StartupTalky

Tag: ideas

  • How to Create an Effective First Product Roadmap?

    A product’s success depends upon a shared vision that finds its approval from all the internal and external parties involved. If you have ever been a part of the product development process, you will agree with this statement, regardless of your role. There are multiple stakeholders, like developers, users, sales, marketing, and suppliers involved in product development. They all need to commit to a common plan and align their work to make it a hit.

    When represented in a visual format, this product plan is termed as a roadmap. In simple terms, it is a plan of action that brings all the teams together around the short and long-term goals associated with the product. An effective roadmap tells the story of the vision, priorities, direction, and product progress. The roadmap acts as a guiding document that the teams track and revisit to stay on the course.

    It also helps them understand if there are any gaps from their side and comes in handy in resolving conflicts between the stakeholders. More than anything, the roadmap acts as a reminder of the final goal. In this article, we will talk about how to create an effective roadmap for your first product. So let’s dive into this.

    How to Make Your First Product Roadmap?
    Presenting Your Roadmap

    How to Make Your First Product Roadmap?

    If you are given a new role as a product manager and have been asked to complete the crucial task of developing a product roadmap. You already have a high-level understanding of the product, what it should achieve, and by when it needs to be delivered. All you need to do is to represent this information in a visual format.

    You could be working on the release of a new product or upgrades to an existing one. One thing that you must remember is that product roadmaps evolve over time. However, the underlying vision should not change at any point.

    How far out do businesses plan their roadmaps?
    How far out do businesses plan their roadmaps?

    These are some steps while creating the roadmap of a product:

    Define a Strategy

    During the product development and subsequent stages, your stakeholders will often have to reflect upon the “whys”.

    At such times, you will have to bring their focus to why you are building the product. It is what will define the strategy and the vision of your goal.

    It can help you further to answer the following questions if you are struggling to define a clear strategy:

    • Why are you building a new or enhancing an existing product?
    • What are you hoping to achieve through this product?
    • How is your creation going to help the users?

    Prioritize the Ideas

    When the initial conversations start and also during the product development stage, multiple ideas will pour in. Moreover, there will also be suggestions from your customers that you would want to incorporate. You don’t have to include every suggestion, but some of these could be worth your time. The best way to incorporate them into your roadmap is by prioritizing and ranking them. This way, you will focus on what matters and make your roadmap and vision more objective.

    Define the Product Features

    Your product features tell your stakeholders what it is that your product will look like. It is also what aligns your development team with your vision. You can also include other associated information that may help them in fine-tuning the solution.

    Plan the Releases

    Any roadmap is incomplete without a timeline. It gives direction to all the stakeholders involved. It is advisable to break down the timelines into multiple releases for better efficiency. This way you’ll be aware of the deadlines and it will boost your productivity so that you can finish the work on time.

    Presenting Your Roadmap

    Your stakeholders have varying interests, and a single roadmap may not answer the questions they may have. To align everyone with your vision, you will want to show them something of their interest. It could mean creating a different view for every party. Here is how you can do it:

    The Higher-Ups

    The leaders will be keen to know about the high-level vision associated with the product. The leaders will need to understand how the product fits into the larger scheme of things at the organization.

    Product Development Team

    The development team needs to know every minute detail of the product. For instance, the team will need a comprehensive list of the features, requirements and release dates and others. It will help them in prioritizing their work to meet the given deadlines.

    Marketing and Sales

    These are the teams that engage the customers and are in touch with the market pulse. They will need to understand how your product will make the lives of your customers easy to create a sales pitch.

    Support

    Here is a team that experiences pressure after every new release. Since the team will be getting more customer queries, they will need to prepare themselves for the critical features and enhancements. They will be more interested in the dates and the associated training for their staff.

    The Evolution Of Your Roadmap

    With time, your roadmap will evolve as you may add new features or change the timelines along the way. To incorporate these changes, you must first prepare yourself to embrace them. At times, you will realize that a feature is taking more effort than you had anticipated. At other times, you may receive some information from your analytics team that may need some changes in your product plan. Ensure that you send the revised roadmap to all the stakeholders so that everyone is on the same page. The ultimate goal should be to deliver a high-quality product that brings some value to the customers.

    Conclusion

    A carefully-drawn roadmap is not just another document. It is the basis of your product’s success. Getting the best product owner certification can help you build better roadmaps and propel the organization to success. When you make a roadmap after considering all the crucial information, it will help you align your stakeholder and also prioritize more effectively.

    FAQs

    What is a product roadmap?

    A product roadmap is the basic structure of the goal, vision, direction and the progress of a product.

    What are the steps of creating a product roadmap?

    Some of the steps of creating a product roadmap are:

    • Define a Strategy
    • Prioritize the Ideas
    • Define the Product Features
    • Plan the Releases

    Who creates the product roadmap and releases it?

