THE IMPORTANCE OF FAST PRODUCTS LAUNCHING

УДК 338.3

Дмітрієв К.І., студент 2 року ОС магістр
ХНЕУ ім. С. Кузнеця

Анотація: У статті описано важливість швидкого запуску нових продуктів. Надано основні докази такої важливості та запропоновано фреймворк швидкого запуску продукту. Ця тема є важливою в сучасному світі і буде корисною для підприємців усіх рівнів.

Ключові слова: стартап, новий продукт, запуск продукту, швидкий запуск продукту.

The article describes the importance of fast new products’ launching. Basic proofs of the importance were provided and framework of fast product launch is proposed. The topic is important in modern world and will be useful for entrepreneurs of all levels.

Keywords: startup, new product, product launching, fast product launching.

There is a sick and often encountered topic in modern world — startups who are preparing to launch and polishing the smallest details and want to bring the product to its ideal state for months and years.

Before begin with this topic several other articles were investigated. The topic of startups is widely covered in the modern literature. There could be found a lot books and publication on it. Generally those publication cover marketing research techniques, basics of project management and huge part of the material is about inspiration. However, there is no clear framework of idea validation or importante of launching startup in time.

According to Forbes 90% of startups fail. Startups themselves are risky. This article is aimed to bring this framework and highlight the importance of the most valuable resource of time and reduce risk of failure [1, p. 31-65].

The worst mistake of all, however, is that most startup founders get stuck on their original idea and refuse to pivot. It is a very important topic because, the environment is changing very faster than people think, the products which are in demand today would not be necessary in a few months, just because of market changes or other competitor. There are a few evidences of this fact:

  1. Startups are polishing and changing their unreleased product relying on personal feelings, however not on feedback from users. If product go to market it will have much more feedback and changes in it will be based on real customers feedback. There are no examples of product which are not been changed of their release.
  2. Neither potential customers nor competitors will wait for startup ideal product, they will find each other while startup are not in the market yet. The main point there is not to wait because someone else could launch similar product and get all customers on market. It would be very difficult to prof customers that your product is really better and make them change the product they are already using.
  3. Startup practically finished product collects on the shelf, instead of being useful. Product should work and earn money. According to lean methodologies some particle finished product are not finished product at all. While the product is not working it should be considered as waste.

However, a lot of entrepreneurs do such projects and there are a lot of unfinished products. In most cases, startups fail because the founders get so stuck on their original idea, they want to do everything in their power to prove it can work. Even worse, startups that raise money tend to spend a good portion of those funds on marketing and PR which means spreading the message of something they even sure works yet [2, p. 164].

There are a few tips on how to start the project in a fast way. Also it is a good framework to validate the idea:

  1. As far as entrepreneur got an idea he must quickly add it look, presentation or anything else. The main point there is make the idea tangible and show to other people.

  2. Owner should share presentation of the idea with as many smart people as possible and quality get feedback as soon as possible. Than more feedback owner gets than better chances to make really great product. Even if entrepreneur has only an idea, he will get an incredible amount of criticism, which will turn him back to reality and make to think about risk and weak points of it. Entrepreneur should not be afraid of this step, most likely, the idea will not be stolen. After all, only owner of the idea understands why it is so valuable and only he knows how to make it live. There is static bases on CB Insights [3] research that 42% of startups fail because of no need at market that is the most common issue.

  3. For a few months, or better weeks, the product team ought to make a minimal valuable product. The main point there is not to built ideal product, but it should be working. After the team has first version of the product they can show it to the market. It will help them understand very fast whether their brilliant product is in demand. After all, there could be cases of really good product however without demand in market. If it happens entrepreneur should do retrospective and find mistakes that team had done while them planned product. If everything is good, then there is no longer a universal framework for already established startup. They could continue develop the idea themselves, find partners or investors, or even with a dozen options. If everything is bad — return to the first step, understand what is wrong and modify the idea. Many founders see this as a blow to their ego and would rather try to make the original broken idea work, than admit they didn’t have it all figured out and keep pivoting in a better direction [4. p. 45-54].

All of information which is given above does not in any way abolish basic, correct management practices such as documentation, market and risk analysis, business plan. The main thought of this article is that entrepreneur should not make a project for the project, do not stick in it, the view of owner could be blurred very quickly, there is no doubt about it.

It is important to note that this topic is not applicable to the large projects of large corporations and enterprises who make product for their own use. They can afford a project lasting several years, because their demands most likely will not change [5].

But even in cases of enterprise it is preferable to follow the first framework which is described above. If the project lasts longer than 3 months [6, p. 124-131], then either the market and the requirements will change, or project team will not meet the deadline.

The main conclusion of the article is that release for startup is very important thing and is should be done as fast as possible.

REFERENCES

  1. Waters R. All-comers join web party for a punt on best startups / R. Waters // Financial Times.

  2. Thiel P. Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future / P. Thiel, B. Masters – 1st edition – Redfern, New South Wales:Currency Press, 2014. – 224 p.

  3. Startups, VCs Now Free To Advertise Their Fundraising Status // The Wall Street Journal – 2013. – Issues 9. – p. 65-71.

  4. Rose N. Equity Crowdfunding: The Complete Guide For Startups And Growing Companies / N. Rose – Vancouver:Stonepine Publishing, 2016 – 237 p.

  5. Robehmed N.A New Nonprofit Model: Meet The Charitable Startups / N. Robehmed // Forbes.

  6. Norris D. The 7 Day Startup: You Don’t Learn Until You Launch / D. Norris, R. Walling – Seattle:Amazon Digital Services LLC, 2014 – 204 p.

Науковий керівник

к.е.н., доц. Котлик А.В.