3 New Year’s Resolutions for Entrepreneurs and Intrapreneurs Launching New Products
by Nitzan Shaer
Fewer than five percent of new product launches are successful. That means millions of dollars and billions of man hours are spent conceiving, building and launching products that see little to no results in the market. Over the years I have worked with a number of product teams – from Skype Mobile to fast, emerging start ups – who’ve been fortunate enough to see their products widely adopted by customers. While there is no single recipe for success, and every product and market are unique, I’ve taken the liberty to write three resolutions which I think are relevant to many of those who are building or launching a new product in 2011.
- Balance business goals and market learnings. Companies of all sizes which are about to launch new products struggle with balancing the need to meet business goals with the need to address whether the product is ready for “prime time.” In many cases, previously set business goals prevail, resulting in less than “ready-for-prime-time” products being released and heavily promoted, only to fail spectacularly. This is too often driven by a sense that goals (which honestly are arbitrary when it comes to new products) must be met at all costs. The board, investors and the competition all contribute to the intense pressure to spend on PR and advertising too early. In 2011, I propose focusing on putting the product in customer hands as early as possible, rapidly iterating on it and holding back on ‘the big launch’ until customers tell you they love the product (at least some of them). In the end, all constituencies (excluding your competitors) will be better off.
- Create a system for incorporating customer feedback into product development. Successful products are built upon customer feedback. Customer feedback is much more than ‘does the product work?’, or ‘does it deliver on its promises?’ It includes how the product is delivered, is it easy to use, easy to incorporate into a customer’s daily life? Capturing customer feedback is not a one-off. It is not done only before or only right after launch. It requires a method, a system, a range of channels and constant attention from the product owner. In 2011, I propose you commit to putting in place a process that will ensure you keep on getting (and incorporating) customer feedback, in a frequent and valuable way.
- And finally: keep at it and don’t give up! If you iterate on the product, incorporate what customers are saying, and keep the product moving forward, there is a good chance you will find that nugget of an insight that will lead to success!
Entrepreneurs, innovators and product owners alike who resolve to continually improve the approach to launching new products will be better positioned for a prosperous 2011. If you have thoughts on how products should be built differently in 2011, please comment and share your thoughts!
– Nitzan
January 15th, 2011 at 12:54 am
We all continue to see less-than-successful product launches. In some cases they are due to a marketing failure, in others, a product that doesn’t resonate with the market or, in some cases, a product that was created with little thought to whether anyone really needed it or not. But, lately, we’re seeing a lot of products that were created with no thought to whether anyone would pay for them.
Recently, I wrote a blog post on Freestrapping. Freestrapped products were created with no thought to making money because freestrapped products were created using no paid-for resources. Freestrapped products suck the energy from the local innovation universe and don’t give back because they use all free resources. (They may cost the entrepreneur nothing but somewhere the balance is tipping downwards.)
How about getting those early customers happy enough to pay for a product?