Taking In-House Product to Market

Exploring how to take a product that been built for internal use by a company to market. Starting with why it could / should be done, discussing the stages in which this can be done, specific tasks for a Product Manager and finally various tasks for various team.

Transcript

1. TAKING IN-HOUSE PRODUCT
   TO MARKET
   A How-To
   p r o d u c t m a n a g e m e n t
   

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2. INTERNAL V/S EXTERNAL
   Internal External
   Terminology Project Portfolio Product Portfolio
   Impact Cost Revenue
   Focus Efficiency Market
   Ref: http://www.proficientz.com/project-portfolio-vs-product-portfolio/
   

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3. WHY?
   

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4. WHY TAKE TO MARKET
   • Revenue Potential
   • Employee Morale
   • Leadership
   • Thought
   • Technology
   • Product
   • Design
   • Domain
   • Engineering
   • Practices
   

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5. 5 QUESTIONS TO START WITH
   

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6. 1. Who else will buy this?
   a. Names of likely buyers and categories of buyers. The reason 'else' is
   emphasized is highlight that there is already one customer, your own
   org
   2. What all options will they reject to buy this?
   a. Similar products or option to custom-build
   3. For what key benefit, you think, they will pay?
   a. The USP / Key Value Prop
   4. How much and how do you think they will pay for this?
   a. First take on Pricing and pricing model
   5. Why would your org support this effort?
   a. A powerful reason
   

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7. HOW?
   

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8. 6 STAGES OF BUSINESS ROLLOUT
   

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9. BUT FIRST ...
   

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10. THE GOLDEN LOGARITHMIC
    SPIRAL
    

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11. COMPLEXITY IN EACH STAGE WILL INCREASE EXPONENTIALLY
    

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12. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    

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13. THE LEFT SIDE OF THIS CUP IMPLIES IS THAT A WE CLIMB
    DOWN FROM WHAT HAS BEEN BUILT/LEARNT TILL NOW,
    UNLEARN, THE COMPLEXITY WILL DECREASE. HOWEVER, AS
    WE REANALYZE AND THEN START THE PROCESS, THE
    COMPLEXITY WILL GROW EXPONENTIALLY.
    

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14. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Unlearning is very important. In any future crisis,
    resorting to what worked earlier can be disastrous.
    Doing experiments anew is important.
    Unlearn
    

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15. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Starting with 5 Questions mentioned earlier, re-
    analyze the product, its reason and benefits with
    whole market in view
    Re-Analyze
    Unlearn
    

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16. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    The Complexity will obviously decrease as you
    unlearn and re-analyze
    Re-Analyze
    Unlearn
    

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17. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Good time to test many hypotheses
    Re-Analyze
    Early Access
    Unlearn
    

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18. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Less Complexity compared to to
    where you are now
    Re-Analyze
    Early Access
    Limited Access
    Unlearn
    

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19. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Unlearn
    Much more Complexity than you could
    ever face in-house. Plan for it, but no
    point guessing/estimating this and
    beyond. Thus take lean approach
    Re-Analyze
    Early Access
    Limited Access
    Open Access
    

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20. EXTERNAL PRODUCT WILL BE EXPONENTIALLY MORE
    COMPLEX COMPARED TO IN-HOUSE VERSION
    Unlearn
    Plan for it, but no point
    guessing/estimating this and beyond.
    Thus, continue to take lean approach.
    Re-Analyze
    Early Access
    Limited Access
    Self Serve
    Open Access
    

