The six stages outlined above will get your team through all steps of the process, from initial idea screening to the development phase.
Bringing your vision for an original new product to life is frequently one of the biggest hurdles for aspiring entrepreneurs.
However, it has become crucial for businesses to keep updating their products to conform to current trends. The business environment is dynamic and competitive, and new product development is one of the best ways to withstand competition.
What Is the Product Development Process?
Product development encompasses all steps to take a product from concept to market availability. It is the overall process of strategy, organization, concept generation, product and marketing plan creation and evaluation, and commercialization of a new product.
Product development requires the work and input of many teams across a business, including Development, Design, Marketing, Sales, Finance, and Testing. Product managers act as the strategic directors of the development process and oversee the progress.
Bringing your vision for an original new product to life is frequently one of the biggest hurdles for aspiring entrepreneurs.
You can have the best app idea in the world, but it means nothing if it only stays in your head.
“I have an idea for an app, what do I do next?”
If you’re looking for an answer to this question, you’ve landed on the right page. While many people believe that coming up with an exciting idea that you believe in is 90% of the work done, reality often deceives such expectations. The hard reality is that coming up with an app idea is easy, and figuring out what to do next is the hardest part. Millions of people have an idea for the App, but unfortunately, only a few people know how to turn an idea into an app. Remember, only the best ideas can earn you success.
This article explores how you can transform your app idea into a great app. Let’s begin!
Millions of people have an idea for the App, but unfortunately, only a few people know how to turn an idea into an app.
The Future of The Mobile App Industry
The mobile app development business is rising day by day! With a surge in mobile phone usage, there are big opportunities for mobile apps to be the most disruptive business platform.
And why not? Digitization is the need of the hour, and by building a mobile app for your business, you are keeping up with the trend. Mobile apps are easy to deal with and provide professionals with the ability to manage their businesses with ease.
Almost everyone uses mobile apps for something: whether it’s playing games, ordering food, getting weather updates, or social networking. Companies can use mobile apps to reach their customers, and increase their sales and revenue. The global mobile application market was valued at $106.27 billion in 2018 and projected to reach $407.31 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 18.4% from 2019 to 2026.
Product-market fit happens when you have successfully identified your target customer and served them with the right product.
The term product-market fit can be baffling for new product managers. The phrase sounds great in theory, but in reality, it is also one of the most misunderstood notions.
Hopefully, this article will be able to answer some of the questions surrounding product-market fit for you.
What is Product-Market Fit?
The most simplified definition of product-market fit is in the name: your product fits into the market, is where it is supposed to be, and you grow your business because of it.
Product-market fit is when your customers become your salespeople. In business, it is a magical moment when three things happen:
Existing users recognize your product’s value.
They tell others about their great experience with the product.
Your company replicates the excellent experience for the new users.
After all, the end goal of likely every business is to provide enough value to customers that they become your advocates and help you grow your customer base.
Product fits in Market when customers becomes your sales people, users recognize your product and share their product experience.
Signs of Product-Market Fit
Product-market fit refers to a situation in which a company’s target consumers buy, use, and tell others about its product in sufficient numbers to keep it growing and profitable.
Product-market fit happens when you have successfully identified your target customer and served them with the right product.
Here are five indicators to identify product-market fit.
Understanding Customer Needs:
Your target customer should serve the base upon which all other concepts are built. After all, your consumer determines your product’s success. Learning the needs of your customer takes time and experience. If you don’t know your customer, you won’t have much luck figuring out the product-market fit. Developing a deep understanding of the problems facing your customers enables you to relate to them better and ultimately helps builds trust and credibility.
User Retention:
One of the best measures for determining if you have achieved the correct product-market fit is the retention rate. If your clients abandon your product after the first use, it indicates that it has not attained the necessary degree of customer satisfaction. The higher the turnover rate, the lesser the chances of finding the proper product-market fit.
Similarly, if your target customer enjoys your service and offers good feedback, you have found the perfect product-market fit. If your product is retaining at least 40% of the customers over a long period, you have a strong sign of Product-Market fit.
Bounce Rate:
The bounce rate is the percentage of people that view a page of your website or social media (say, your home page) and then depart without any action (such as registering or starting a free demo). Traffic analysis is a regularly used measure of bounce rate. The bounce rate is derived by dividing the total number of visits by those visitors who did not take further action (i.e., visitors who just looked at one page). After that, the real number is expressed as a proportion of total visitors.
A high bounce rate typically indicates that the product is not attracting visitors, whereas a low bounce rate indicates that the visitor’s expectations are met and that the product is giving a nice first impression to its visitors.
