John Gargiulo

Great question. Post-launch is the most underrated parts of the cycle. You've spent months aiming the rocketship, putting fuel in the tank and blasting off - now you've got to steer. Let's break it down into three steps: 1) ANALYZE The first thing is to immediately begin watching not just usage of the product, but which parts of the product. How are people interacting with your features? Where are they dropping off? Where are they spending their time? This will give you context and clarity to mo ...Read More

It's funny, I've been working on a deck looking at exactly this question. It's fascinating how much it varies from company to company. We're moving to a place where the distinctions between product marketing and brand marketing are becoming increasingly blurry. Think of it as simply different problems to solve, that map to different parts of the funnel.   Some product launches need broad awareness and call for high-funnel, or what we often call brand marketing. Whereas some launches are updates ...Read More

B2B   - The foundation of any successful launch is a compelling insight. This is especially true in B2B. To get to that golden nugget, even if you have a research group and/or an awesome, collaborative sales team - meet the customers. There is nothing like first-hand experience when it comes to truly understanding customer. That's where your aha moment is most likely to happen.   - On the creative delivery front, remember that in B2B your LTV is typically extremely high, especially if you're at ...Read More

SUCCESSFUL:   - At Bluestacks in 2011, we were gearing up to launch software that let you run any Android app on a Windows PC. I had letterpressed wedding invitations made for the union of Android and Windows and sent them to around 100 thought-leaders in tech including Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos etc. It included a link to an early VIP alpha version of the product. Around 30 of them went to the link and Kevin Rose wrote us a nice tweet. When we launched weeks later we ended up with 20X t ...Read More

Great question. Having a compelling insight into why a product is truly worth using is arguably the most important part of a launch. A launch is like building a tower. If the ground underneath is soft, it's not going to end well. Finding solid ground is easier said than done. Sometimes there is no quantitative data because no one has put out anything like what you're considering. In that case of course you lean on qualitative research and your instincts. Ideally though, there are lots of data po ...Read More

Research is so important. The closer you are to your customer, the more credibility you have. If you're fortunate enough to have a research org at your company, even better. My first weeks at Airbnb were in large part spent sitting in with the research team as they interviewed our users.    In terms of timing, the earlier you develop that understanding of and relationship with the customer the better. Great research leads to well-informed, strategic insights that will serve as the bedrock for yo ...Read More