From Concept to Launch: Navigating the Product Development Lifecycle

by Sauvik Banerjjee, MD & CEO of First Livingspaces Pvt Ltd, powering Ziki, Sirrus.ai, and Yukio

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A product development lifecycle, in today’s age, is joined in the hip with the journey of an entrepreneur. It is filled with fun, ambiguity, experiments, failure and euphoria.

Typically, the product development journey can be explored from the perspective of entrepreneurs who come from two distinct backgrounds — startups and enterprises.

The life of an entrepreneur from a startup background is a thrilling blend of challenges and opportunities, much like the journey that goes into the development of a product. Driven by passion and resilience, product managers have to navigate the emotional peaks and valleys of building something impactful. 

Alternatively, the journey of an entrepreneur from a conglomerate or enterprise background, too, mirrors the product development process in many ways. Just as any product development requires strategic thinking and leveraging of resources to bring an idea to market, entrepreneurs from established backgrounds draw on their experience in structured environments to grow and evolve in dynamic and agile landscapes.

Product in a tech industry

The observations made below are primarily in the technology and consumer space. Thus, the analogies and anecdotes used are mostly confined to the realm of tech and consumer tech.

A product in a technology industry, especially consumer tech, consumer commerce and technology-led engagement industry, is very different from that of a manufacturing and CPG (consumer packaged goods) industry.

In this ecosystem, a product is primarily a digital one, serving end consumers through B2B, B2C, D2C channels. The final output can cater to the app economy, the instant economy, the engagement economy or a commerce economy.

Let’s examine the stages of product development, which serve as ‘tried and tested’ operating frameworks.

1. Ideation

2. Execution 

3. Product market fit

1. Ideation: It is the hardest part, as per my observation. As of July 2024, you cannot think of building a product without envisioning its potential for exponential adoption by consumers, leading to stickiness, with monetisation and profitability as the final outcome.

Gone are the days when an idea without these dimensions would be eligible for experimentation. The key tenets of the ideation phase must focus on:

• Knowing your TAM (Total Addressable Market)

• Understanding your customer persona and unmet needs

• Evaluating if the idea can bridge a gap or create a pioneering category

2. Execution: To create a framework of execution, you need to focus on human capital, as a priority. A set of like-minded people, who believe in the idea with conviction, must go into the trenches to expand all the use cases of ‘the idea’ it is trying to develop. This leads to the embryonic phase of the product.

Execution entails four key phases:

Designing the aesthetics: Some product teams of today often adhere to first principles during development. It’s essential that we align architectural and engineering principles that complement design and aesthetics. Devising a robust execution plan with scalable architecture and engineering is also fundamental.

Testing and quality assurance: It is sequential to the above. Continuous testing and learning and iterative improvements are crucial for developing a perfect product.

Adoption: Achieving product adoption demands a rigorous learning and adaptation. The learning encompasses refining customer acquisition strategies, implementing effective training programmes, amplifying marketing initiatives, and crafting a robust go-to market strategy. Ultimately, the successful positioning of a product largely hinges on effectively communicating the narrative and the value proposition.

Measure metrices: Tracking the adoption of any new product launch is essential to gauge its success or failure. Rigorous monitoring and measurement of metrics are necessary to ensure the product achieves market acceptance after its gestation period.

3. Product-market fit: Product-market fit refers to the extent to which a particular product satisfies a market demand. It indicates if the product has met the needs and expectations of a specific target market and if customers are eager to adopt it.

There is no phase in an entrepreneur’s journey which can be labelled as “failure”. Setbacks in a product lifecycle in an entrepreneurial journey are blockages which need surgery and intervention to either re-enhance the product, rework and amend the product or go back to basics and build-it-again mode. All three phases are part of the product development lifecycle, and comes organically, requiring resilience, grind and open-minded thought process by the team.

There is no constant success or euphoria associated with a product. It will always be directly proportional to a time and date, and fitment of the times, as per consumer’s choice. A successful product can become redundant quickly if it doesn’t evolve with the behavioural patterns or growing needs in this planet disrupted by tech and AI. The true metrics lies in how a feature set of the product evolves, aligns with changing goals and delivers value to its customers.

Journey of product evolution 

Constant change, based on consumer consumption patterns, is a trigger that a product lifecycle must pivot continuously and constantly. This may include repeating cycles to introduce enhancements, creating spin-off variants or splitting or merging products. This is an ambiguous journey, filled with uncertainty, immense joy, learning and unlearning, which are the key attributes that keep a product and an entrepreneur’s journey exciting.

Let us see some real-life examples. 

In the OTT industry, ‘Originals’ has emerged as a groundbreaking product, which has broken the barriers of traditional digital streaming. The opportunity arose during COVID-19 when cinema-going audience were confined indoors. OTT and streaming giants created a product which would work as an exclusive content. It soon gained adoption and slowly the entire OTT industry adopted the pioneering category. This is a true example of a product-market fit (PMF).

In healthcare, online prescription precision represents a pioneering digital innovation enhanced by AI tools and automation. This product emerged in response to a growing need in a regulated market. Online pharmacies have effectively met this demand, making it one of the most widely adopted new features in the healthcare internet industry across the globe.

In the offline grocery space, quick commerce is a product, which customers wanted during Covid-19. The concept of 8- to 10-minute delivery is now a reality across every other household in India. But remember, it took two decades for pin code serviceability to become a reality here. Since Pin code serviceability got solved as the first product, quick commerce got invented because of this base platform (Pincode serviceability).

In the telecom domain, wired lines were commodities until VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol), a technology that allows you to make voice calls using a broadband Internet connection instead of a regular or analogue phone line, revolutionised the industry, breaking the clutters and paving the way for a pioneering era.

In the tech space, Gen AI has caused major disruption with its personalised image design and content creation. It is the buzzword revolutionising various industries by automating complex tasks, enhancing creativity, and driving innovation.

These use cases are a clear example of a gap met with a solution turning into a commodity product for the consumer tech industry. This is how innovation in product lifecycle is not only increasing efficiency but also enabling new business models and opportunities for growth.