Posts Tagged ‘Product Development’
Create a Great Product – the 3-Step Dance Method
Can you create a product in a vacuum? Creating a new product in a relative vacuum is an exercise in complete trust that you know what’s best for the customer, perhaps even without interaction with such a customer. It’s probably happened, but not often enough to trust this method as a formula for success. The…
Read MoreEconomics 101: If Water Flows Downhill, Then Why Fight It?
You’ll get the importance of this in a moment. Hang in there. Substitute the word “money” for “water” and we have an explanation for most all the reasons why successful products move from concept through early adopters through mass market. How money flows through the system Money flows to the cheapest effective solution to a…
Read More5 Important Factors When Choosing a Manufacturer for Your Product
Whenever your business needs something manufactured, whether it’s a final product or an individual prototype, you will need to find a suitable manufacturer. If you’ve never looked for a manufacturer before then the world can be a little overwhelming at first; most people don’t realize just how many different types of manufacturer there are and…
Read MoreThe Cost of Counterfeit Products
Counterfeits can hurt your business even if you don’t know they’re out there. A shocking two in five name brand products sold online turns out to be counterfeit, and many counterfeits are so convincing consumers don’t know they aren’t real until they have been injured or the product malfunctions. Small businesses especially can be hurt…
Read MoreStart a Product-Innovation Revolution in 6 Steps—Whether You’re David or Goliath
In his book David and Goliath: Underdogs, Misfits, and the Art of Battling Giants, Malcolm Gladwell upends the idea that it was surprising for David, the underdog, to vanquish Goliath, the almighty giant. Underdogs, Gladwell suggests, have certain inherent advantages. In business, companies might find themselves in either the David or Goliath position, and it’s important to…
Read MoreCan a Revolutionary Concept Be Too Late to Market?
Too many startup businesses, especially in the technology world, are built upon brand new concepts that have not yet been proven in the field against products from other companies that already have revenues flowing. As a rule, creating a product that does not fit into an existing space, cannot be defined against one or more competitors,…
Read More4 Strategies for Lowering Product Development Cost in a Startup
For a big company, lowering product development cost makes little sense. A big company has scale, and that means even small improvements in the product more than offset their cost. However, for a startup, product development cost is paramount. Startups have only so much cash and no revenue. Worse, most startups do not raise anything…
Read MoreAre You Still Using the RFP?
Since the beginning of modern business operations the Request for Proposals was king. As one of the only ways of reaching new vendors and partners, corporations relied on this traditional tried-and-true method as an industry necessity. Today, 95% of companies still use RFPs, but it seems more out of a lack of other and more…
Read MoreShould a Startup Outsource Product Development?
Outsourcing product development would seem to offer many benefits to a startup: lower cost, faster time to market and no fixed cost eating up runway every week. Product development companies that specialize in startups have reference designs and procedures that can significantly lower the number of hours needed to complete a project. They also have…
Read MoreWithout a Foundation of Research, Product Development Falls Apart
Think about some of your favorite products of all time. Maybe it’s your new pair of noise-canceling headphones. Maybe it’s a favorite skin care product, or a pair of really well-designed insoles for your running shoes. Or maybe it’s a particularly amazing project management app a colleague told you about. Now, think about WHY those…
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