Presented at Institute of Product Leadership Webinar - Oct 8, 2014. Discussed the various aspects involved in taking a new product into market. Audience - Wanna be Product Managers, Product Marketers.

1. Invention to Innovation
Journey of a High-Tech Product
Savita Kini
Technology. Innovation. Marketing
email: savitakini@gmail.com
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014

2. Invention to Innovation
Intellectual property and Invention is key to the
success of a technology business, providing a
unique sustainable advantage.
However, Innovation is the mechanism by which
intellectual property or invention is applied
successfully to improve a business process, for
consumer or business benefit, or create new ways
of doing things…
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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October 8, 2014

3. Types of Innovation
• Revolutionary -
• Early research on internet - TCP/IP protocols, free email
• Bio-medical instruments such as CT Scanners, Magnetic
Resonance Imaging (MRI) – Nobel Prizes in 1979 & 2003
• Evolutionary -
• MP3 Players Vs iPod + iTunes
• Top loading washing machines Vs front loading washing
machines
• Application of Technologies
• Using lasers/photonics for cosmetics
• Dehydration technologies in processed food industry
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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October 8, 2014

4. Getting started on Innovation
Examples of innovation –
1. Focused problem solving – Netscape, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, Apple
2. Accidental - eBay, craigslist, intuit
3. Creating new market (customers) - AirBnb
4. Replicating an idea locally – MakeMyTrip, ClearTrip, Flipkart 4
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
Is there is a hard problem? Is there a solution? Is existing solution good
enough? How to solve differently?
Ideas come from many sources:
-Customers or Competitor’s customers
- Industry analysts
- Company’s executives
- Sales and marketing staff
-Product development team
-Customer service representatives
-Operations staff

5. Are you considering Innovation ?
Solution
Considerations
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
Competition
Time to Build,
Time to Market
Price
Cost (and/or
Funding)
Brand
IP Protection
Sales
Distribution
(Channels)
Customer
Support
October 8, 2014
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Product OR Service
Combination of Product and service

6. What are you offering?
• Product or Service Examples
• Tata Sky, Home Theatre System, Cellphone
• Online (Amazon, Flipkart, eBay, Microsoft)
To Whom ? And How ?
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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Neurosynaptic – A low cost, diagnostic kit for Tele-medicine
•Directly to Consumers - B2C
•Consumer products, Software, Software as a service
•Directly to Businesses – B2B
•System management tools, Telecom Products to ISPs

7. Innovation Management Cycle
Solution to a
critical
problem
Support, Feedback &
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
Market analysis &
business case
Funding &
Execution Team
Prototype & Validate,
Beta Test, Pricing
Next rev
Scale Production &
Selling
Update & build,
Marketing Launch &
Ramp up
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October 8, 2014
Product /
Solution
Lifecycle
Management

8. Innovation Process Reality
• Innovation requires funding – great ideas without
funding to build and scale will remain ideas only.
• Innovation requires adoption as no one to use what
you build, will remain idea !
• Innovation is messy – lot of trial and error, failures are
real
• Innovation builds on collective genius of people with
diverse skills – design, development, marketing, sales,
operations, finance, HR, etc
• Innovation requires leadership that encourages out-of-box
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
thinking
October 8, 2014
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9. Developing the Solution
• Diverse mix of people contributing product and market development
– Engineering, Legal, Marketing, Sales, Manufacturing, Finance
• External advisors from relevant domains as necessary
Product (or Service)
Price (i.e Value to Customer)
Marketing & Sales
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
Organization
• Define product or service clearly – hardware, software, service, web-based
offering, etc
• Bundling few elements together or single point solution
• One time payment or multiple payments for a service offering
• Perceived benefit from the solution for the problem
• Market /customer segmentation
• Product/solution launch, incentives to channels and new customers.
October 8, 2014
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10. People & Organization
Product Management
Lifecycle, Features, Pricing,
Competitors, Benchmarks,
Beta Customers
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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Engineering
Design &
development
Customer Support
Warranty, Service &
Gather Feedback
Marketing
Strategy, Segments,
Positioning, Launch,
Media, Influencers,
Competitors
Sales
Direct to customer
& Channels
Supply Chain &
Manufacturing
Prototypes, Vendors,
Production, Yeild & Quality
Finance
ROI, Budget,
Revenue, Funding,
Deal Structures
Legal
IP, Deals, Regulatory
HR & Admin
Talent Mgmt &
Fun, Operations

11. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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The Technology Adoption Cycle
October 8, 2014
Source: Crossing the chasm by Geoffrey Moore

12. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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Strategy for High Tech Markets
Make Visionaries
loyal customers for
references with
pragmatists
Seed your
product here.
Let them
influence
Visionaries
Market Leadership
and sell to
Pragmatists
Focus towards
commoditization, lower
cost and higher volume
Leave the skeptics
alone, look for the
next opportunity
October 8, 2014

13. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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The Challenge
Scaling from early adopters (Visionaries) to majority
(Pragmatists)
Develop a niche segment of customers
• That desperately needs the product or solution
• Has good funding to invest & propensity to buy
• Is easier to win & very little competition
• Have partners to help deliver whole solution
October 8, 2014

