When you work in technology, regardless of the company, stage, industry, etc., everyone is after the same thing.

Product/market fit.

It’s a term so often used that we seldom reflect on its meaning, so I’ll take a moment to do just that. Defined loosely, product/market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. So, a new app comes along and no one cares – poor product market fit. Another app comes along, this time it’s ChatGPT and nearly everyone has tried it and many of them have decided to become paid users – strong product market fit.

So if that is product/market fit, what is Product/Life Fit?

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Referring back to the top, where you probably work in technology (though it applies even if you don't), most of us wake up each day and dedicate a portion of our time to a product. For those in technology, it might be a product in the “truest” sense – an app, a SaaS software, whatever. For those not in technology, it’s still time spent dedicated to a product, but more loosely defined. Maybe the product you contribute to is a service – you’re a service worker. Or the product is a platform such as a newspaper and you are a writer. On and on.

I won’t belabor the point but I hope you get it; we dedicate hours to a product, and wake up each morning to do more of the same. If you accept that, then I hope you will accept this.

Product/Life Fit is the extent to which the product you dedicate your time to satisfies your demands of your life – your interests, your goals, and your desires towards a life worth living and a life truly fulfilled.

Many of us, myself included, don't frequently pause to reflect on our Product/Life Fit, yet in a world that is seemingly moving faster and faster, it is increasingly more important to do just that. That’s because both sides of the equation are constantly changing.

The products we work on continuously adapt to new market demands, technologies, macroeconomic shifts, and more.

On our side, our lives are in constant flux. With each change (e.g. getting married, having a child) or new insight (e.g. reading a book, scrolling social media) our perspectives shift. Oftentimes it is these shifts in perspective that can lead to changes in our demands of our lives – our interests, goals, and desires.

Thus, the balance of our Product/Life Fit is constantly shifting, but we aren’t always paying attention.

What’s worse, even if we do get a sense that something “might be off”, we have a tendency to focus on the wrong part of the equation. We focus on the product – on our jobs. We convince ourselves that if we (often blindly) put more time, more energy, more of ourselves into our roles and careers, success will follow and fulfill all of our life's desires.

But it doesn’t usually work out that way.

With this newsletter (the name makes sense now, right?), my goal is to start to shift the gaze of willing readers to the latter part of the Product/Life Fit equation. To ask probing questions of our lives. What does my current role really do for me? How does my current role and path contribute to my ultimately achieving my life goals and true fulfillment? Do I even know what my life goals are? Can I define fulfillment for myself?

This sort of reflection led me to change many aspects of my life. The change that tipped my Product/Life Fit equation was becoming a father. Many parents know that having a child changes everything – including how you might define your life goals. As mentioned above, I was asleep at the wheel as my children came and rearranged my life. I realized it too late and now know my life was significantly unbalanced, leading me to stay in a role for too long, which was unfair to myself, my company, and most importantly, my family.

In my product work, I advise companies to regularly evaluate their product/market fit. Just as with our lives, changes in circumstances can impact the relevance of a product to its market. A recession could come along and make your high-end food delivery service less appealing to as many customers as it once did.

The first step to most anything is insight. I hope this newsletter provides readers with an opportunity to gain insights about their Product Life/Fit – to deeply reflect on their lives and what motivates them and ensure it aligns with how they spend their days towards a life fulfilled.

If this resonated, I encourage you to join on this journey. As I did here, I will spend time drawing parallels between life and technology, exploring what happens when we compare lessons learned from both. Ideally, everyone comes out with a new insight or two.

As many of us know, product/market fit requires hard work and persistence. It’s the reason why most startups fail. It’s the companies that pause regularly, find their bearings, and choose their next steps wisely that tend to be the ones to succeed.

That’s just what we’ll do here. It’s that sort of reflection that changed my life for the better. 

Maybe some reflection on your Product/Life Fit can do the same for you?

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• Need some product help? I help startups and scale-ups focus on discovering and building products that are valuable, viable, and aligned with their mission. Learn more at omrib.com.

