Product Development Strategies for Success - Michael Seibel

Importance of Defining the Problem and Target Customer

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  Defining the problem and expected result early on is crucial for success in building a product.
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  Founders should define the problem they're solving clearly and narrowly, and focus on addressing the needs of a specific group of people first before trying to solve the mega problem.
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  Poppy, an "uber for babysitting" company, caters to a wide range of needs from emergency situations to regular childcare.
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  When building a product, it's important to narrow down the problem and ask if it's solvable before trying to address it.
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  Knowing your ideal first customer is crucial for the success of a product, and many founders make the mistake of building something without understanding who their users are.
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  Uber's success can be attributed to solving a high intensity and frequent problem for customers.
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  Building a successful product is not about creating art, but about solving a problem for users.
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  Startups should focus on finding the most desperate customers first, rather than trying to impress impressive customers who aren't in urgent need of their product.
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  The genius part is identifying a problem that others haven't figured out yet, not just building a cool thing and hoping people will use it.
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  Talking to passionate users and building what they want can be a magical thing for startups to deliver and can make users fall in love with the product.

Metrics and Revenue as Key Indicators of Success

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  Setting up metrics is crucial for knowing whether your product is being used and for generating new product ideas and inspiration.
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  Incorporating measurement into product development is crucial for success: "Building measurement is part of a product spec."
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  Your company's success should be measured by a revenue or usage-based metric, and everyone in the company should be aware of it and working towards it.
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  The most important thing for a product is whether people are using it and if it's solving their problem, not the labels or distinctions like beta or pre-launch.

Iteration and Testing for Product Success

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  Testing the MVP with actual customers is a required step to ensure that the product actually solves the problem.
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  The cadence of iterating every two weeks is extremely important for finding product market fit and making the process feel fun and accomplished.
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  Iteration is key to building a successful product, even if the first version is "fairly shitty."