What is a market requirements document (MRD)?
A market requirements document (MRD) is a document that defines the market problem a product should solve, who it solves it for, and why the business should invest. It captures the customer, the need, the market size, and the competitive context before anyone writes a line of spec. The MRD answers "should we build this, and why," which is a different question from the one a product requirements document (PRD) answers: "what exactly will we build."
You will also see the term written as "marketing requirements document." The two names refer to the same artifact. Whichever label your company uses, the job is the same: turn scattered market evidence into a clear, defensible case for building something.
MRD vs PRD: where each one fits
The MRD and the PRD are sequential, not interchangeable. The MRD comes first and stays focused on the problem and the opportunity. The PRD comes second and defines the solution in detail.
| Market Requirements Document (MRD) | Product Requirements Document (PRD) | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Should we build this, and why? | What will we build, exactly? |
| Owner | Product management or product marketing | Product management |
| Focus | Customer, problem, market size, business case | Features, flows, acceptance criteria |
| Comes | First | After the MRD |
If your team is starting from the solution and reverse-engineering a market case, that is a sign the MRD work got skipped. Doing market research and honest market sizing up front is what keeps the PRD grounded in a real opportunity rather than an assumption.
What goes in a market requirements document
A useful MRD is short and evidence-led. Cover these sections and stop:
- Market problem. The specific pain, stated in the customer's words, backed by research.
- Target customer. Who has this problem, and the job they are trying to get done.
- Market size. TAM, SAM, and SOM, so leadership can weigh the prize against the cost.
- Competitive landscape. What people use today and where it falls short.
- Business goals and metrics. What success looks like and how you will measure it.
- Recommendation. A clear call: pursue, defer, or pass, and why.
Keep solution details out. The moment you start listing features or drawing screens, you have crossed into PRD territory. When you are ready to write that spec, the MRD template and the PRD generator in Forge turn the market case into a structured product document without starting from a blank page.
Why the MRD still matters
The formal multi-page MRD has fallen out of fashion on fast-moving agile teams, and much of that is healthy. What has not changed is the discipline the MRD enforces: agree on the market problem and the business case before spending engineering time. Skipping that step is how teams ship well-built products nobody asked for. Whether you write a full MRD or a one-page problem brief, protecting the space to validate product-market fit before building is the part worth keeping.