Everyone thinks that a start-up is just about building a product. However, it is more than just that. Product development is part of the cycle where managing the product from feedback of users and marketing the product are also tied to build up the start-up as a sustainable business. The talk is delivered on JFDI.Asia, 1 March 2012 and focused on providing incubatees the best practices in working out how to build, manage & market your product within a short time.

1. That Thing You Forget to Do
Lessons on Product Development,
Management & Marketing
Bernard Leong
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2. If you have 64 days left, you should spend 30 days for product
development & 30 days for testing, feedback & raise money ...
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3. Let’s start with two buildings in Orchard Road, Singapore
313@Somerset Orchard Central
What are your experiences in navigating within the building?
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4. In a nutshell
Product Development:
How do you build a product?
Features, Content & Help
Product Management:
How do you measure a product? Getting the right set of
metrics from customers
Product Marketing: Getting
How do you market a product?
users & Managing media
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5. Questions from Founders
• Who should decide the final product if founders
differ from vision?
• When is the time that we can say “the product is
ready for launch!”?
• How do we get publicity and distribution of our
website/app or any product?
• How do we resolve conflicts on product within the
team?
• Should you build on adequate or great open
source technologies?
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6. Planning without Execution is a pipe dream.
Execution without Planning is waste of effort & time.
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7. Product Roadmap
The ideal
Minimum Viable Iterated Product
Beta Product product does
Product for customers
not exists
Infinity
Day 0 Time
What you can What you can build What is the
What you can build with an with more ideal product
build within initial investment investments & you will like to
30-60 days? & some more customers have?
customers (includes feedback)
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8. Product Development
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9. How do you decide features?
• Alignment with the user
objectives - Is your product
solving the problem you
state?
• Less is more: How many
extra features which you
can cut for now?
• Can a user figure the Kano Model
product out without much
education?
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10. Is UI/UX a science?
Wireframes Screen Sizes (Mobile/Web)
Colors, Fonts, Icons, Buttons & ... Actions, Events & Analytics
Check out this video: http://youtu.be/iVFTBj_BYy0
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11. Product Management
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12. Construct metrics,
How many downloads, How many monthly active
on how many
users, impressions? users performing actions
actions per user or
(Vanity) with your app or website?
how much time user
spend and
benchmark against
known metrics.
Measure data but find the killer metric that addresses virality & potential /real revenues.
(the one you pitched to investors)
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13. Product Product Product
Day
Development Management Marketing
Figure out where
10 Build feature 1 & 2 Test trial for feature 1 & 2 your customers get
the product.
Test trial for feature 3 & 4
Prepare the setup
20 Build feature 3 & 4 Prepare seeded content
for the distribution
Figure out how to educate users
Prepare and starts
Prototype ready for Get users to try the complete
30 sending invites to
testing prototype & see what they thinks
alpha or beta users
Let everyone knows the plan and start your execution.
Do keep each other in check.
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14. Product Marketing
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15. Distribution & PR:
2 different issues for product marketing
Distribution: How do
PR: How do customers
customers access or
hear of your products?
buy your products?
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16. Product Marketing: Distribution
• What is the platform do you
distribute your product?
• What is the delivery process
of your product? An app store
or a SaaS provider?
• How easy can a customer
access your service?
• How accessible are your
partners with customers?
• Firehose Strategy: Should we
open it up as an API?
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17. Product Marketing: PR
• How should you engage the
press from bloggers to
journalists?
• What are the things that the team
should or should not share?
• What are your own channels or
marketing? Social Media?
• How do you respond if the press
turns against your company?
• PR is about enhancing the
company’s image & hoping that
more customers use your
product.
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18. Product What’s the Media
Months
Milestones story? Channels
Product Launch & How does your
1 beta launch in local product solve the Social Media Sites
market problem?
Release version 2.0 What’s the new thing
with feature X & that will improve the Social Media Sites
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expand to three experience of your Printed Media
markets customers?
An insight about the
Compile, Classify & Social Media Sites,
behavior of
6 Analyze data coming Printed Media
customers about your
from the product Radio or TV
product
Align your product releases & launches & business
objectives to your media strategy
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19. References
• Smashing Magazine: http://www.smashingmagazine.com
• Presentation Zen: http://www.presentationzen.com
• Mobile UI Patterns: http://mobile-patterns.com/ or Pttrns: http://pttrns.com/
• Color Palettes: http://thedesignmag.com/27-color-tools-and-resource-for-
choosing-the-right-color-palette.html
• Kano Model, Agile Software Methodology
• Eric Rees, “The Lean Start-up”
• Jeffrey Moore, “Crossing the Chasm”
• Project Management Tools: Pivotal Tracker, Basecamp or Asana?
• FrameThink, “The Four Viral Objectives: http://framethink.wordpress.com/
2008/01/15/the-four-viral-app-objectives-aka-social-network-application-
virality-101/
Contact: bleongcw@gmail.com
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