The easiest way to attain product-market fit is by building credibility.
Net Promoter Score (NPS) and Referrals:
The easiest way to collect direct consumer input about a product is to utilize Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is a questionnaire-based survey that allows you to learn what customers think about your product, including what they like, dislike, and what improvements they would want to see.
It is a metric that measures how likely your customers are to recommend or promote your product to their friends, colleagues, and family. If your product referral chain grows every day, you’ve found the ideal business strategy.
NPS has become an important performance indicator among marketing and customer support teams. If your customers are rating you well, it means your product is having a good run in the market.
Establish Credibility:
The easiest way to attain product-market fit is by building credibility. The best way to build credibility is to offer up a story. Customers want to know how your product or service will make sense for them, and the easiest way to do this is to inject their needs into your brand’s story.
While there’s nothing more engaging than a story, there are other ways to further establish your credibility.
The major one is being involved in your industry.
Publish all types of content for your market, write guest articles for industry blogs and magazines, and show your prospects that you know what you’re doing.
Trust is critical for establishing credibility and increasing the lifetime value of your customers.
The process of conceiving an idea to seeing your product on the shelf can be very long and most inventions take years to come to fruition.
Introduction:
Everything begins as an idea. However, when it comes to turning a business idea into a marketable service or product, many entrepreneurs struggle with where to start. Maybe you’re struggling with how to sell your product or service, or you’re afraid someone will steal your idea. Wherever your challenge lies, the magic is in the execution. You must be prepared to invest time and money and factor in some determination to turn your vision into reality.
This article explores the concept of a business idea and streamlines the process of turning an idea into reality.
Proven methods and easy to start business ideas to make a successful business.
What is an Idea?
An idea is a thought or collection of thoughts generated in the mind. Ideas often form during brainstorming sessions or through discussions. Although all world-changing events and great success stories can be traced back to a single idea, don’t fall into the belief that having a great idea is all you need. If you have a great idea, you’ve only completed the first step of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now you need to work on turning that idea into a reality by taking it to market and letting your business change the world.
Without a viable plan to develop your innovative ideas into marketable items, you will never be able to profit from them.
It’s not about ideas. It’s about making ideas happen. – Scott Belsky, Behance Co-founder
You might have a wonderful concept in your mind for a new invention that you believe many people would be eager to buy. However, without a viable plan to develop your innovative ideas into marketable items, you will never be able to profit from them.
An idea is an unverified thought that originates from your imagination; it’s a lightning moment that helps you solve a persistent problem that’s been bothering you for a long time. Innovation is an expansion of a matured concept. To become an innovation, an idea must take the route of least resistance. You must do market research, product development, and cost estimates, and if all goes well, obtain a patent.
Timing is everything in the field of invention. If you wait too long, someone else will seize on a similar concept and take your market share. On the other hand, if your invention is the first of its type, the market may not be ready, and you will have an uphill battle to carve out a niche for your product. Another significant problem is making the general public aware of your product. Your concept may be fantastic, but without a marketing strategy, no one will ever learn about it. While problems are many, a successful entrepreneur focuses on solutions.
In this article, we will discuss how to take an invention idea to market.
Step 1: Document it
The first stage in commercializing your innovative ideas is to obtain ownership rights. You will not earn from your idea merely by imagining it; you must have evidence proving that you were the first to think of a possible product.
As a result, record all you can regarding the concept, design, and marketability of the product in an inventor’s journal. A court-worthy inventor’s journal can be any bound notebook with consecutively numbered pages that cannot be removed or reinserted.
Step 2: Check for patent
Before putting too much effort and money into a new product, make sure it doesn’t already exist. A quick check of the United States Patent and Trademark Office will reveal what has already been patented.
You should also complete a non-patent “prior art” search. If you find any sort of artwork or design related to your idea, you cannot patent it — regardless of whether a prior patent has been filed.
Step 3: Conduct research to ascertain whether the idea has a market
Do some initial market research before devoting too much time and money to patenting your innovation. Conducting market research can help you learn how many consumers or businesses could use the product. The market research should answer one key question – Is this something people will buy? Once you’ve determined the demand for your product, ensure that it can be made and supplied at a low enough cost that your retail pricing is affordable. These prices can be determined by making a comparison to those of similar items presently on the market. It can also help you assess your competitors, which will exist regardless of how unique you believe your innovation is.
Step 4: Make a prototype
A prototype is a representation of your invention that puts what you wrote in your inventor’s journal into action. When you exhibit your idea to potential financiers and licensees, this will illustrate the design.
