You're faced with numerous new product ideas in a competitive market. How do you decide which ones to pursue?
With a sea of new product ideas, selecting the ones to pursue demands a strategic approach. Consider these key steps:
Which strategies have helped you pick winning products? Engage in conversation about your decision-making process.
You're faced with numerous new product ideas in a competitive market. How do you decide which ones to pursue?
With a sea of new product ideas, selecting the ones to pursue demands a strategic approach. Consider these key steps:
Which strategies have helped you pick winning products? Engage in conversation about your decision-making process.
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While deciding which product ideas to pursue, you should start by assessing market demand, make sure there’s a clear need or emerging trend driving the idea. Next, evaluate your resources, ensure you have the capabilities to execute the idea effectively. Then, weigh the risk vs. reward, make sure the potential payoff justifies the risks involved.
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When companies are presented with multiple new product ideas, they typically follow a strategic approach to determine which ones to pursue. For instance, Apple's decision to launch the Apple Watch was influenced by the rising consumer interest in health and fitness technology. They had the right resources—such as extensive R&D and a well-established brand—to support the product’s development and marketing. Additionally, Apple carefully evaluated the potential rewards and risks of entering the competitive wearables market. The outcome? The Apple Watch became a market leader and a hugely successful product. 🧑🤝🧑📈🛠️💡⚖️💭🏁🔍🏆
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To decide which product ideas to pursue in a competitive market: 1. Start with a quick TAM evaluation to filter out ideas with small markets. 2. Conduct desk research and brainstorm open questions about the problem your target persona faces. Avoid yes/no questions. 3. B2B: Create a slide deck outlining the problem and initial solution ideas to guide live discovery sessions with personas. B2C: Use forms to gather data and select participants for 1-on-1 interviews to deeply understand the problem. 4. Iterate step 3 until the problem is well-defined. 5. Refine the TAM and prioritize ideas that solve major problems with large TAMs.
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An alternative approach to choosing product ideas focuses on rapid experimentation and adaptability. Instead of heavy upfront analysis, create simple prototypes or MVPs to test ideas in real-world scenarios and gather customer feedback. This allows you to learn what works, adapt quickly, and reduce risks. Testing multiple ideas simultaneously with minimal resources helps identify promising opportunities faster. Success is measured by customer engagement and potential growth, not just immediate profit. In competitive markets, speed, flexibility, and continuous learning often outperform rigid planning and prediction.
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Product managers often believe their ideas are great and will thrive in the market. However, a good product manager analyzes market needs and aligns ideas accordingly. Personally, I rely on the RICE framework for idea prioritization: R: Reach I: Impact C: Confidence E: Effort The RICE score is calculated as: (R × I × C) / E. This structured approach helps ensure focus on high-impact ideas that are feasible and market-relevant
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💥 Great products aren't born from endless meetings and gut feelings - they emerge from 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐲𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 and 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐫 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧. Stop discussing hypotheticals in boardrooms when you could be testing with actual users tomorrow. Your opinion matters less than your users' behavior - that's why I let data 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 every single time.
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Choose two, the safest one and the wildest one. Destroy them with your innovation/creative team and then decide if one of them deserves to be lunched or maybe test both at minor scale and then learn and iterate.
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In my experience, I have found that implementation feasibility, risks (including regulatory risk), scalability, product-market fit, product-company fit, expected positioning in BCG matrix compared to the market, expected strategic positioning in Ansoff matrix, and company vision play critical role in deciding which product ideas could be pursued further.
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You will always face more product ideas than you have the time and available resources to realize them. Therefore it is key to find the right balance between the 'nice to haves', the customer-required essentials, and the visionary add-ons keeping your product on top of the market and ahead of the competitors. It's a combination of strategic choices, a clear vision for the future, and a balance between keeping your customers satisfied with what they have, and yet making them eager for the future at the same time. My advice? Listen carefully to all stakeholders, think outside the box (let your mind go to space exploring all new worlds), and finally come back to earth to determine your product strategy and short- and long-term roadmap.
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Environmental factors I think one of the main areas that we need to include in our assessment criteria is environmental factors and how our product will performs in this area. Sustainability and environmental factors are the next big area that will make our break out success in delivering new product and we need to make sure we have good sights of this. Be kind to our planet! ✅✅✅
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