As business leaders, we know how critical our product is to our business. In essence, the product is the business. So from time to time, I will get questions about products. “Katrina, how do I know I have an amazing product?” Or, “How do I create an amazing product?” But the problem is that most people are thinking about their product in the constraints of the market they want to play in. But what about this idea, create new rules in order to create a better product.
You see, every market has a rule. These rules are established by the industry, the companies, and the marketers. As a result, most people look at that industry and say, “OK, how do I fit into that?” Instead, what I want to challenge you to do is to step out of that mindset.
Think back to the days of driving in your car, having a full stack of CDs that you were flipping through in the passenger seat, driving with one hand, eyes sort of on the road but mostly on the CDs you were flipping through while you tried to find the perfect song to play in the moment.
Then look at Apple. They didn’t say, “How do I make a better CD or CD player.” They didn’t say, “How can I help consumers burn better CDs to listen to their mp3s?” They said, how do we eliminate the need for CDs altogether? They changed the game. They didn’t want to change the genre of music people listened to or the fact that they wanted to listen to it in their car, they changed the way they stored music and made it more accessible.
So when you are thinking about your product, how do you look at your industry, look at your customer and the problem at hand, and create a product that doesn’t follow the rules of the industry, but at the same time truly solves the problem . . . maybe even a problem people are simply settling with but would much prefer an easier pathway if it was an option.
That’s how you make a better product.
Be Legendary!
If you want to learn more about products, launching, validating, market research, generating revenue, and how to master the 9 to become part of the 18, check out the Self Made Legend Program.