Do not file a patent without first creating a prototype. You’ll usually always find a mistake in your initial design or come up with a new function to include. If you patent your idea before ironing out the wrinkles, it will be too late to incorporate them in the patent, and you risk losing your new design’s patent rights to someone else.
Here are some rules to keep in mind when prototyping your invention:
Sketch- To begin prototyping, sketch down your innovation concepts in your inventor’s notebook.
Mockup- Using any materials, create a 3-D model of your design.
Model- Make a fully functional model of your product.
Step 5: Consider filing a patent
Patents are classified into two types: utility patents (for new processes or machines) and design patents (for manufacturing new, non-obvious ornamental designs). While you may start the patent application yourself, you should submit it with the aid of a patent lawyer who has the necessary technical knowledge.
Others will ultimately infringe on your patent if your idea is valuable. Hiring a qualified patent attorney ensures that your patent is completely protected and that you avoid costly court fights.
You could opt to sell your product without a patent. However, business experts recommend obtaining a patent for several reasons, such as:
Protecting your intellectual property
Higher profits
Selling power
The value of an idea lies in the using of it. – Thomas Edison, General Electric Co-founder
Step 6: Get investors to back your invention idea
Investors have money. You need money. Now, convince them to invest their money in your product idea. If your product idea is brilliant and you have a prototype to back it up, more than half your work is done! Even better, if you already have an MVP (Minimum Viable Product), then your investors can see for themselves how much traction (paying customers who are interested in your product) your product gets!
Prepare an investor pitch comprising all the relevant details such as your mission, company vision, product idea, team, market opportunities, and financial projections.
Step 7: Product development
Armed with the required funding, extensive market research, and a can-do attitude, it’s time to kick your product development into full gear!
You will need a product development strategy with rigid but attainable targets and goals. Develop the product after careful consideration of its quality, quantity, and demand.
Step 8: Market your invention
Now that you have successfully converted your invention idea into a profitable product, it’s time to market your innovation and sell your product. Make a business strategy for your product concept, including whether you want to start your own company or sell the idea to an existing company. Working on your pitch and presentation to capture the interest of investors will be part of this process.
While a good business idea will have an impact on all phases of a company’s development, other entrepreneurial efforts also play a role in shaping the future.
Everything begins as an idea. Whether you’re in business, school, jail, or debt, that’s how it all gets rolling. But what is the true significance of an idea? An idea is a thought or collection of thoughts generated in the mind. Ideas often form during brainstorming sessions or through discussions.
All world-changing events and great success stories can be traced back to a single idea. But don’t fall into the belief that having a great idea is all you need. If you have a great idea, then you’ve completed the first step of becoming a successful entrepreneur. Now you need to work on turning that idea into a reality by taking it to market and letting your business change the world.
A business idea is a starting point for any current or future entrepreneur. It is necessary because it marks the start of a new life – the life of a business and an entrepreneur.
While a good business idea will have an impact on all phases of a company’s development, other entrepreneurial efforts also play a role in shaping the future.
This post covers all the necessary steps for an entrepreneur to take an idea to the market.
Having an Idea is just a first step to become a successful Entrepreneur.
Step 1: Document it
The first stage in commercializing your innovative ideas is to obtain ownership rights. You will not earn from your idea merely by imagining it; you must have evidence proving that you were the first to think of a possible product.
As a result, record all you can regarding the concept, design, and marketability of the product in an inventor’s journal. A court-worthy inventor’s journal can be any bound notebook with consecutively numbered pages that cannot be removed or reinserted.
Step 2: Conduct market research
Do some initial market research before devoting too much time and money to patenting your innovation. Conducting market research can help you learn how many consumers or businesses could use the product. The market research should answer one key question – Is this something people will buy? Once you’ve determined the demand for your product, ensure that it can be made and supplied at a low enough cost that your retail pricing is affordable. These prices can be determined by making a comparison to those of similar items presently on the market. It can also help you assess your competitors, which will exist regardless of how unique you believe your innovation is.
Step 3: Make a prototype
A prototype is a representation of your invention that puts what you wrote in your inventor’s journal into action. When you exhibit your idea to potential financiers and licensees, this will illustrate the design.
You’ll usually always find a mistake in your initial design or come up with a new function to include. Before you dive headfirst into a new business, take some time and a few extra steps to test your idea. Consider getting their feedback to make sure you’re on the right path with your business.
A quick check for the pre-existing products helps to save efforts, money & time.
