Develop

It all starts with explicit or latent market needs. The right business model to reap the benefits. And a product as a growth engine.

Common tech venture traps are rooted in development

Too many tech ventures overinvest in their product development - before knowing about their audience or how they will monetize their success. Since the product is the engine of a company's growth, it pays to invest in building the right one and designing a monetization vehicle around this engine.

Today, the "fail often, fail fast" philosophy has often been turned into an excuse to get back to a "build it and they will come" approach, leading to products that fail to find their market.

Another common trap is to build a product for early tech adopters that fails to meet a more mainstream demand. We can explore some of the root causes of those issues (and we have - see our post on Overcoming the Tech vs. Business Type Divide), but suffice to say that there is a dire lack of experts equipped to effectively turn complex technologies into compelling market solutions and profitable business models.

Meet the end user's expressed or latent needs, at a profit

In our experience, two types of major business choices play a critical role in a venture's life: product and business model decisions. They influence every downstream choice, and are often hard to reverse. The key to getting both of them right is to design them holistically with both the end user and the ROI imperative in mind.

That means selecting the right market using relevant criteria. Understanding the explicit and implicit needs that will drive demand. Building something so compelling that people will pay for it - one way or another. Being creative about business models and testing them with different segments. Thinking lifecycle. Positioning the offer intelligently. And yes, developing a blockbuster product. Not to forget perhaps the most important, syncing those various tasks so they feed each other and grow symbiotically.

Effective development calls for an integrated process

All of the above is easier said that done. That's why, over multiple projects, we have honed a structured process to help ventures navigate the development landmine.

We used this process ourselves to create the Growthroute offering. It builds on our practical experience in product management, as well as with the Pragmatic Marketing framework and - for web start-ups - the Agile Programming methodology. Have a closer look by clicking on the links below.

Our development services

• Understand Market(s)
• Inventory Deliverable Benefits
• Select Target Customers
• Create Revenue Model
• Position Company and Product(s)
• Develop Winning Product