What are the biggest mistakes companies make when launching a new product, and how can they be avoided?

Here are a few common mistakes: The launch lacks clarity on product availability. You need to know what the product does and does not do and set those expectations clearly with sales teams via your ICP and target use cases. I am not saying don't launch a half baked product, but if you do, be clear about what the gaps are and the use cases to target The sales team doesn't have a play or CTA. Product launches should not be an FYI for the sales team. Building an actionable sales play with a target ...Read More

Some of the "mistakes" I've experienced across a few different companies that can cause friction both internally as well as externally are: 1. Not truly understanding your customers problem before you build: You build off of your own echo chamber/vibes/or an internal edge case without really talking with customers before launching. Or potentially not aligning internally. It typically makes it so you waste cycles and or worse— deprecate or phase out a product, which can cause low morale for the t ...Read More

Not grounding the launch in clear value positioning and stakeholder alignment leads to failure. From an operational standpoint, if you haven't established the value proposition and positioning with alignment across stakeholders upfront, you'll either have a bad launch or just check boxes without seeing real impact. This alignment requires significant effort with executives to ensure everyone is on the same page. I recommend using a launch brief framework to document what you're doing and why, es ...Read More

The biggest mistake is focusing too heavily on the immediate launch moment without thinking about ongoing feature discoverability. When launches don't land effectively or achieve long-term success, it's often because teams concentrate solely on the launch day and then quickly move on to the next quarter's launch. Your launch plan should incorporate always-on methods for driving awareness and usage of key features, especially those that lead to stickier customers or upgrades. A recent example fro ...Read More

If your strategy is poor, your launch will fail no matter how well you execute. While project management is important, having a bad strategy means you're solving the wrong problem, and everything will fall apart. For example, if you're trying to drive more subscriptions from existing customers who already use your product extensively, but you decide to run a huge outdoor campaign, your strategy isn't aligned with your business objective. This misalignment will eventually surface when the launch ...Read More

Unfortunately, I’ve seen many well-intentioned launches stall or underperform due to a handful of common pitfalls: Skipping Real Customer Validation: A common pitfall is to go straight from ideation to launch without rigorous beta or pilot testing. Instead, companies should aim to engage actual customers or prospects during development and test new features in a controlled environment. Early feedback helps you refine usability and positioning before the full launch. The gold standard to aim for ...Read More