Product Management Pitfalls for Young Startups — Anurag Gaggar
Here are few insights I got from the session of Anurag Gaggar, Product Head at Spinny talked about Product management Pitfalls for Startups at ScaleFast 2023 organized by Kerala Startup Mission.
The session covered pitfalls that are common in building a product in these aspects below :
🚧 What to build?
⚒️ How to build?
📊 What to measure?
Let’s take a walk through each of them,
🚧 Pitfalls on What to Build
When it comes to developing a successful product, it’s crucial to understand what NOT to do.
Here are a few pointers that were discussed with reasons why there are a bad idea~
1. Doing a Solution Backward User Research and Why?
❌ “Would you buy a product which did X?”
Asking potential customers if they would buy a product solely based on its features or functionality can be misleading. While it’s essential to gather feedback, relying solely on hypothetical scenarios may not accurately reflect real-world buying decisions. Instead, focus on understanding customers’ pain points, their needs, and how your product can provide a solution.
❌”How much would you pay for X?”
Determining the right pricing for your product is crucial, but asking customers directly about their price expectations can yield unreliable results. People may not accurately assess the value of a product in isolation, and their price expectations can vary significantly. Instead, conduct market research, analyze competitor pricing, and consider the value your product brings to customers to arrive at a fair and competitive pricing strategy.
❌ “Don’t you think an AI tool can solve your problem Y?”
Assuming that an AI tool can solve a particular problem without thoroughly understanding the customers’ pain points and needs can lead to misguided product development. While AI can be a powerful tool, it’s essential to conduct in-depth research, engage with potential customers, and validate that an AI solution is the right fit for their specific problem. Understanding the context and intricacies of the problem will guide you in developing a more effective and tailored solution.
✅ Okay, what’s the correct approach?
Being user — centric is the key here. Ask them the right questions like, why does the user bother about the problem and take a detailed note of what happened last time the problem occurred, did they try any solutions and how are they dealing with it right now.
2. Doing Solutioning Before Befining Problem Clearly
Here is a double diamond design process that describes How To “Actually design” a product.
Anurag described this part with an example of an elevator, where inserting a mirror inside an elevator solved the user’s problem of long waiting time. How did this happen? Actually exploring the problem, it was understood that elevator wait time is boring and from that inference mirrors were installed inside the elevator to help users kill time inside the elevator and Voila, Problem solved !
3. Build for Everyone
Anurag constantly emphasized the importance of not building everything for everyone and here’s why. The product you are building needs to differentiate and solve a key problem for your target audience, and EVERYONE is NOT your target user.
“Product Managers say NO. A lot.”
4. Force Fitting New Technologies
In his talk Anurag also discussed where founders may forcefully fit a new technology for their product, citing an example of AI.
What’s the right way ? Understand YOUR customer’s Pain and solve using the technology that’s required to solve the particular problem.
⚒️ Pitfalls Around How to Build?
1. Not Doing Early (low cost) Testing
Cost of testing early < < Cost of testing later in the development lifecycle
Prototyping helps you think backwards from customer and collect early feedback.
Iterative builds starting with MVP.
Fake Door Tests can help estimate impact better.
Essentially, More cycles = More learning.
2. Not Planning for Distribution
For early stage companies, Distribution > Product
Planning on how to distribute your product through various channels like SEO, partnerships, customer reviews etc. is very important for an early stage startup in-order to reach to the customer.
3. Not Writing Enough (to be more agile)
When it comes to building a product, one of the pitfalls that can hinder progress is not writing enough. Many teams mistakenly prioritize speed over velocity, focusing on churning out code rather than engaging in deep thinking.
Agile development should not be synonymous with shallow thinking; it requires thorough exploration and understanding of the problem at hand. Writing plays a crucial role in facilitating deep thinking, as it allows ideas to be articulated, refined, and shared effectively.
By embracing writing as a tool for deep thinking, teams can avoid the pitfall of shallow development and build products that are scalable, robust, and aligned with user needs.
4. Not Building Frameworks for Doing Repetitive Tasks
Repetitive tasks can take up a lot of time. Hence automating them is the way to use your time productively. The best way is to identify those tasks, start early then evolve.
📊 Pitfalls to avoid around What to measure?
Metrics are super important! Pick what to measure wisely!
1. Measuring the wrong metrics
It is very crucial to choose the right metrics. It can make or break the product. One common mistake is relying solely on anecdotal evidence or personal anecdotes to assess performance, disregarding valuable data insights.
Jeff Bezos astutely pointed out that when anecdotes and data contradict, the anecdotes are often correct, indicating a flaw in the measurement approach.
Another pitfall is focusing on vanity metrics that may look impressive but fail to capture the true impact of the product. Instead, it is essential to identify metrics that align with the product’s goals and provide meaningful insights, such as user engagement, retention, or conversion rates. Ultimately, measuring the right metrics allows for data-driven decision-making and a clearer understanding of the product’s performance.
2. Confusing Correlation with Causation
It is crucial to avoid the pitfall of confusing correlation with causation. This common mistake can lead to misleading conclusions and misguided decision-making. Even those who understand the difference sometimes fall into this trap when trying to sell their argument.
It is important to be cautious of self-selection biases when interpreting data. Statements like
“Users who signed up for our loyalty program increased their spends by 34%” or “Visitors who wish-listed a product had a 65% higher 7-day return visit rate”
these may seem compelling, but they don’t necessarily prove causation. Understanding the nuances between correlation and causation is vital to making accurate data-driven decisions in product development.
3. Not Tracking Incrementality of Impact
Focusing solely on cost reduction may lead to missed opportunities for revenue growth. Additionally, assuming that funnel improvements at the top will have a linear impact on the bottom can be misleading.
It is essential to recognize that a new path can drive share shift and attract both incremental new users and revenue. To measure success accurately, it is vital to consider a comprehensive set of metrics that reflect both the short-term and long-term impact of product development efforts.
By avoiding these pitfalls and implementing a holistic measurement framework, companies can make informed decisions and drive sustainable growth.
4. Confusing Noise with Signal
When building a product, one should know the pitfalls that can hinder progress. One common pitfall is confusing noise with signal, where we tend to quickly believe data that aligns with our preconceived hypotheses.
Conversely, when data contradicts our expectations, we may try to manipulate or force it to fit our desired narrative. To avoid this pitfall, it is important to approach data with objectivity and an open mind, allowing it to guide decision-making rather than selectively interpreting it to support our assumptions.
Instead of seeking confirmation, we should focus on measuring key metrics that provide meaningful insights into user behavior, product performance, and market trends. By staying vigilant and avoiding the trap of bias, we can make more informed decisions and build products that truly address the needs and preferences of our users.
In summary, to ensure success in building a product, it’s crucial to avoid common pitfalls. These include conducting user research after solutioning, not clearly defining the problem upfront, trying to build a product for everyone, blindly adopting new technologies, neglecting early testing, overlooking distribution planning, not prioritizing documentation for agility, ignoring the need for frameworks in repetitive tasks, measuring the wrong metrics, confusing correlation with causation, failing to track impact incrementally, and mistaking noise for signal. By steering clear of these pitfalls, you can increase your chances of building a successful and impactful product.
Now you know what to avoid! Happy building !
