The 17 musts to get a product off the ground

What it takes to create and market a successful product or service offering

I've decided to jot down a short list of "musts" that go into creating a successful market offering.  To be clear, creating a new product or service for the market is not an easy thing to do.  Some market offerings are harder than others.  Some are downright mind-boggling, and the market can be a ruthless teacher.  This is not necessarily the complete list, and some of these items are more important than others.  Here's the list:

1.     The team leader must be deeply dedicated to the offering and share the risk/reward

2.     The team leader must have the authority to select, manage and reward the team

3.     The team leader must have hands-on experience with creating and marketing new offerings

4.     The team must own the vision for the offering and the plan to develop the offering

5.     The team must demonstrate fearlessly open communication within and without

6.     The team must acquire a face-to-face understanding of the target market and the customer

7.     The team must fully understand the vision as it evolves over time

8.     The team must be no larger than is absolutely necessary

9.     The team must understand the problems first and the solutions second

10.    The team must follow a process that is transparent internally and externally

11.    The team must adjust the process as it works toward taking the offering to market

12.    The team must pay close attention to empirical experience and adjust accordingly

13.    The team must avoid hidden agendas in the development and validation of the offering

14.    The stakeholders must let the team leader run the project

15.    The stakeholders must retain the right to remove the team leader

16.    The stakeholders must question the vision and the plan but they must not undermine the project

17.    The stakeholders must understand that the vision will change over time based on market feedback and that the final product will not match the original vision.

If we are missing a couple of these, we might be okay.  If we are missing three or four, we might be in trouble.  If we are missing five or more, we could very well be hosed.

(Image source: dianepernet)