Step 4: Consider filing a patent
Before putting too much effort and money into a new product, make sure it doesn’t already exist. A quick check of the United States Patent and Trademark Office will reveal what has already been patented.
Patents are classified into two types: utility patents (for new processes or machines) and design patents (for manufacturing new, non-obvious ornamental designs). While you may start the patent application yourself, you should submit it with the aid of a patent lawyer who has the necessary technical knowledge.
Others will ultimately infringe on your patent if your idea is valuable. Hiring a qualified patent attorney ensures that your patent is completely protected. Also, protects you from avoiding costly court fights.
Step 5: Build a Team
One of the most important steps in being able to see your business idea to fruition is to build a team that can support your vision. Your team can include a business partner, employees, investors, mentors, or customers who are willing and able to provide unbiased feedback. You need to be with people who are as ambitious as you and who are ready to go that extra mile to get things done.
Step 6: Take Action
While many people have great business ideas, a small percentage of those follow through on them. Robert Herjavec, star of the show Shark Tank, offers this advice: “You have to have a senseless belief in your idea and yourself—almost to the point of being delusional. Remember that everyone has advice, but no one knows what you have to go through to start, grow and scale a business until they live it. Talk is cheap, but action speaks volumes.”
Step 7: Market your invention
Now that you have successfully converted your invention idea into a profitable product, it’s time to market your innovation and sell your product. Make a business strategy for your product concept, including whether you want to start your own company or sell the idea to an existing company. Working on your pitch and presentation to capture the interest of investors will be part of this process.
Many people want to be entrepreneurs but not everybody has a plan. This article explores ways to decide on a startup idea.
The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For an entrepreneur, that first step is coming up with that game-changing idea. In today’s era, many people want to be entrepreneurs but not everybody has a plan. They know they want to start a business, but they don’t know the first steps to take. So, in this article, we explore ways to get an idea for a startup and act upon them. But before we get started, let’s first understand what a startup is.
Understanding Startups
“Ideas are easy. Implementation is hard.”- Guy Kawasaki, AllTop Co-founder
The term startup refers to a company in the first stages of operations. Startups are founded by one or more entrepreneurs who want to develop a product or service for which they believe there is demand.
Rooted in innovation, a startup aims to remedy deficiencies of existing products or create entirely new categories of goods and services, disrupting entrenched ways of thinking and doing business for entire industries.
What is a business idea?
A business idea is a concept you may come up with to provide offerings, like products or services, to a customer or client base. The objective of most business ideas is to form a company that makes a profit, connects with a target audience, and can provide a unique solution to a customer’s needs. A business idea is the first step toward forming an official business that continues to grow in success.
How To Decide On A Startup Idea?
You might have been told to pursue big ideas, find your passion and iterate rapidly. That’s valuable advice, but there are some other important considerations that you don’t hear very often: tackle a small market that has a real chance of being huge in the future.
Whether big or small, here are ways of generating startup ideas.
Notice Ideas Organically: If you’re not starting a company right now, this should be your preferred approach. While it is possible to sit down and explicitly think of startup ideas, the best way to have startup ideas is to notice them organically. There are great startup ideas all around you, and when you have a prepared mind, you see them everywhere. To have startup ideas organically, you first have to know what a good startup idea looks like, so you notice them when you encounter them. Then, you just keep an eye out for things that seem missing in the world.
Join an Existing Startup: Many of the most successful startups came from ideas that the founders had while working at someone else’s startup. If you’re working at the forefront of some field, really any field, you’ll see good startup ideas before other people. It’s particularly helpful to go work at an existing startup. If you’re planning to start a startup way in the future, this is the desirable way to go about it.
Solve a Personal Problem: Think of things you wish existed or someone else would build for you. One of the better ways to come up with great small business startup ideas is to try to solve a personal problem; some sort of pain point that you have to deal with all the time, and just wished that there was something out there that could make your life just that little bit easier. Your job as an entrepreneur isn’t to complain, but to find a solution. Solving a problem that you already know exists, guarantees that there are others out there that are experiencing the same thing and are looking for a solution only you can bring. And just like that you have a guaranteed user base you can start selling to.
Revive Broken Industries: Any industry that seems broken is probably ripe for disruption. Pablo Picasso famously said, “Good artists copy, great artists steal.” In this modern age where the majority of entrepreneurs are aiming for disruptive innovation, it’s hard to deny the fact that there have been other incredibly successful entrepreneurs who have made their millions off creating foreign clones of pre-existing ideas. However, simply copying a pre-existing product isn’t going to cut it. You must provide value beyond what already exists. You have to legitimately fix a problem that your predecessor couldn’t solve, and not just be a cheap gimmick that possesses change for the sake of change.