    Product managers are the one who creates product roadmap and releases them.

  • 8 Valuable Tips for New Entrepreneurs

    We are living today in the age of the “new“, whether it is the innovative ideas, new ventures, or startups that the new-age entrepreneurs are bringing forth. A boom of ideas means an overpopulation of startups, and we are standing amidst a galaxy of startups already in India and abroad. Though these startups may seem many, only some actually manage to stand the test of time and a lot of it depends on the founder of the startup or the entrepreneur whose brainchild the startup is.

    An entrepreneur today needs to be alert, updated, know the market, and look into the future demands to mention the basics. Along with them, numerous other tips would help an entrepreneur stand out, and their startup, thrive. So, if you are an entrepreneur and you are eager to get an edge on the others in the space including other experienced entrepreneurs and rivals, then you can keep this StartupTalky article handy. This is because here you will be learning about 8 effective tips that will benefit you as an entrepreneur.

    There are many entrepreneurs in our Facebook group (StartupTalky). Some are successful, some are in their struggling stage and some are just learning before implementing. In the group, we often ask people to give tips they learned about startups. We believe that every person on this planet has something unique to teach us. So, here are some tips from those entrepreneurs and we are sure, you can learn something from them. It’s always huge to hear from successful and experienced people who are in the same field. So, check this article out to discover some of the most valuable tips for entrepreneurs.  

    Tips For New Entrepreneurs

    Find Clients Before Launching
    Design Matters
    Boost Your Focus
    Track Consumer’s Psycho-graphics
    Keep Interacting
    Stay Charged-up
    Rate Values
    Collaborate

    Find Clients Before Launching

    This is very unique advice but a very important one for developers. Before launching or even making a product, you should approach people and ask them if they need your product and are they willing to pay for it? Try asking them online if not offline. You can go to Facebook groups and many other forums. Knowledge about your target audience is a very crucial piece of information before launching any product.

    The Future Of The Design Industry In India
    The design industry in India is growing at the rate of 25% while UI/UX, Fashion, Interior, Animation and Graphic Designers are now a must have in companies
    StartupTalkyPV Vyshnavi

    Design Matters

    People are not attracted by the features of your product at the very first, but the first thing which attracts them is the appearance. So, focus on the looks. Try hiring a freelancer if you are not very creative in designs. Later you will be glad that you made this small investment in hiring a freelancer or professional for this purpose.

    Boost Your Focus

    Many times when we try to focus on our work, our brain starts thinking things like, will Avengers return? Or your brain just starts playing songs in the subconscious mind. So, to trick your mind and boost your focus and productivity, you can play Binaural beats in the alpha frequencies. They will make you focus more on the task. Or, you can play the video embedded with this point to find it out for yourself.

    Track Consumer’s Psycho-graphics

    You can study and research the customer’s data. Find out what they like, when do they buy or why do they buy it? This data will help you to make a better decision about your product. This will help you to create an effective and better marketing strategy. To get this data, you can directly ask the consumer or conduct surveys on websites or blogs. Online surveys can also be conducted through common social media platforms such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

    Keep Interacting

    There is no substitute for real interaction. You cannot buy an AI system to do that. Real interaction helps you to build trust and goodwill with the customer. It also helps in staying updated about the customer’s choices and preferences. However, you don’t always have to meet your customer to interact, you can be active on Social Media too and stay connected with them through common online platforms. Try going live on your page. Or reply to the comments. Try to answer messages related to any query. This helps build a connection between you and your customer and builds a sense of trust in them.

    Stay Charged-up

    You don’t always have to work hard and keep working. Some fun between work is also important. You can have some fun with your team. Although too much fun is informal and not good for the company, you have to balance everything. Try going for a short weekend vacation with your team. Or just get them some gifts. Also, don’t forget to wish and motivate them in the morning. Celebrate good performances and results together. Doing all of these massively boosts the motivation of your team, which will ultimately help you in achieving better results.

    Rate Values

    You must have heard when a legend said: “If you are good at something, never do it for free”. No? Then you are missing one of the most amazing movies in history. Anyway, if you think your product or service is good enough, then never deliver it for free. And it works vice versa. If you want really good service, never expect it for free. Even if you have found a free substitute, then always remember, a substitute is always a substitute.

    Tools to Boost Team Collaboration
    The ability to collaborate is important. Teams want to be able to contact one another to discuss the shared work that’s taking place within your product.
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    Collaborate

    Whenever you get a chance to collaborate with someone, never miss the chance. Collaborations are a great channel of Marketing. People will check you out if you collaborate with someone. It not only works on YouTube or Blogging or Social Media but on any type of business too. Ever wondered why some company gives free products like “Buy 2 Britannia bread and get a Parle biscuit pack”. This is all just to promote the product. Companies collaborate in this way and make people test the product while making a profit. Try doing it.