• Need some product design help? I work with a group of world-class product designers to provide product design, UI, and UX services by subscription. Learn more at hiforge.co.

• I'm also working on becoming a career coach for tech professionals and those interested in working in technology. More on that soon – I can’t wait.

Just want to chat? Schedule a call here.

As for me, 2023 also presented a twist that reflected the experience of countless others in tech – I found myself abruptly without a job.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that turn of events in early September 2023 would mark a significant crossroads in my life.

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Initially, as many might, I wallowed in self-pity. But as that wore and my responsibilities as a father came increasingly to the forefront, I arrived at what I now realize was a pivotal moment in my life. The choice to make was clear: either dive headfirst towards a role similar to my last or embrace the challenging yet necessary decision to step off the “career hamster wheel” for a moment. This would mean taking time to look within – spending some focused time reflecting on what I truly wanted out of life.

I opted for the latter – and, now, four months later, I couldn’t be happier that I did. What started as a “forced” sabbatical turned into a mid-life crisis. Now, here I am on the other side with a newfound appreciation for life and a deeper understanding of myself and the conditions I need to be my best.

It was during my period of introspection that I realized the need to overhaul my approach to life. I learned so much in general and even more about myself in specific. If I had to summarize the recent changes in my perspective, I would do it with this from Paul Millerd, author of The Pathless Path, the book that has become my anthem.

In an interview on Lenny’s Podcast, Millerd described the Pathless Path as:

“…a personal journey of shifting away from operating around scarcity towards operating from a sense of abundance, having faith that things might be okay.”

In his book, Millerd suggests we:

“…develop [our] own personal definition of freedom, and to dare to have faith that it will be okay, no matter how much skepticism, insecurity, or fear [we] face.”

For many, myself included, it's easy to slip into a scarcity mindset. Personal experiences like missing out on a job opportunity after countless rounds of interviews or losing out on a deal you’ve spent months fighting for can spiral into negative thought patterns, where we fear the worst and are convinced, albeit briefly, that we’ll never recover.

But, no more.

In the spirit of the words above, starting this month, after 10+ years of leading product at startups of various size and stage, I’m beginning what I'm calling my Solopreneur’s Journey. On this journey, I take with me a fresh perspective and a commitment to apply it in as pragmatic a way as possible, making good on another quote I happened upon during my time away: “your life and career are both products – manage them as such”.

Product/Life Fit will serve as a platform to explore my journey as a former product manager seeking to understand life's abundance through various avenues such as fractional product work, product/design advisory, and technology consulting. I will share weekly insights roughly in 3 “buckets”, as noted in the Venn diagram below.

In the Product bucket, I'll discuss insights from my tech and product experiences.

In the Life bucket, I'll share learnings from my recent months spent with a life coach, and the relevant insights that have yet to come.

In the Product/Life bucket, I'll explore the idea of Product/Life Fit, a concept I've been deeply contemplating (stay tuned for my next post where I define it!) and am eager to explore in greater depth. I’ll write about the many ways in which product, technology, and life mirror each other, with examples that constantly spark in my mind and that I'm excited to share.

So this is for those in tech, those navigating life, or ideally those doing both. I hope you find insight, value, and some enjoyment in my journey and reflection. Perhaps it can help you gain a deeper understanding of yourself, your purpose, and what truly motivates you. If I can achieve that for even one reader, I will have met my goal.

Here's to a fantastic year for all, with the hope that it brings you exactly what you’re looking for.

Subscribe now

• Need some product help? I help startups and scale-ups focus on discovering and building products that are valuable, viable, and aligned with their mission. Learn more at omrib.com.

• Need some product design help? I work with a group of world-class product designers to provide product design, UI, and UX services by subscription. Learn more at hiforge.co.

• I'm also working on becoming a career coach for tech professionals and those interested in working in technology. More on that soon – I can’t wait.

Just want to chat? Schedule a call here.