We have all seen it, significant time and money invested in new products or businesses only for them to ultimately fail. Valuable opportunities missed or not even contemplated in pursuit of the latest hype, or those that fit the current organisational and political narrative but fail to deliver.
INCONVENIENT TRUTH
Huge value has been created over time, but these success stories only represent the tip of the iceberg. At best, 75% of investments in new and existing businesses result in a total loss, with an astonishing 95% of all new products failing. Not only are direct losses incurred but the potential generated from alternatives is also not realised.
As passionate product people we simply reject bad products, so taking our frustration with what we have seen in both large organisations and startups, the resulting evidence in the market started our quest to understand the why behind these behaviours and what could be done about it. It truly needed a robust holistic product management model.
THE TOP 10
The Top 10 reasons Startups fail, product is at the heart of it.
source:
CBI Insights - post mortem analysis of 101 failed startups
While there isn’t a single factor for these failures, underlying themes and known truths stand out.
SCOPE-RISK-VALUE PARADOX
Organisations limit the scope of their thinking whilst at the same time misinterpreting risk and value especially during early stages. A perfect storm for failure.
ISOLATED vs HOLISTIC
Practical resource constraints, subject matter familiarity and organisational silos have meant that the level of analysis and due diligence is biased towards the least risky opportunities or solutions and those that fit the current narrative.
Feasibility and viability are prioritised over value, where in depth analysis and consideration is undertaken it is done so to justify a position rather than discovering. Superficial investigation of alternatives is undertaken rather than equivalent level analysis of multiple options, which are then compared and contrasted.
Organisations go deep and narrow rather than deep and broad not taking into account the opportunity costs, as a one-off rather than continuously.
Organisations go deep and narrow rather than deep and broad not taking into account the opportunity costs, as a one-off rather than continuously.
SPECIALISM vs FOCUS
Specialism can be helpful but it can also amplify the issues within an isolated approach, valuing the familiar and reinforcing existing biases. This can also lead to valuable opportunities being orphaned as they don’t fit the traditional silos or organisations.
OLD VS NEW
Hype can distort how we see the value of new businesses, products, and features. Too much attention can be given to new ideas, a modern addiction to “the latest idea is the greatest idea”. Leading people to overlook the benefits of established methods that have been proven to work, whilst fusing them with advancements.
The perceived value can be artificially inflated, at the expense of feasibility. The past 25 years are littered with examples, Dot-Com boom, Crypto and Augmented Reality to 3D PrInting, Graphene and Autonomous vehicles.
"Fall in love with the problem, not the solution"
-Uri levine, Waze
Yet as is evident, many organisations are still falling in love with their solution not the problem, or the most valuable problem….
Learn about approach to address this