I just reviewed this thread and must say that I find much of the advice within quite sound.
Defining a foundation product for a new company is an incredibly tough task. Although cost effective, starting from an existing set of molds may not be the easiest path to reaching profitable operation.
The most important element for success is defining a product which adequate numbers of people want to buy that has enough profit to bootstrap the organisation's operations. It is incredibly easy to make mistakes in defining products.
In my business career I've found out that people generally have a lot of trouble defining what they should really be building. Getting a statement of requirements that is translatable into a sensible and profitable product is almost impossible. I generally find committees, focus groups and consensus-based definitions hard to justify. My observations and experiences are in direct opposition to the "Ready, Aim, Fire" methods taught in Marketing 101.
From my experience, I've found that people are far better at clearly stating what they DON'T LIKE about products. People can quickly tell you why they won't buy a product, why it is too expensive and what features they do not like.
This led me many years ago to my personal philosophy of extracting people's real requirements from negative feedback, rather than from asking for wish lists. I call this "Ready, Fire, Aim" product management.
It is cheaper and faster (in my world) to rapid prototype a product concept and ask for reasons why it won't work. Confused and vague feedback from clients become crystal clear and immediate - they can tell you instantly what needs to be done to make the prototype buy-able and desirable.
How do you arrive at even a prototype from which to solicit criticism? Sometimes I go find people who have products "close" to what I'm thinking about and solicit their private opinions about what's wrong. Sometimes I whack together a rendering and get opinions. As things progress more I may build a prototype and put it out there. During this process it is absolutely critical to
keep your own opinions and ego off the table. Building a product that "you" want to buy isn't right - especially if "only" you want it. Feedback is more honest if done one-on-one - because groups skew opinions around the strongest opinions present. Herds of human beings have only a herd opinion which is based on the lead bull - and asking each person individually without asking them to publicly speak in front of the herd is important. I've seen lots of marketer's fail to find a clear target because they start selling their own desires instead of listening to people's feedback.
Generally, I start from the basics:
- Who has enough money to buy my product?
- Are there enough of them to make producing the product worthwhile?
- Will the product produce more than just an incremental improvement from the state of the art? Me-too products fail.
- Is the product sufficiently unique, functionally superior and defensible to not attract better-resourced competitors and knock offs?
- Do I have deep enough resources to trudge through the endless, expensive Valley of Death until the product reaches critical market mass? This means two to three years in the small boat market. Look at the Weta.
I hope these thoughts help somewhat. They've helped me transition from a bright eyed, young enthusiastic optimist into a treacherous, cold and much more successful product developer and entrepreneur.
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CutOnce
B
