On Products that make sense

I've always liked to say how much I love products that make sense. It's time I explain what I mean by that.

A quick story

Many years ago, I worked for a company that was building a very ambitious website. Their CEO was a seasoned founder who raised a big investment and hired some very smart and accomplished people and a few talented but inexperienced individuals that had never worked on a startup before. I was part of the latter.

The CEO had a clear vision of what he thought the product should be, and the Product and Development teams executed that view. When it came time to launch the website, there was a marketing team in place to spread the word, and it got a lot of PR. We got a huge spike of interest on launch day and continued getting attention as the story spread.

And then traffic flatlined.

Over time, it became clear that we had built a massive, complicated solution to a problem that did not exist. What I learned then and there - and learning it took me to a path towards Product Management and Entrepreneurship - was very simple: if your product does not solve an existing problem, then you have a problem.

A Problem First Approach

Comparing to existing things is a

One thing entrepreneurs would often tell me when I was mentoring was that their Products were completely new.

Most of the times that means that either you didn't look enough or it's a very risky idea. Looking hard enough often means taking a problem-first approach. I am a subscriber of the Jobs to be Done theory (and particular a fan of the Milkshake example) - often, there's something else currently solving this issue. What is it? Is it standard enough that you can easily target its users? Can you interview your would-be buyers?