product development for startups

Product DevelopmentBy, George DeebOctober 19, 2016

@RedRocketVC www.RedRocketVC.com 312-600-7560

Managing Partner (2010 to Date)

Chairman & CEO (2008-2010)

Founder & CEO (1999-2008)

Investment Banker (1991-1999)

BBA-Finance (1987-1991)

About George Deeb

Do Your Research

Industry- Understand high level trends and needs

Competitors- Know what you are up against, and be better

Prospective Customers- Ask what are their current painpoints- Ask their reaction to where you are heading- Get them to be free pilot customers during testing period

Product Vision/Roadmap

Build a Business, Not a Functionality- Clearly think through revenue plan and functionality

Gather Inputs From All Stakeholders- Employees across depts, technologists, customers

MVP to Start- Honda now, Rolls Royce later- Initial architecture decisions could create long-term hurdles

Think Through a Three Year Plan (Product is Never Done)- How will Version 1.0 evolve into Version 2.0 and 3.0

Protect Your Intellectual Property- Get good legal advice here on patents and contracts

Product Specifications

KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid!- The easier it is to use, the more people will use it- It is better to drive “wisdom”, than “widgets”

Pick Platforms- Will you need each of Android, iOS, Web? Start small.

Pick Coding Languages- Should you code in HTML, Java, Python or Ruby?

Design vs. Development Plans and Teams- Need to optimize for both, they are NOT the same thing

Involve Marketing- Incorporate social sharing into your product design

Development Plan

Agile Software Development Process- Two week sprints and regroup with new learnings

Beta vs. Version 1.0- Get your MVP live as beta and start testing it- Not officially Version 1.0 until you have tested and are happy

New Code vs. Open Source- Don’t reinvent the wheel, plenty of free software out there

Hosted Internally vs. The Cloud- Don’t incur big overhead day one, leverage the Cloud

UX Testing

Watch Users Play With Your App- Is the interface intuitive—are they doing what we intended- Is the product engaging—does it suck them in from start

Leverage Key Technologies- Take advantage of A/B testing—which version works best- Many tools for eye-tracking and user testing

Inhouse vs. Outsource

Are You a Technical Founder?- Then building your own team, probably makes sense

Are You NOT a Technical Founder?- Either need to partner with a technical co-founder- Or, engage a development agency for your MVP- Perfectly fine to start with agency, but internalize long term

What Do VC’s Prefer?- Ultimately, you will need your own team to attract capital

Get Good Legal Protections in Both Cases- Make sure all employees, agencies or contractors sign all

copyrights over to you

Estimating Costs

Project Manager’s TimeDevelopers’ TimeDesigners’ Time (including UX time)QA TimeThird Party Software Licenses– CMS, database, ad serving, credit cards, email mgmt, etc.

Hardware NeedsCloud Services/Hosting/DomainsLegal Time to Protect IP (e.g., contracts, patents)Proof-of-Concept Marketing Support

Whatever You Estimate . . . Build In Cushions to Be Conservative!!

Development KPIs

Staying On Time—Break Into Bite Size PartsStaying on BudgetQuality Control MetricsProductivity/Resource Utilization MetricsSite Performance MetricsSupport Desk MetricsUser Satisfaction/NPS MetricsEmployee Satisfaction MetricsFinancial Return Metrics- Shoot for a 10x ROI on your development spend

However Long You Think It Will Take . . . Double It!!

Further Reading

http://www.RedRocketVC.com

Lesson #20: Setting Your Product & Pricing StrategyLesson #36: Picking The Best Technology for Your StartupLesson #70: Protect Your Intellectual PropertyLesson #73: Consumer Usability TestingLesson #118: Market Research for StartupsLesson #129: “Productize” Your Business for Maximum EfficiencyLesson #170: Your Proof of Concept is More Important Than ProductLesson #172: Don’t Finalize Tech Dev Plan Until You Involve MarketingLesson #197: R&D and Sales Must Be Tied to the HipLesson #230: Evolve From Selling “Widgets” to Selling “Wisdom”Lesson #232: Do You Own The Copyright to Your Own TechnologyLesson #238: Continue to Innovate, or Die a Slow Death

@georgedeeb