Latest Episodes

The Why Now "The why now" mental model builds the case that now is the right time to launch and raise funding for a startup. Timing is key to a successful startup launch. Launch too soon and the market won't be there. Launch too late and the competition will be…

Introduction to Mental Models A mental model according to Wikipedia is "an explanation of someone's thought process about how something works in the real world".   It is a representation of the surrounding world, the relationships between its various parts, and a person's intuitive perception about their own acts and their…

Product Roadmaps The product roadmap is a shared resource that outlines the vision, priorities, and direction of a product over time. It aligns the goals of the company to deliver the product and sets the expectations of the customer. The first product is the minimum viable product and sets the…

Pre-seed Product Work The minimum viable product is one of the more challenging products to design. There are many choices and limited resources available. In designing your MVP consider the following: Scope into your core technology in building out the first version. Eliminate as much of the surrounding building as…

Product Reporting It's important to track the key metrics for your product. Here's a list of numbers to capture: Customer acquisition cost -- the cost to acquire a customer. Customer lifetime value -- the total revenue received from each customer on average. Churn rate -- the percentage of customers dropping…

Product Usage Metrics Metrics are a key tool in product management. In managing a product track these metrics: Customer acquisition -- track the performance of the product in acquiring new customers. This is often done broadly across all products but should be done by each product as well. Customer adoption…

Product Development Process There are many approaches to product development. Here are some approaches companies use: Defines the ideal process. This lets the process work out from project to project.  Systematizes development activities. The core systems are made available to the team to use as they like. Focus on the…

Gamification of the Product In designing your product consider adding gamification to it. Here are some key elements to consider: Include goals for the user to accomplish with the product. This makes it engaging for the customer. It also provides a benchmark on how much the customer uses the product.…

User Experience Design The user experience of the product must be designed into the product from the beginning. Here are some key points in researching the user experience: Understand the user's goal and what they are trying to achieve. The user may be trying to generate a report or store…

Product Data Product data is the information about the product used for product management purposes. Here are some key data points to capture and maintain: Customer tests for new product features. Capture A/B test data into a central repository as the answers may be useful for building future features. Key…