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21. Design
    Branding
    Design language
    Product
    Product-Market Fit
    Product Vision
    Identify confidential
    Parts
    Analyze Competition
    Decoupling Policy
    Support
    Existing channels
    Re-Analyze
    Design
    User Flow
    User Experience
    New Branding
    Product
    Redo Product
    Management
    Canvas
    Clear Pricing Policy
    Support
    Channel prioritisation
    Marketing
    Evangelism
    Elevator pitch
    Commercials
    Pricing strategy
    Org
    Rethink Product team
    Hiring
    Early Access
    Product
    Rethink the MVP
    Key Analytics
    Re-access tech
    decisions
    FAQs
    Licensing
    Report bugs and
    feedback via
    Support
    Channels
    TechNotes, Gotchas
    Marketing
    Periodic updates
    Commercials
    Buy default config even
    if for $0
    Org
    Marketing team
    Limited Access
    Design
    White-labeling
    Product
    Rebuild ecosystem
    Piracy & Security
    Discounting
    E-commerce & Buying
    Basic Role Management
    Crash Analytics
    Support
    Build KB based on
    issues / queries
    Marketing
    Brand value
    Competitive
    differentiation
    Power-use updates
    Commercials
    Buy various configs
    even if discounted
    Org
    Support team
    Open Access
    Product
    Full Role Management
    Social Media Support
    Incentivise Usage /
    feedback
    Bundling / Unbundling
    Usage Analytics & Data
    Support
    Proactive additions to
    Knowledgebase
    Marketing
    Advertising
    Social media
    engagement
    Position papers
    Commercials
    Variants & packages
    based pricing
    Org
    Sales team
    Operations team
    SelfServe
    Product
    Revenue Analytics
    Fully enabled self-
    discovery
    Automations
    Support
    Social connects
    Domain related
    additions to
    Knowledgebase
    Marketing
    Thought Leadership
    RoI driven marketing
    and advertising
    Commercials
    Easy buy based
    access to
    options
    Unlearn
    

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22. 7 TASKS FOR THE PROMA
    

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23. ACTION LIST FOR THE PROMA
    1.Get Design team to work on branding and reassess the
    user flow and experience
    2.Get Product team to redo the Product Management Canvas
    3.Get Quality team to ensure the product will work well them
    opened up
    4.Get Security team to analyse the risks as product is opened
    up
    5.Get Marketing team to deliver collaterals, articles, blogs,
    ads, etc
    6.Get Support team ready to help users as if their lives
    depended on it
    7.Get Sales team going and bringing on booking / revenues
    

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24. 25 ACTIONS FOR THE TEAMS
    

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25. 25 STEPS
    Design
    1. Design an independent branding and design language
    2. Rethink user flows and user experience based on user research as 100% of new users may not
    be directly accessible
    Product
    1. Rethink your MVP
    2. Redefine product vision
    3. Take control of Roadmap and break free from shackles of Product Sponsor and early advocates
    4. Remove confidential analysis, techniques and flows
    5. Re-assess product-market fit
    6. Take competition more seriously and not just source of ideas
    

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26. 25 STEPS
    9. Revisit rejected partners and rebuild an ecosystem
    10. Add Role Management to accommodate for Admins and Super-Admins
    11. Reaccess tech decisions on tools, stacks and methods
    12. Start saying NO to requests from Product Sponsor or early users
    13. Consider licensing
    14. Consider threat of Piracy and security breaches
    Feedback, Support, Marketing & Communication
    9. Build searchable and easily navigable Knowledgebase to enable self-discovery
    10. Add reporting of bugs, providing feedback, request support from within the product
    11. Add reporting of bugs, providing feedback, request support using social media
    12. Incentivise / reward communication from users and partners
    13. Reach out and market using social media and do not hesitate to advertise
    

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27. 25 STEPS
    Business & Commercial
    20. Add ‘buying’ of product, even if it is for $0
    21. Establish a pricing/discounting/packaging policy
    22. Retrain team to focus on revenues and setup efficient revenue tracking
    23. Making ‘buying’ or e-commerce via your product simple
    Organisation
    24. Get a dedicated team
    25. Get branding, support, marketing and sales teams in place
    

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28. BEST PRACTICES
    

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29. BEST PRACTICES FOR OPEN SOURCING
    • Technical Communication
    • Version Control, Document Management, and
    Distribution
    • Quality Assurance
    • Build and Test Management
    • Project Management
    • Knowledge Management
    

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30. BEST PRACTICES FOR COMMERCIALISING
    • Clear pricing policy
    • Easy to understand licensing policy
    • Easy to report bugs and provide feedback
    • Continuous security analysis and piracy protection
    • Easy to use e-commerce and buy
    • Ability to define roles and grant permissions
    • Self-discovery via knowledge management
    • Support (free and paid variants)
    • Enables 3rd parties to build products or provide service on top of
    your product
    • Analytics
    

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31. THANK YOU
    http://www.ddiinnxx.com
    @ddiinnxx
    

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