Time is ticking for your innovation (Software products)

Start-up companies with great thinkers come up with very good ideas for software products. These are usually based on sound principles, customer feedback, beta programs and so on and have all the ingredients of a successful product. What is missing most of the times is a clear sense of timeline for finalizing product development, testing and the full fledged launch of the product.

This could be because of a variety of reasons

– Lack of funding, so not clear how PD(product development) activities can be accelerated with external help, if needed

– Lack of conviction among core team members, that this release is just right for the market

– Lack of conviction that they will be able to handle market demand efficiently in full operations mode

Several products get significantly delayed, because the functionality definition keeps on changing continuously and thus the commercialization is delayed.

If you are one of those falling in a similar trap, kindly consider these points and try to make amends at the earliest

-In most scenarios, the product definition will never be 100% at specs phase. It is important to continue with the roll-out and monitor developments closely, so that commercialization is not delayed

– There are many ways in which commercialization can be achieved, by sub-licensing some of the technology components, selling the product as one integral whole or selling the product as a variant of its original self. Make sure that you explore and exploit all of this during your commercialization plan

– It is important to realize that the IP(Intellectual property) that you have built has a limited shelf life. If it is not commercialized in a particular time-window, then it will lose its competitive edge and will be rendered insignificant.

– For software products, the execution of your marketing strategy is more important than just defining it in the first place.  Make sure that you monitor and tweak your marketing programs based on initial feedback and response that your receive.

Let me know what you think..

Regards,

Atul Dhakappa

www.xenia-consulting.com

4 thoughts on “Time is ticking for your innovation (Software products)”

  1. Agreement, Atul!

    Most also fall in the trap of unwanted secrecy when it comes to early go-to-market-steps by not actually “going” to market for product/idea validation. The limited shelf life point of yours is also bang on!

    1. secrecy.. very true.. In this age of social media, i am surprised to see people keeping the functional aspects of their innovation under wraps..

  2. Very true. For many start-ups with dreams, struggling becomes a habit, and many seek the comfort zone of habit, rather than dealing with fears of the unknown (success). People find strange reasons to put off things from the fear of success. Good students put off appearing at exams, and good entrpreneurs put off launching their products. Bless you Atul.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top