14. To cross the chasm, and meet needs of
pragmatists and conservatives, the product has to
go beyond generic product, by that time generic
products become less differentiated.
An Example of Whole Offer
Design/ Color
options
Standard
Procedures
Training &
Support
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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Concept of Whole Offer
Potential Product
Augmented Product
Expected Product
Generic Product
October 8, 2014
Additional
Software
Generic
Product
(Personal
Computer)
Additional
Hardware
System
Integration
Installation/
Troubleshoot
Cables /
Accessories
As PC market grew, differentiation
was additional packaging & software

15. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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Getting to the Customer
• Push and Pull Strategies
• Push - Actively promote product to full-fill identified need of
customer
• Pull – Create the need that customer is aware but hasn’t yet
full-filled
• Complimentary Offer – Strategic alliances to offer
complementary products. Example – Cisco & EMC joint
venture for data center solutions
• Bundled offer – Combining different products for specific
segments. Example Google Office or Microsoft Office for
Students and commercial users
• Services led product offer – Domain experience & services.
Eg. Infosys banking services w/ Finnacle product
• Product led services offer – Products with design &
maintenance services. Eg RedHat Linux
October 8, 2014

16. Pricing –Why is it important ?
Role of a business venture is to make profit.
To make profit, you have to sell the product or
service at a price point that allows to cover costs
(fixed and variable), and gives sufficient profit for the
specific industry including the resellers.
Price is the Pivot
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
PROFIT / Ability to
extract Value
CUSTOMER BENEFIT
(Customer’s Perceived value,
Differentiation
October 8, 2014
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17. What is Marketing & Selling ?
Difference between Marketing & Selling
 Marketing describes the value of the product or service
to the customer by positioning and promoting the
features versus the price
 Selling is convincing a customer to buy the product or
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
service
Marketing should drive Sales. And a company defines itself
not by the product it sells, but by benefit it brings to the
customer.
A good marketing strategy and execution makes sales cycle
shorter and easier.
October 8, 2014
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18. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
Selling
• Go-to-market – Alone
Products which are sold directly to customers.
Leverage retail, online or offline.
Ex. High end routers to ISPs.
• Go-to-market – Channel
Products are sold through other companies who add
their mark-up or offer services as a bundle.
• Strategic Partner
Joint effort to sell product or service with shared
revenue from the sale
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19. Value Chain – Example 1
Company Product Service Reseller Customer
Whole Offer
The intellectual property is packaged into a product, service
into a complete offer for the end customer
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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20. © 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
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Value Chain – Example 2
Technology
Infrastructure
Go-to-market
Supply chain
Services
Creator Influencer
Demand
generator
Reseller Fulfiller Integrator
Manager/
Ooppeerraattoorr
October 8, 2014

21. Marketing Mix– Launch to Scale
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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Initial Launch
• Focus on early
adopters
• New branding &
positioning
• Press & Advertising
• New collaterals &
website
• Social media
presence
• Leverage Influencers
& Analysts
• Early customer
references
Customer
Acquisition
• Expand customer
references
• Leverage physical
events
• Channel Partners
• Increased Ad spend
• Outreach to target
groups
• Expand social media
presence
• Content Marketing
Managing and
Sustaining
• Continued
content
marketing
• Push offers &
incentives
• Increase Ads,
Events
• Competitive
positioning &
benchmarking

22. Product Vs Services Marketing
• Product –Tangible, Features, Types, Availability,
retail or door-to-door or online, Price,
Competition, Complimentary products,
Warranty, Services
• Services – Often intangible, type, availability,
price one time or continuous, dependencies on
underlying infrastructure, timelines/SLA’s
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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23. Marketing in Social, Mobile era
• Establish a social media and digital footprint plan –
website, Facebook, twitter, linkedIn, blogs, SEO etc
• Establish a content marketing strategy and execution plan
• Dedicated people and investments for continued
execution. Shared responsibility across marketing,
engineering and the executive team
• Measure ROI with data analytics – new lead generation,
lead acquisition, lead management, customer feedback,
new product features, brand presence & experience
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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Sources:
• http://www.marketo.com/infographics/content-marketing-
vs-traditional-advertising/
• http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/

24. Scale the business
1. Grow customer base,
2. Manage customer relationships
3. Fine tune execution
4. Scale operations
5. Sustained Marketing, Promotions, Advertising
6. Scale management team
7. Manage organizational growth processes
8. Financial management & operations
9. Manage competition
10.Expand product portfolio & offers
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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25. Summary – Invention to Innovation
© 2014 Savita Kini (savitakini@gmail.com)
October 8, 2014
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Solution
identification
Target customer
segment
Build bare
minimum product
Beta test
Regulatory
approvals
Pricing & Complete
offer
Market launch (PR,
Ads, Incentives)
Publish Customer
success stories
Sales enablement
and operations
Customer
support
Channel Partners
onboarding &
enablement
Competitive
Strategy
Management
Vendors &
Manufacturing
Sustained
Marketing