Context Engineering Blog

In product development, a staggering 72% of new features either fail to deliver value or go completely unused. An Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) is a visual framework designed to combat this waste. It forces product teams to connect every business goal to specific, validated customer needs before writing a single line of code.

This simple but powerful tool stops teams from jumping straight to building features. Instead, it creates a deliberate pause to explore the customer problems—the “opportunities”—that are preventing you from reaching your desired outcome.

It’s a tough statistic to swallow, but according to recent industry analysis, as many as 9 out of 10 startups fail. The core reason isn’t a lack of funding or a weak team—it’s that they build something nobody wants. The real trick isn’t just building a functional product; it’s building something the market is desperate for. This is exactly where the Product Market Fit Pyramid comes into play. Think of it less like a stuffy business school theory and more like a practical blueprint for taking the guesswork out of product development.