Product Dveleopment and Prtottype Strategies in a Startup
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This document provides strategies for product development and prototyping in startups. It discusses the importance of 1) knowing the target customer and their needs, 2) using appropriate resources and avoiding bleeding edge technologies, 3) ensuring the product and development team are high quality, and 4) budgeting enough time and funds to allow for reworks and adjustments. Observational research techniques and understanding the customer's full experience are key to identifying unmet needs. The document emphasizes the need to focus on the core product and avoid feature creep in order to launch successfully.
Product Dveleopment and Prtottype Strategies in a Startup
- 1. Product Development and Prototype Strategies in a Startup Presented to IEEE ENET, Boston Entrepreneurs Meeting Waltham, MA. Jan 8, 2013 Geoff Waite geoff@w8oninnovation.com
- 2. Successful PD is no harder than winning a rally drive 1) Know where you're going 2) Know how to get there 3) Make sure the car and driver are good 4) Make sure you have enough gas Ready? Pedal to the Metal! 1) Don't get lost! 2 © W8on 2012 © Local Motors 2013
- 3. 1) Know where you're going » Be certain you're building the right product Know the customer(s) and the needs you're addressing • Voice of the Customer • Value chain/web needs Understand Live and breath the value proposition • What do your customers get from you • At what price See all the constraints and boundaries • Regulatory – FDA, UL, CE, IEC, etc. • IP – FTO, protection • Competitors 3 © W8on 2012
- 4. Observational Research: Why can’t we just ask them? 1. Knowing what you do - People are generally highly unreliable reporters of their own behavior 2. Physical abstraction - People are less likely to recall their feelings about intangible characteristics of products/services when they aren’t in the process of using them 3. Human nature - People tend to give answers they think are expected or desired 4. Understanding what’s possible - People can’t ask for what they don’t know is technically possible 5. Bounded by experience - People’s imaginations, hence their desires are restricted, they accept inadequacies & deficiencies in their environment as normal 4 © W8on 2012
- 5. Voice of the Customer Techniques There are various VOC techniques that can be used to get at unmet needs and understand customer delight factors Ethnography Immersion Inclusive Design Focus Groups 5 © W8on 2012
- 6. How can we ensure we see what we need to see ? Use 4 P’s to capture the 360º view • Process – the core thread Process • The stages from the appropriate start to the appropriate end provide a framework ensure coverage at each observation • People Think People • Understanding people interactions, Aspire responsibilities, work-arounds, etc. provide key insight Feel • Product Do • Understanding how the products impact Product Place on all the P’s is critical to enabling targeted product improvement • Place • Understanding how the environment impacts on all the P’s is also critical to enabling targeted product improvement 6 © W8on 2012
- 7. Unmet needs Day in the Life analysis provides a linear framework through which to explore need spaces • DiTL – a linear framework through which to interrogate actions and discover needs • A core technique for analyzing VoC © Sagentia 2012 research • Map people, place, product, process • Look for gaps, overlaps, synergies, causality © Sagentia 2012 7 © W8on 2012
- 8. And don't forget, there is not just one customer! A structured analysis of the value chain or web will identify breakthrough insights about how to improve products or change the basis of competition F1 New Entrant F2 F3 Current Supplier Business Customer’s Customer (KSF) BF2 Customer BF1 BF3 Substitute Influencers Gate keepers Functions purchased (F) Buying factors (BF) Key success factors (KSF) What are all the functions What are your own, and your How does each player in the being bought by each player? competitors KSF? How can chain make buying decisions? What are the “Jobs-to-be- these be challenged or What influences them? done”? obsoleted? 8 © W8on 2012
- 9. Understand Live and breath the value proposition “The potential benefits of an offering for a target customer that outweigh the total customer sacrifice while being differentiated from available alternatives and supported by reasons to believe*”. 9 © W8on 2012 Source: Prof Sahwney, Kellog
- 10. 2. Know how to get there » Use the right appropriate resources, processes and parts • Unless you have a PD team who have done this many times before, enlist outside help – have a seasoned, battle-scarred member • Outsource what you can, but.. • ...always have at least one person who is totally on top of it • Don't switch horses – concept through to manufacture, act II • Find parts that are already being used and suppliers who are already using them • Beware parts obsolescence 10 © W8on 2012
- 11. 3. Make sure the car and driver are good » Is the engine (process) good? • Know process but don't be a slave to it – FEI, NPD • Identify & retire risks early » Make sure the transmission is robust • Avoid bleeding edge technologies if you can – except where key to the product » Make sure the driver's driving, navigator's navigating, etc. • Don't meddle in each other's work – “don't let the CEO write code” » Make sure you outclass competition • Leverage IP • Build competitive barriers to entry 11 © W8on 2012
- 12. Process – not all a millstone! » There is a reason that established successful companies have processes • Learn from them; let them guide you, but don't copy them! A 1) Needs 2) Opp's Markets P r s o s Strategy Delivery d e u t c t s 3) Ideas 4) Concept Strategy s 12 © W8on 2012
- 13. Unanticipated Rework kills! » Traditional project management focuses on people, productivity and quality But what really kills is undiscovered rework • Retire risks early – Prototyping, tests, experiments. 13 © W8on 2012
- 14. Leverage IP • The time to start patenting is before the development, not after it. • Protect IP at many levels to prohibit competitors. • Robust IP strategy may require additional development work • Barter • In a fast startup environment, someone else will have a piece of your puzzle • Make sure you have a piece of their puzzle • Trading IP is much cheaper than buying/licensing it! 14 © W8on 2012
- 15. 4) Make sure you have enough gas » What is the biggest cause of failed innovations in corporations? » Biggest cause of failures in startups is running out of gas • So...be prepared for rework – Allow time & money (keep something back) – Set investors & customer expectations – Maintain morale » Pointers • Works in the lab != works in the field • Budget 2x – 3x planned development cost – don't skip design and test steps because lack of funds • If a high volume product, do low volume run first – accept redesign or added cost if you have to • Be realistic about volumes and ramp-up • Don't skimp on final product testing 15 © W8on 2012
- 16. 5) Don't get lost! » Don't try to be all things to all people » Keep focused on your identified niche » Don't muddy first product with every bell and whistle • Better to release act 1 and redevelop act 2 • Understand what's “good enough” • Don't disrupt yourself before you even launch » Keep the team cohesive, coherent & connected • Feed the vision everyday (the value proposition model can help) • Make sure everyone knows and respects theirs and other's roles 16 © W8on 2012
- 17. Highly effective teams have a diversity of thinking styles If we all think alike then no one is thinking (Patton) Upper Left Upper Right Analyze Strategize Logical Holistic Analytical Intuitive Fact-based Integrating Quantitative Synthesising Organized Interpersonal Sequential Feeling based Planned Kinaesthetic Detailed Emotional Lower Left Lower Organize Right Personalize 17 © W8on 2012 Images, public domain from Wikimedia Commons
- 18. Contact Details Plug & Play Innovation Management, Product Development Technology Roadmapping for a Wireless World and Strategy Lexington, MA North Billerica, MA Phone +1 781 583 1671 Phone +1 978-667-9890 Cell +1 781 985 1233 Fax +1 978-671-0114 geoff@w8oninnovation.com info@venturetechnologies.com 18 © W8on 2012