• Something that drives repeated, engaged use

• Something that your team is uniquely equipped to build

  • I want to clarify that this doesn’t just have to mean you have fantastic talent. This is your moat. It can also be things like intellectual property, access, tech, or even lived experience.

We might initially find ourselves able to combine two of these. For example I might start a company and solve a deep & persistent problem that customers are even willing to pay for! It feels like I’ve found a viable product idea. Encouraged, my team and I push on. We are uniquely equipped to develop this solution. We are making money. Sadly, the product is not something that drives repeated, engaged use. Without this, I might achieve some transitory product-market fit but it will not be sustained.

Mapping these criteria onto an Ikigai style Venn diagram and we find ourselves with something that looks a little like this.

Product-Market Fit Traps

We can see the early encouragement that finding any two of the four brings, and the eventual danger that achieving only three of the four then possesses. With Ikigai, falling into these “traps” is palpable. It’s where we feel burnout. It’s the same for a business. You might not want to admit it, but if you find yourself in a product-market fit trap you will know about it – whether it’s consciously or subconsciously.

In conversations with founders, especially those early in their entrepreneurial journeys, I often see a lot of frantic, despairing energy that arises from being in a product-market fit trap but not understanding it in those terms. They know what’s wrong (not converting, or churning too many customers, or lack of team expertise, and so on), but don’t really know what to do about it. I believe that, by having the right heuristic, the right framing even, we can empower these founders to get themselves out of the traps and towards the PMF they want. I think this venn diagram is that missing framing.

If you are a Founder or PM reading this I would ask you to, in earnest, place your product on this venn diagram. Where are you? What early encouragement did you experience, and what is the trap you’re most at risk of – or perhaps even in?

Now look at what you’re missing. This is your immediate and urgent area of focus. To find your product-market fit you’ll need to solve for this issue and align better. Is it possible with your current concept and build? Or do you need to take steps back before you can step forward again? In life, when a new opportunity comes up for me I try and place it on the Ikigai Venn diagram. It immediately reveals it’s strengths and weaknesses for my ultimate goal – achieving a feeling of Ikigai. Shouldn’t we all also be doing this for new ideas we have with our businesses, to see how it will help us towards our ultimate goal – achieving that feeling of product-market fit?

To me, it boils down to this. Ikigai isn’t some poetic ideal. It’s practical. A compass. The same should be true for product-market fit. But often, it isn’t. We shouldn’t be asking ourselves “will this sell?” or “does this work?”, but instead “does this sit at the intersection of real need, our unique capabilities, ongoing engagement, and a willingness to pay?”. Because that’s where the real, lasting products are born. Build where all four circles meet and the rest will follow. And just like with Ikigai, you won’t always see that alignment clearly – but you’ll know it. You’ll know it because you’ll feel it.

If this article helped you think a little differently, I'd love to hear from you. Get in touch and let me know about your experiences, or share it with someone who's a little stuck right now and could use the re-frame.