    Conclusion

    These were some tricks which were discussed in the comments of the posts on the page of Startup Talky. You can try these tricks out. These were not from very big entrepreneurs, but from those people who are still on their journey of a startup. That is why they make sense as they are tested by those people. If they don’t benefit you, they will not harm you either.

    FAQs

    Effective tips to benefit New Entrepreneurs

    Find Clients Before Launching
    Design Matters
    Boost Your Focus
    Track Consumer’s Psycho-graphics
    Keep Interacting
    Stay Charged-up
    Rate Values
    Collaborate

    Bill Gate’s advice to New Entrepreneurs

    “If you don’t build your dream, someone else will hire you to build theirs.”

    Elon Musk’s advice to New Entrepreneurs

    “You’ve got to do all sorts of jobs and tasks that you might not wish to do, that are not intrinsically interesting to you, You’ve got to be prepared to do whatever it takes, work whatever hours. No task is too menial. I think that’s the right attitude for the CEO of a startup.”

  • When Should you Look for a Startup Mentor?

    This article is contributed by multiple Startup founders from different fields.

    The journey of an entrepreneur is filled with excitement, hard work, and a great lot of patience. In this journey, while building up your dream from the scratch, can sometimes feel exhausting. At this point, you need someone who you can look up to when there is a necessity. Those people not only have more experience than you, but they will also advise you and teach you new strategies and tactics to handle your business. These are the people who will give you ideas regarding your current situation and they are called Mentors.

    In this article, we will find out, when an aspiring entrepreneur should look for a mentor. Some of the successful entrepreneurs presented their take on this topic. Let’s take a look.

    Manav Shah  | Founder, Eduvacancy

    For me, a mentor is someone who I can look up to as a role model. I wanted to always find a mentor with whom I could discuss, share and debate about the obstacles, I am facing in my startup. When I started building Eduvacancy, I realized in the preliminary months that I needed a role model or mentor to guide me and prepare me for the various difficult decisions I’d have to make. When we began working on building the platform and implementation of the technical aspects, I thought of finding an ideal mentor who would be a strong guiding force and pillar of strength for me. Therefore, before I began full-fledged platform operations, I felt the need of finding the right mentor who would guide, hear and teach me to sail through the difficult phases of building a startup.

    Kunal Ahirwar | CEO & Co-Founder, Earnvestt Technologies

    Mentorship is an integral part of the entrepreneurial community. For the Earnvestt team, the biggest reason we needed mentors was when we were running our first beta test and we were not getting sufficient sign-ups from the users that we had personally spoken to, which indicated that our product and user flow was not good enough.

    Neha Indoria | Co-Founder, Boingg!

    It was an organic process that originated from us trying to find answers to problems that presented themselves as we tried to navigate the process of setting up a business by ourselves. Some advise seemed needless and, in some cases, the insights made us re-think our strategy entirely, and slowly we were able to identify the areas in which we will need continued guidance.

    Utkarsh Gupta | Managing Director, Ramagya Mart

    When I was pondering over a business idea, which finally culminated in the formation of Ramagya Mart, I wasn’t very sure if I should rely on the mentoring acumen prevalent in abundance in my family, or should I seek professional mentoring. As destiny would have it, I was at this crucial stage when I decided to look for a mentor who could professionally guide and personally navigate me to take the right direction.

    Pallavi Utagi | Founder & Mom-in Chief, SuperBottoms

    There was never a defining moment in my life when I felt like I needed a mentor.
    It just happened organically through inspiring people who came into my life
    through my student and professional life. No one really wakes one day and
    says, ‘hey, I need a mentor’. You just feel the impact and connection with someone
    and reach out to them from time to time.

    Ritesh Ujjwal | CEO & Co-Founder, Kofluence

    As Sir Isaac Newton famously said in his 1675 letter, “If I have seen further, it is by
    standing on the shoulders of Giants”, in my opinion, most of us need guidance for clarity of thoughts/ directions through individuals who have chartered similar paths earlier or for a fresh perspective. Thankfully, I realized the value of mentors right during my engineering days and I was fortunate enough to be able to find amazing folks across academic, industry leaders as well as a couple of batchmates in front of whom I could be absolutely transparent and leverage their insights. I have been continuing the same ever since and the ‘mentors’ circle has expanded with amazing new folks from different spectrums of life especially during the last 3 years of building Kofluence.

    Conclusion

    The need for a mentor can arise anytime. Maybe, at a time when just an idea for a startup is peeking inside your head or in the middle of launching a new product for your startup. You should definitely go for a mentor whenever you feel for one.