CLOUDY podcast | #10 How to (not) mess up a product?

Some statistics state that up to 90% of new products fail. Is there a difference between an individual and a company failing?

Certainly yes. For that individual, it is often final.

Some companies, developing many products, have to take risks and also have to reckon with the fact that not all of them will be successful.

Yes, it is often the corporate culture of large companies. They simply try. For example, Google itself has 200-300 failed projects in a row, which many people do not know about (note: Google Cemetery). Everyone knows mainly the successful projects - Gmail, Google search...

On the other hand, many failures can ruin the reputation of a large company. A small, new company can still afford it, they are forgiven for it. The market will say that it is a first, some kind of first shot, we will see what they bring in time.

Do you remember a product that initially failed and yet the company came up with version 2 or 3 that was successful and made a dent in the world?

There are several. For example, airlines, once only rich people could afford to fly, it was a privilege. Then came smaller players who said they would try something different. Ryanair came with tickets for €10-15 and suddenly masses of people started flying.

Can a failed project be an inspiration?

It certainly can. The idea didn't always have to be bad, it just could have been flawed in execution. It could have been released at the wrong time, for the wrong target audience, for the wrong amount. However, it might work differently for someone else. An example would be Viagra as a medicine for high blood pressure. It was just discovered that it also had other side effects and thanks to them the product was successful.

Does it happen that a product is developed that has no customer?

Yes, that happens quite often. A company tells itself that we won't ask people, we know best how to do it, we are developers of XY years,... then it often happens that the product doesn't find a market. An example is Google Glass.

Can AI help me develop a product? Find a gap in the market?

To some extent, yes. AI can replace months of research, analysis, and market research. AI learns from what it reads and studies and can find some new application for the product, but it has its limits. AI only works with what it can find on its own, but if you have a new idea that no one has thought of before, AI may not come up with it on its own.

However, it can find out what people are looking for and they can't find it. What is the demand for.

What are the most common mistakes we make when launching a product?

There are several of these mistakes. The basis is to do market research, find the problem we want to solve and then develop that problem further (what it must meet, who it is intended for, how it will help, what the product should not have, etc.).

If I am going to launch something that has not been there before, I don't need to have too narrow a vision, too narrow a target group. Often what I think, that is, that my product is suitable for this target group, ultimately may not be reality, it may be suitable for another group. The ideal is to test the product on masses of people, find out how they react to the product, and not focus on specific features that I think it should have, but listen to the market.

Is it important to ask potential customers about a new product?

For me, it is very important. I would test market acceptance from the initial prototypes. That is, I don't have to wait until the product is perfectly developed for a lot of money, and then I find out that I made a mistake somewhere because the market wants it a little differently and I can't go back. Come up with a prototype and find out the market's reaction, what can be done differently in development than I intended, etc.

But then you also have to take customers with a grain of salt. Filter what to do for whom. If I focus only on my customers, they will get older over time, the demographics, trends, and tastes of customers will change. You also have to focus on gaining new customers. If someone doesn't want my product now, then the fact that I improve the product for existing customers won't get me new ones. They won't want or need the product even more.

What if I put the product out and I find out that it has errors or shortcomings? What is a good follow-up procedure?

In that case, you need to react as soon as possible. Don't gloss over the mistakes, accept them and fix them. We probably all remember the exploding Samsung Note phones. Samsung wasn't that badly affected. Of course, it had an impact on the financial side, but what's important is that Samsung shook itself up, admitted the mistake, fixed it and the next phones were all the better. Failures and mistakes happen, you have to use it to your advantage, learn from it and do it better next time.

What happened, for example, in the case of Nokia, which almost disappeared from a successful company?

Nokia is a case of how to fail when you do everything right. It did what people wanted, delivered better and better phones, they were reliable with long battery life, etc. Nokia made a mistake in not being interested in new trends on the market, "rested on its laurels" and kept making its products better. It avoided touch phones, new technologies, etc. Then came the competition with new features, touch screens, and the market started moving in a different direction, and the competition jumped them.

What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about launching a product?

The first advice is definitely not to be afraid to try, because if you don't make mistakes, you don't do anything. Don't be afraid to take risks. Then when something doesn't work, there is a problem - that's when it's the art of falling. If something is falling, let it fall as little as possible or let me get the most out of it. So it's about minimizing damage.

And finally, the last piece of advice is to have the ability to let things go and walk away. You need to be able to tell yourself when it no longer makes sense to invest time or money in it. Have some kind of limit when to end things and maybe try something new. It's not the end of the world.

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