is of critical importance for technology startups: given the limited budget typically available to early-stage startups, making the right product development decisions can make the difference between success and failure Product development In a report* by CBInsights, failure reasons such as ‘ ’ and ‘ ’ feature at the top of the list. According to the same source, 42% of the startups analyzed, stated that there was ‘ ’ for their product, while 17% delivered ‘ ’. Non-friendly product Product without a business model no market need a non-user-friendly product Other reports, articles and blogs from startup founders, seem to agree that most of the major failure factors are strongly connected to product management. Product-related startup risks Product-related risks could refer to both the and the of Minimum Viable Product_._ A poorly-defined product, regardless how well-built, will probably fail to solve the problem and deliver value to its users. A poor implementation of a well-defined product, will also fail to create value to the user. definition actual development/ implementation Startups need both (the right focus, connection to the real problem, an MVP addressing the actual and ) and (agile engineering, right priorities, quality, great user experiences) to succeed. great product definition user needs pain-points great product execution Based on my experience with startups I would identify the following as the top : — risks product execution The risk of over-engineering the product Engineering-heavy startups tend to put more effort than needed on the technical aspects of the product; while it is great to achieve engineering excellence, over-indexing on such technical aspects — at an early stage — might come with additional costs: consider the missed opportunity from features that didn’t make it to the market due to prioritization for purely engineering work. I’ve seen startups putting extra effort into sophisticated super-scalable infrastructures only to get a few hundreds of users when they finally launch the product. How to run a successful Design Sprint When in an ‘early startup’ mode, you need to have the ability to and ; this way you can from user feedback, and ; at fast pace. Normally, scalability, concurrency and related architectural concerns can wait — as it might be more important to than a sophisticated back-end to support theoretical traffic and growth scenarios. build features fast release frequently learn adapt iterate deliver additional features to your early customers To address this risk, you need to apply and ensure that you are all the resources you have, in the right order and focus. wise feature and task priorities intelligently utilizing The risk of misinterpreting user feedback When you are passionate about your product, you need to be open to all feedback — and the negative signals and criticism: do not allow to affect your judgement — it’s easy to get destructed and focus on positive comments which simply confirm what you want to believe. especially confirmation bias To ensure that you are objective, you have to become data-driven — introduce the right to help you understand the performance of your product — the patterns and the dynamics; the real user engagement levels; what they like and what they don’t; and why. product performance measurement framework The risk of the expanded (or disrupted) product scope There is always the ‘risk’ to get enthusiastic about ‘just in time’ ideas or features; and this is great, as soon as you manage to retain the right focus. The actual risk comes into play if you fail to maintain good prioritization — in this scenario you might end up disrupting your product backlog and the current execution. To avoid this risk, you could all these new features ideas, to a queue of Then, re-apply your strategic feature prioritization logic, while trying to avoid disrupting towards your MVP. append features for consideration. product execution Modern product development can help managing the above risks, by setting the right focus and leveraging agile engineering practices. Focus on the Product You can manage the above-mentioned risks, by properly your and according to . The process of must start with a clear, solid articulation of the you need to solve_:_ begin by framing the problem and attaching the right context — insights describing the market, the impacted users and the competitors. defining Minimum Viable Product (MVP) executing agile engineering principles MVP definition problem Moving from a problem to ideas, solutions and products; through prototypes and MVPs Having clarity about the and allows you to generate which could evolve to potential . Clarity for the solutions is also key; consider using Epic and low-fidelity wire-frames to summarize how it is addressing the problem; visualize the key user interaction scenarios and attach high-level technical information — for instance, architecture diagrams of the components and the processes involved. You can then prototype your solution/product to test its potential and validate your assumptions with real users. problem, the involved users the the market ideas solutions user stories Consider building a Prototype Modern product management is based on experimentation and feedback loops — learning from your end-users and improving your product, continuously. One of these cycles could refer to a . build-measure-learn prototype implementation Building a prototype, to test a concept with real users, is a great idea — provided that is and . Also, the prototype will only generate real value and insights if there are regarding the product — significant questions to be answered and hypotheses to be tested; otherwise it might only confirm what you already now. For example, you should consider a prototype if the technology involved in your product definition is or it is ; or when the solution is defined on top of . prototyping fast inexpensive big unknowns not proven not highly adopted multiple assumptions Apply Agile and Experimentation principles Testing a concept or a feature via a prototype should not be seen as an isolated activity: experimentation needs to be at the core of your product development culture — an effective way to improve your product and create value to your users. Of course, prototyping/ experimentation is not the only way to learn from your users. As denoted in the diagram below, each of your releases uses feedback loops to provide user insights and engagement metrics: modern, digital products, use and to capture detailed user interaction data, while it is very common to embed feedback forms and customer satisfaction measuring features such as the Net Promoter Score — NPS. instrumentation telemetry An overview of a modern product development function A key role of a modern ‘product management function’ is to systematically process and interpret this feedback and usage data, to convert them to and about the product and its users. actionable insights knowledge This allows product managers to better manage the product by accurately , and ; to define , and ; to refine the and ensure a fast and smooth execution, with frequent releases and no disruption to the users. measuring success setting the right priorities steering the overall development process what to build next when to prototype when to run A/B tests product strategy Empower your team with essential Product Management skills Whatever the actual title is — Product Manager/Architect, Chief Product Officer etc. you need a in your team — one with a and deep understanding of the opportunity and the environment. Product Leader bold vision Your team also needs a wide range of product-related skills and competencies — including , and ; you need members with the and use data to make informed decisions. deep technology understanding product sense agile product development expertise ability to prioritize strategically If you don’t have and cannot afford someone with this profile in your startup, make sure you to master at least the basic principles of , and . educate your team agile product development feature prioritization experimentation Cover image: pixabay * The Top 20 Reasons Startups Fail

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The Minimum Viable Product, explained.

Startups and the Importance of Agile Product Development

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