If you’ve already launched a successful product, when and how do you launch a new one? Ask yourself 2 questions: 1. Do I have the time and resources to do something new? New products + existing platforms require a lot. It’s different when you’re doing something brand new with no existing product or customers. In that case, you might not need many resources. But an internal product linked with all your other products? Different story. It took us a year and four months to launch Mercury Personal, and it'll probably take another two or three years before it's a significant business. 2. Is this new product worth doing? You’ll know the answer to this question if you can place a checkmark next to each of the following. Does your new product: -Have existing customers asked for it? -Drive more customers? -Drive revenue? -Drive retention? Generally speaking, it's not worth doing unless it accomplishes all four.
Also should ideally be complementary to your existing product, or at least not mutually exclusive, with cross sell potential.
Absolutely! Launching a new product is a thrilling adventure. Timing is key, so make sure you have the resources and customer demand before diving in.
Splendid Immad
Vice President of Product & GM | (ex-Google, BigCommerce, VTEX)
2wI love that you emphasized talking to customers. So many companies plan new product initiatives from the inside out vs. the opposite -- which yields better outcomes & adoption ;) To address your question, I like to look at roadmaps as a portfolio composed of investments in: * 'Narratives' (new products, differentiated features...) * 'Numbers' (NPS, PLG, revenue retention, etc.) * 'Needs' (engineering initiatives that keep the lights on) A healthy company with good market positioning should be able to allocate 40% of R&D capacity into new 'Narratives' and 30% to each of the last two. If, in planning for a new product line, you find that you need more than 30% in 'Numbers' and 'Needs', then go fix those things first before your 'Narrative' roadmap moves into development.