ON THE TOPIC OF | PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT
PARVOODIDUINCGT DEVELOPMENT PITFALL
Jeremy Carey, senior consultant and Alan Hart,
head of business development at 42 Technology
highlight the common traps that design engineers and
entrepreneurs face when developing products.
It’s a common refrain amongst
successful entrepreneurs that
had they known how difficult
the journey would be, they
might never have embarked
upon it. And it’s usually said to
help embolden those starting out
on their own journey. Although
many of an entrepreneur’s best life
lessons are probably learned from
making mistakes, that does not
mean expensive errors should be
embraced.
Spotting problems early and better
understanding the challenges ahead
are crucial in staying on track and
limiting the cost and consequences
when things don’t turn out as planned.
42 Technology has helped many startups
to develop their first products and
has seen them frequently confronting
similar challenges on the way. This
article considers seven of the most
common pitfalls with suggestions for
avoiding them.
FWAIITLHIN TGH TEO L OBANLGAENR CTEE RMMVP
Today’s entrepreneurial best
practice is focused on developing
a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
that can be sold to a small group of
price-insensitive early adopters, who
are desperate for the product. MVP
is an invaluable philosophy for derisking
a project as it forces a focus
on a genuine ‘pain point’ and helps
to create first generation products,
delivering early revenues. But it does
not provide a robust business case
for the longer term.
Early adopters might have
niche requirements, different from
the mass-market, and can be a
distraction for entrepreneurs, leading
to product over-complication. MVP
should therefore be coupled to an
evolving view of how the market
requirements will differ when sales
are ten (or a thousand) times higher.
FHAOIWLIN MGA TROK EUTN SDTERRUSCTTAUNRDE S AFFECT SALES
Apocryphal or not, the phrase ‘Build
a better mousetrap and the world
will beat a path to your door’ may be
some of the worst possible advice to
the budding product developer.
Even the most promising new
products can fail to sell as expected
if they are presented in a way that
is impossible for customers to buy.
For example: a paradigm-changing
product in a standards-driven
industry may need buy-in up and
down the value chain before it will
sell; larger corporations typically find
it difficult to buy from SMEs; or some
markets want service, while others
want product. Entrepreneurs need
to understand the structures of their
target markets and how they can best
fit into the existing value-net.
PULNABNANLIANNGC AEND DEVELOPMENT
Many entrepreneurs focus on the
aspects of entrepreneurship they are
most familiar with, assuming other
areas are somehow simpler or can
be tackled later.
But bringing a product to
commercial success almost
always involves multiple risks and
challenges. A laser-like focus on
one area, for example on theoretical
modelling, building first prototypes
or branding, will solve problems
and generate interesting results but,
without balanced risk reduction, the
overall threat to a profitable business
is likely to be dominated by the
issues being ignored.
TCHHEA SBMOOTSTRAP/EQUITY
Entrepreneurs walk a fine line
between raising enough capital
to progress a development, while
retaining sufficient ownership to
make the endeavour worthwhile.
And squaring away these constraints
can be particularly challenging in
early funding rounds.
Securing a sufficiently high
TAHBOE UT AUTHORS
Jeremy Carey,
senior consultant
at 42 Technology
Alan Hart, head
of business
development at
42 Technology
14 WWW.EUREKAMAGAZINE.CO.UK | MARCH 2020
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