Product Talks provides the community with an opportunity to learn from people in Sydney that are working on Product Management and have a keen interest in the topic.
Kent Weathers is a leader with 15+ years experience bringing technology products to market. He founded a tech startup in the USA with 2 employees and scaled operations to a global, team of 60 in 3 countries before a successful exit. Today, he is Chief Operating Officer at Leadbolt in Sydney.
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Kent shared a framework you can use to launch a product to the market with a significantly better chance of beating the odds, including lessons learned from multiple case studies that illustrate the importance of each key step along the journey to launch. He also explored what happens after the launch. Can you get a product back on track after a dud of a launch?
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5. • a Wi-Fi connected juicer
• that uses single-serving
packets of fruits and
vegetables
• sold exclusively by
subscription
• that would produce a
perfect glass of fresh juice
6. • Ex-Army paratrooper
• Began dating vegan girl
• Opened Juice Restaurant
• Insolvency led to sale of
company and stores closed
• The girl broke up with him
• Could not find good juicer ->
wanted juicer
55. Consumer Goods 45%
Consumer Services 45%
Chemicals 44%
Industrial Services 43%
Technology 42%
Software Services 39%
Other Materials 39%
Healthcare 36%
Capital Goods 35%
INDUSTRY PERCENT FAILURE
NEW PRODUCT FAILURE RATE BY INDUSTRY
George Castellion and Stephen k Markham – Journal of Product Innovation Management
88. IDEATE EXPLORE FOCUS IMMERSE DEFINE BUILD PREPARE LAUNCH
INNOVATE DESIGN IMPLEMENT
Working on Launch Plan
89. IDEATE EXPLORE FOCUS IMMERSE DEFINE BUILD PREPARE LAUNCH
INNOVATE DESIGN IMPLEMENT
Working on Launch Plan
Target Customers
Problem to Solve
Personas
USP
Positioning
Product Team Marketing Team
Sales Team
90. Successful Launch Planning
• All business documentation for the product is in the Launch Plan
• Market segments
• Value Proposition
• Business Cases
• Build the right Launch Team and get them on the same page.
• Plan activities backwards from the Launch Date and set milestones.
• Set Launch Goals and Metrics
91. EARLY
(ARRANGE)
MIDDLE
(ACTIVATE)
LATE
(ANNOUNCE)
• Get alignment on
launch plan
• Confirm market
window
• Synchronize all
activities
• Secure final dates
and deliverables
• Review all business
documentation
• Work with
Development
• Recheck and update
business or market
information
• Validate Value Prop
& positioning
• Ensure Sales Team
is ready
• Plan launch events
• Beta tests
• Operations ready
• Customer Service
ready
• Arrange Press
• Sales Training
• Customer Service
Training
• Testimonials
• Ensure product is
as desired
• Regulatory
approvals secured
• Test ordering
process
• Recommend go/no
go
• Announce to market
Steven Haines
“The 3 A’s of the Product Launch”
92. EARLY
(ARRANGE)
MIDDLE
(ACTIVATE)
LATE
(ANNOUNCE)
• Get alignment on
launch plan
• Confirm market
window
• Synchronize all
activities
• Secure final dates
and deliverables
• Review all business
documentation
• Work with
Development
• Recheck and update
business or market
information
• Validate Value Prop
& positioning
• Ensure Sales Team
is ready
• Plan launch events
• Beta tests
• Operations ready
• Customer Service
ready
• Arrange Press
• Sales Training
• Customer Service
Training
• Testimonials
• Ensure product is
as desired
• Regulatory
approvals secured
• Test ordering
process
• Recommend go/no
go
• Announce to market
Steven Haines
“The 3 A’s of the Product Launch”
93. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
94. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
95. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
96. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
97. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
98. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
99. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
100. Task OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB
LAUNCH DATE
TASK 5
TASK 4
TASK 3
TASK 2
TASK 1
START PROJECT
101. Launch Plan
• Strategy
• What are the product launch objectives?
• What product launch strategy will meet those objectives?
• What are the main customer needs that will be met?
• What are the main product differentiators?
• What is the competitive landscape?
• What is the positioning and messaging strategy?
• What is the market awareness and promotion strategy?
102. Launch Plan
• Planning
• Who should be involved in the product launch?
• Who are the key stakeholders?
• Whose approvals do we need?
• Who are the assigned resourced by functional areas?
• What is the allocated and approved budget for product launch?
• What are the go-to-market activities in priority order?
103. Launch Plan
• Execution
• What are the timelines and major milestones?
• Who is responsible for monitoring, tracking, and reporting?
• How is launch effectiveness measured?
130. Post-Launch Audit
• Market window timing
• Synchronization between Business Case and Launch Plan
• Preparation of Sales and Marketing Material
• Sales Training
• Operational Readiness
• Launch Metrics Achieved
131. Frequent Launch Issues
• No clear market window for launch
• Launch plans out of sync with original business case
• Sales force is not ready to sell the product
• Sales and Marketing collateral is incomplete
• Sales training is not sufficient
• Operational systems and/or infrastructure is not ready
• Launch Metrics are missing or ignored
• Overconfident estimates
• Under allocated resources or budget
164. Announce DVD &
Streaming plan split
Announce Qwickster
Brand
Kill entire
idea
2 Months 1 Months
165. “.. .not sure whether the plan to split the company
had been presented to customer focus groups before
it was made public….
…assumed it had been…
…did not recall what those focus groups had said
about the plan.”
Reed Hastings, CEO Netflix