Being a product focused company is a good strategy. It has become vogue to be a product visionary in the United States, namely Silicon Valley but the truth is it works in a highly competitive environment. There are two trains of thought here, there is the traditional business model approach where you seek out a underserved market, or an emerging market opportunity due to changes/paradigm shifts (e.g. the semiconductor 1970’s, the computer 1980’s and the internet 1990’s) and build on it, or you innovate and use creativity to improve the way things are fundamentally done. There is a mix of capitalizing on opportunity and product innovation in Silicon Valley that is worth exploring.
Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook, a social network like many other companies before it (using that as the foundation) and then used his creativity and the direction of web 2.0 to build on that foundation and created “newsfeed/wall” feature with live updates, etc… He took what already existed and used the natural evolution of technology to improve it. The idea is to identify market trends, and what’s working for others and start there. Once you’ve built an MVP you’ll be able to start thinking of ways to be different, better, by capitalizing on market direction. One interesting direction that I’ve been following is voice recognition and A.I. I can see ALL IoT apps becoming infused with A.I. to the point where you never have to look at your screen again, want an Uber? Say, “Uber, pick me up, I’m with 4 other people”. How can your app incorporate this?
So how do you come up with a breakthrough product? You take what already exists and build a foundation, and then you study the direction of where the available tools/technology is going and you work to get there before anyone else. In my humble view, to build a great product means starting off right away using what exists and then building on it using new market insights/tools.
I’ve helped many entrepreneurs build their initial products, if you’re looking to build your foundation — I’d be happy to discuss building your MVP. Email me at venuezzdev@gmail.com
Cheers!
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