What Makes A Great Product Idea Great?

At Uncommon we have now helped build and launch over 40 new technology products for 25 different companies in the past 3 years.  Some of these products have gone on to be passionately used by millions of users and others have been wholly abandoned for more promising ventures. These experiences, along with our research and team member’s past product efforts, has helped to establish a set of core elements to consider in order to enable entrepreneurs and investors to better decide which ideas to aggressively pursue and which to shelve.

Uncommon’s primary considerations for new product success are:

Team and Organizational Fit – The product team is passionate about the opportunity and has the ability to obtain resources, execute and effectively react to new conditions as they emerge

Market Potential – The opportunity has identifiable customers and associated market segment(s) with sufficient spending potential to achieve the team’s targets

Relative Value of Product – The product is very valuable to its users and purchasing entities, addresses an issue that is a top priority to address and is much more valuable than the status quo, competition and other alternatives

Relative Simplicity of Product – The team has a clear ability to build, deliver, integrate, and support the product and can do so faster and much more easily than their potential competitors

Clarity and Accessibility of Decision Makers and the Decision Process – The decision makers along with promising marketing and sales channels are identifiable and accessible and purchase/influence drivers for key stakeholders are understandable and addressable.

Sustainability – The above criteria needs to be examined, not just at an instant of time, but dynamically.  How are these factors expected to evolve over the time it may take to yield sufficient return. Probably the most important element here is speed – concepts, prototypes, and early product versions need to be rapidly developed and validated by customers.