Want to build the next great product on lines of Facebook, Twitter, Quora and likes? Here are the 15 Steps towards Building a Great Product! #StartupKarma - shared for helping other startups! Follow me on Twitter @beingpractical or drop a note on pj (at) beingpractical.com

1. 15 Steps towards
Building a Great Product
Best viewed along with the post on BeingPractical.com
PJ | @beingpractical
blood & sweat at @wishberg | gyan & rant at @beingpractical

2. Think: Building Products
and marketing them.
Want to build the next Facebook / Twitter or Quora ?

3. #0
Think: Product does the Marketing

4. #0
Remember: 2 Characteristics of a Great Product
1. High Virality
2. Strong Engagement

5. #1
Think: What you are building?

6. #1
Remember: Build your Product Statement
1. Define your product < 10 words. This is not your pitch!
2. Be grammatically correct. Include your product name.
3. Make no references to other startups!

7. #2
Think: Vision

8. Vision Idea
You can run out of ideas; but you can never run out of vision!
If you have a vision, you will figure out 100s of ideas to reach there.

9. #2
Remember: Vision
1. Write down your vision for your startup!
2. Does your product statement helps you achieve your vision?

10. #3
Think: “Atomic Unit” of Product

11. Example: Tweet is atomic unit of Twitter

12. #3
Remember: Atomic Unit of your Product
1. You have to own the atomic unit of your product!
2. Your product cannot have more than one atomic unit.
3. Product Statement & Vision has to be centered around this atomic unit

13. #4
Think: Features

14. Build features around the ‘Atomic Unit’ of your product!

15. #4
Remember: For Features
1. Build features around the atomic unit of your product!
2. Strip down all features not centered around the atomic unit.

16. #5
Think: Engagement

17. Conversations
Engagement

18. #5
Remember: For Engagement
1. Drive Engagement around the Atomic Unit.
2. Be Innovative. Don’t force-fit.
3. Engagement should be measurable.

19. #6
Think: Flexibility

20. Check Twitter’s Flexibility:
Text
Image
Video
Location
Post
Language

21. #6
Remember: For Flexibility
1. Give freedom to your user to play with your product.
2. List down all formats in which a user can express the atomic unit.

22. #7
Think: Distribution

23. On Site:
Off Site:
On Site Distribution Off Site Distribution

24. #7
Remember: For Distribution
1. Center distribution around the Atomic Unit.
2. Allow on-site distribution.
3. Don’t force fit social sharing in your product.

25. #8
Think: Endorsements

26. Retweet:
Follow Suggestions:
Profile:
Search Result:

27. #8
Remember: For Endorsements
1. Build Endorsements in to your product. Always works!
2. Anything that is not context is spam.

28. #9
Think: User Psychology
Users don’t <3 your product!

29. They love the content on it!
Create Content Share Content

30. #9
Remember: For User Psychology
1. Express Content in Atomic Unit of the Product
2. Creation of Content is valuable than Sharing of Content
3. When user creates content on your product, he owns something on your site.
That will keep him engaged.

31. #10
Think: Content Dynamics

32. 1%
Content Creators:
100%
Content Consumers:
10%
Content Curators:

33. #10
Remember: For Content Dynamics
1. Great content is created by 1% users. Amplified by 10% users.
2. Your product goes viral when content on it goes viral.

34. #11
Think: One Point of Discovery

35. That’s Me: Content:
New Updates
Start:
Who is
Important here?
What is happening?

36. #11
Remember: For One Point of Discovery
1. Don’t build product around Design. Build design around Product.
2. Minimize Page Views. 75% tasks / actions through one screen.

37. #12
Think: Privacy

38. this slide is intentionally left blank. that is privacy!

39. #13
Think: MVP

40. Bing is equally good Google Drive probably
search engine today, does all that what
but not more valuable. Dropbox does. We did
We did not shift from not move there!
Google to Bing!
Outlook has equal WhatsApp. Yay – it stopped us
features compared to from use text messaging,
Gmail. but not more Facebook Chat, Google Talk,
valuable. We did not etc. Why? Its valuable!
shift from Gmail
MVP = More Valuable Product
More Valuable Product Minimum Viable Product

41. #13
Remember: For MVP
1. Build something of value to users, that will drive adoption of product.
2. Build for real users, not for early adopters.

42. #14
Think: Growth

43. Twitter: Live Tweets at SXSWi Conference
Facebook: Harvard. More Schools joined later
YouTube: Nike Advt went Viral
Gmail: Google + Invites + Search
Quora: Opened to Facebook Alumni
Zynga: Facebook Feeds
Dropbox: Invite: Email + Facebook + Twitter
Bootstrap Growth on top of other networks

44. #14
Remember: For Growth
1. Bootstrap initial growth on other successful / large networks.
2. Networks could be online or offline. Focus on only one.

45. #15
Think: Shipping Fast

46. Ship a Imperfect Product. Its OK!

47. #15
Remember: For Shipping Fast
1. Ship a imperfect product. Its OK!
2. Collect feedback and ship changes fast.

48. Have Ideas? Connect with me 
@beingpractical
pj@beingpractical.com
www.beingpractical.com
Thank You
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