"Great Companies are built on great products" -Elon Musk In our series of "Start Up Do's and Don'ts" This week: Product

1. Do's Don'ts
&
START UP
PRODUCT

2. IF YOU AREN’T
EMBARRASSED BY
THE FIRST VERSION
OF YOUR PRODUCT,
YOU SHIPPED TOO
LATE.
– Reid Hoffman, Co-founder of Linkedin

3. Do Don't
Envision your dream customer
and build an MVP around that.
The main objective at this
stage is to get customers to
use your product so that you
can get feedback on what
does and does not work with
your business model.
Don't focus too much on
predetermined customer
segment and demographics
(economic status, age,
location). Instead focus on
building and learning from
customer feedback.

4. Do Don't
Adopt a flexible and iterative
approach to product
development. Since you are
often trying to validate a
new product or business
model, you may need to pivot
or make changes to the
product roadmap based on
customer feedback and
market conditions
Don't have rigid processes or
adopt long product
development cycles. Limited
resources, (financial
resources, human resources,
and time) require more agile
and creative solutions

5. Do Don't
Product managers have to
take on a wider range of
responsibilities and wear
many hats. They have to
make quick decisions and
pivot as needed
Don't have layers of approval
and bureaucracy to navigate
which slows down decision
making and growth of your
start up.

6. Do Don't
40% data, 60% "#Yolo"
Since you’re creating a
breakthrough innovation,
there is usually not a lot of
data to justify what you do.
Most of the time, it’s about
learning fast and moving on.
Don't try to fill all the
checkboxes. The start-up
has to be prepared to go on a
roller coaster ride till you
evolve the product from an
MVP to a fully-functional
one.

7. Do Don't
Startups needs to have a
entrepreneurial and agile
culture, where employees are
expected to take ownership
of their work and be willing
to adapt to change.
Don't take notes from big
companies. Leave the
hierarchical culture and
processes to established
companies.

8. INNOVATE TODAY, INSPIRE TOMORROW