What do you find most challenging about launching a new product that is also your company's first product?

Welp. You only get one chance at a first impression. I think it's really challenging to determine whether to go BIG (like enterprise solution) or more focused for land and expand motions.Because you need to build credibility, a repeatable sales motion, and the plumbing to collect proof fast! one question I would suggest to keep everyone honest: “What evidence will exist 30 days after launch that demonstrates repeatable value creation, and who is on the hook to produce it?” don't let good product ...Read More

Most often when you're launching the company's first product, you're most likely launching the company as well. The challenge there is its the first for everything. So, make sure you have a comprehensive launch plan as there are a lot of moving parts. Plus, make sure you define the key metrics to define success, often times this can be a challenge for team.  How do you think about: Awareness: organic search traffic, PR/comms strategy, social engagement Growth: KPIs for the business around MQLs, ...Read More

I think this one all comes down to your framework. If you have a good framework that you've used in the past and a task management tool (like Asana, Jira, etc.), you're over halfway there. But the biggest thing is to socialize the framework with execs and your cross-functional launch team early. Get buy-in on the process and make sure that each launch contributor has a clear understanding of their role and responsibilities as part of the launch. Since it will be your company's first product laun ...Read More

Building an audience. It's hard when your company is new and people don't know what you're about, why they should care and often very little credibility. Best way to combat that is to start building an audience earlier than your launch. Start talking about the problem you are solving with your product. You don't have to talk about your product. But you can establish thought leadership for your brand by doing this. Maybe it's just LinkedIn, or maybe a podcast or maybe something else. But your lau ...Read More

The most challenging piece here is that you're flying with little internal data. You're operating based on assumptions. You can create pretty business plans with ideas of traffic, lead, and demo conversions but you're only in the game once you get your first sale. From there you can learn more intimately of why they bought, how they made their decision, who was part of it, and what needs they are looking to meet. My advice here is to always build an MVP, test, validate your hypothesis before you ...Read More