Follow Your Passion: Passion is a key ingredient to success. If you don’t have passion as an entrepreneur, you have nothing. The constant element found in the success stories of those who followed their passion wasn’t just a singular desire to make money off their hobby. It was coupled with a passion for change, to create meaning. That said, remember that not everything you’re passionate about doesn’t necessarily make a good place to look for a startup idea or have a clear path to being a big business.
The Next Steps:
Don’t fall into the belief that having a great idea is all you need. If you have a great idea, then you’ve successfully completed the first step of becoming a successful entrepreneur.
Now set some goals, build yourself a clear vision, and let your idea take shape. Work hard to turn your idea into a reality and let it change the world.
If you’re a budding entrepreneur struggling to figure out how to move from the ideation stage to the product development stage, you can join the I2MF program to turn your idea into a sellable product.
Product-market fit is a well-known idea in the startup community. While it is commonly used in discussions about new high-growth businesses, it does not appear to have caught on in the rest of the business world.
Product-market fit refers to a situation in which a company’s target consumers buy, use, and tell others about its product in sufficient numbers to keep it growing and profitable. It is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand. Product-market fit happens when you successfully identify your target customer and serve them with the right product.
Steps to Achieve Product- Market Fit
How to Achieve Product-Market Fit?
One of the most crucial goals for a business is to achieve product-market fit, yet it is also one of the most misunderstood notions.
According to Dan Olsen, a product management specialist and author of The Lean Product Playbook, product-market fit is the point at which a firm has produced a product that provides significant value for consumers.
In his book, Olsen proposes a six-step framework termed the Lean Product Process that can help get your team started:
1. Determine your target customer
The first step is to determine the target customers. Target customers ultimately decide how well a product meets their needs. We need to use market segmentation to clearly define the target customer. The splitting of the entire market into market segments, which are made up of potential customers with similar wants and behaviors, is known as segmentation.
This process has four steps: Analyzing your product or service, Familiarizing yourself with your competition, Choosing segment criteria, and Performing research.
2. Identify underserved needs of that customer
Once you’ve created a target customer hypothesis, the next stage is to figure out their unmet needs. Determine the exact requirements for a solid market opportunity. In order to provide value to clients, address any needs that are not being satisfied appropriately.
3. Define your value proposition
A value proposition defines how a product will fulfill consumer demands better than the competitors. It helps to determine which client wants your product can meet. Determine which of your product’s distinctive characteristics will excite customers and how your product will surpass the competition.
4. Specify minimum viable product (MVP) feature set
After you’ve determined your value proposition, the following stage in the Lean Product Process is to select the feature set for your minimal viable product (MVP) candidate. You will not begin by building a new product that delivers on your whole value proposition since it would take too long and be too risky.
This strategy focuses on developing what is required to provide enough value to your target consumer to prove that your product is on the right track.
5. Develop your MVP
You’ll want to test your MVP candidate with clients once you’ve determined the feature set. To accomplish so, you’ll need to develop a user experience (UX) that you can display to potential clients.
The Minimum Viable Product, or MVP, is a development strategy in which a new product is brought to the market with basic characteristics that are sufficient to pique the interest of consumers. Only after receiving adequate feedback from the product’s early consumers is the completed product offered to the market.
6. Test your MVP with customers
Once we have created the MVP, the next step is to gather valuable feedback from the users.
Observe what the target client says and does while using the prototype during the test. To elicit deeper insights and maximize the value of user tests, ask clarifying questions.
Product-market fit is the degree to which a product satisfies strong market demand.
How to Measure Product-Market Fit?
In theory, you may test product/market fit through surveys that determine what proportion of your consumers consider your new product to be a “must-have.” However, product-market fit is more about an in-depth and realistic grasp of who your consumers are and how they feel about you and your product than it is about hypothetical statistics and percentages.
Is it creating organic growth, where people spread the word on their own? Are people willing to pay for your product? If they are, you have a product-market fit.
Your product/service will most likely satisfy a tiny part of the market as a startup or early-stage firm. If you want to acquire this knowledge in the first place, you must first establish a relationship with your consumers and communicate to them (over and over again).
Who is Responsible for Creating a Product-Market Fit?
We usually link product-market fit with product management and marketing, but, in reality, achieving it is a company-wide effort. All departments contribute to the company’s achievement of this significant milestone, including sales, business development, support, and finance.
