You can position your product in different ways in many different markets. You may have started describing your product in a certain way, only to find that your customers understand it very differently. Many first-time founders make the mistake of iterating on their product but keeping their positioning the same. Even if they're capable enough … Continue reading Positioning Is Where It’s At
Category: Product
The Power of Omission: Killing Features for Fun and Profit
If you add features to your product indiscriminately, you will end up with a gigantic bloated mess of software. One way to deal with this is to be very careful when deciding if new features should be added. Another rarely used approach is to remove unused and outdated features. Removing the cruft from your SaaS … Continue reading The Power of Omission: Killing Features for Fun and Profit
Made to Stick: Shaping an Extensible Product
It won’t take long before customers start asking for one particular kind of feature: integrating into other tools that they use all the time. They have adopted your product into their routine and their workflow, only to notice that something is missing. Some steps need to be taken to get your product to seamlessly join … Continue reading Made to Stick: Shaping an Extensible Product
Build for Value, Not for Applause: Product Management Under Heavy Constraints
A bootstrapped founder will have very little time to devote to building things that don't matter. Everything you do in your bootstrapped business should have a meaningful impact on moving your company towards a state of stability and growth. Bells and whistles are the least of your concerns when you're trying to get to profitability. … Continue reading Build for Value, Not for Applause: Product Management Under Heavy Constraints
First Things First: Feature Prioritization Frameworks
A business is an ever-evolving thing. Luckily, you will be at the steering wheel as the founder of your business. You will adjust your processes as needed along the way, and you improve your product over time. Often, inspiration strikes at the most random times. You read an article on an industry blog, or you … Continue reading First Things First: Feature Prioritization Frameworks
The Boring Truth of Successful Products That Survive
Most products that you will see staying on the market have something in common: they do one thing very well. And not much else. Weber sells grills that are fantastic at grilling. The furthest they strayed into new territory so far has been by adding an app-readable thermometer. Still, that gimmick and anything else about … Continue reading The Boring Truth of Successful Products That Survive
Not in House: On Reinventing the Wheel
As a bootstrapped founder, you will have to be scrappy. You will want to spend as little as you can on expenses, particularly when you're just starting. So anything you need to do, you want to do by yourself. Anything you need to use, you will want to build yourself. But in my experience, a … Continue reading Not in House: On Reinventing the Wheel
The Do’s and Don’ts of the Minimum Viable Product
Leonardo da Vinci supposedly said, "Art is never finished, only abandoned." This is definitely true for software as well. The only antidote to abandonment is to put your work in front of other people, even when it's not perfect yet. The startup industry has coined the term of the MVP, the Minimum Viable Product, to … Continue reading The Do’s and Don’ts of the Minimum Viable Product
