Life of a Business Principal in Consulting

When we create a new product, Product managers always grapple with the problem of when to take the product for customer validation. Taking it too soon would be the prospects are not interested in what is being demonstrated. Taking it too late means that we could be grossly wrong and any feedback that comes could not be that valuable. Another problem is taking it to all the prospects might lead to unsatisfactory  comments on how the product is still not complete. How do we manage thing timing issue? A simple concept of minimum viable product could help us understand when is the right time to start the demonstrations. Minimum viable product is the core product that satisfies the needs of a chosen subset of the target audience. It has just enough for us to focus on a subset of prospects, validate understanding and move on. What it is not MVP is often misunderstood as a the bare minimum of a product that can be developed. This understanding is incorrect. The e...

How would you decide what is the best business model for your product? Deciding on the right business model is very important for the product. It does not necessarily mean what is the price of your product. There could be no price for your product - though that is a myth. For example, we think google or Facebook is free. However, we are never the customers for Google or Facebook. It is the advertisers that are its customers. What we need to figure out when we decide on a business model are as follows: Who is my target audience? Who is my customer What is the price. How is the support model going to work Who are my partners While we do not absolutely need to price a product, we need to understand how we would make money. For example Open ERP does not price its product. However, its product is not the ERP software but really the hosting, service and training that it offers. While pricing is an important part, what is more important is in realising who is you...

How do you do your job as a product manager every day if you do not know what problems you have set your product to solve? One of the most important tasks of a product manager it to catalog problems that prospects / target user base faces. Just follow the steps and you can get really good at it. Step 1: Listen to potential users When you go out to meet people - either potential users or potential customers - you need to listen to what they speak. If you are really good, write it down as soon as possible as you keep listening. That is just step 1. Step 2: Look at what they do As they keep talking, chip in once in a while and ask them what they do and why they do what they do. While this might seem an innocuous question, it is the most powerful question and has enormous power. Reason: You are going to get actions from the customer. Step 3: Listen carefully to the one key thing that they say they are actually looking for. When customers actually demonstrate to yo...