Product Collective - 🚀 Get your product launch right

Product Launch Plans

You put all that effort into creating that new product. The last thing you want to happen is release it to the world and… crickets. Here’s some advice on how to launch your product and make sure that it leaves an impression – a positive one – on your market.

What is a product launch? Stages, strategy, & tools. A product launch is a company’s coordinated effort to bring new or updated products to market. Well-planned and well-performed launches announce a product to the world after building substantial buzz. They also align members of a product team with other departments to ensure you align your business in its approach to supporting the new product. Nikhil Gangaraju describes product launch strategies and best practices that can take your launch to the next level. 
(via @Amplitude_HQ)

5 Product launch examples that are worth studying (+ tips for success). For your company’s new product to succeed, a lot of dominoes need to fall. Your product needs to relieve the right pain points. It needs to be priced appropriately. It needs to stand out—functionally or otherwise—from alternatives in the market. And, crucially, you need to introduce it to prospective customers—introduced in a manner that generates awareness, demand, and, ultimately, adoption. Conor Bond shares the stories of five brands that have successfully launched new products. 
(via @crayon)

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How to deal with a CEO with... ideas

It seems as if Elon Musk is getting closer and closer to completing his acquisition of Twitter, despite signs that he may actually want out of the deal. Soon enough, one of the platform’s most influential users will be at the helm of the company. Earlier this week, Musk held a virtual town hall meeting with all Twitter staff, and he covered all sorts of topics – including potential layoffs, his stance on remote work, and heck – even whether or not he’s seen evidence of aliens.

But as a product person, one thing especially stood out to me: Musk suggested that there ought to be an “irony” label for tweets so people can indicate that their tweet was meant to be ironic.

LOL

I bet in our lifetime, we have all had that boss at least once. You know, the one that will commandeer a product meeting just to share feedback about a feature that his wife’s uncle – “who is a really smart guy” – came up with. Or while on vacation, he had this realization of where the product roadmap ought to go. Clearly, Musk is that boss. It doesn’t matter if there are literally people brought into the company to focus on things like solving customer problems and setting product strategies. Musk… has some ideas. 

But how do you deal with these types of bosses? 

The Muse wrote a post in the past about how to deal with bosses who have bad ideas. Spoiler alert – one of the solutions is simply doing nothing at all and just keeping your mouth shut. As a product person, I don’t know if I could live with myself if I just blindly accepted a truly bad idea, though. Could you?

Completely unrelated, but if you haven’t perused the Product Collective Job Board in a while – now may be a good time to do so! *irony*

Would you like to join us (for free!) at INDUSTRY Virtual, the premier online Product Management conference, on October 18th? Andrew Chen (Author of The Cold Start Problem and Partner at Andreesen Horowitz), Justin Bauer (SVP, Product at Amplitude), Michelle Parsons (Chief Product Officer at Hinge), and many others will be speaking.

There will also be plenty of time for learning and networking with 1000s of other product people from around the world.

There's a completely free ticket available to you, but these are limited to the first 500 registrants - so make sure you register today (it will take less than 2 minutes).

INDUSTRY: The Product Conference is back with a bang! The in-person edition returns on September 19-21 in Cleveland, Ohio, reviving the top independent product conference anywhere. Build your network and find inspiration as you'll learn from some of the best -- like David Cancel (CEO at Drift), Sarah Butterfass (CPO at FanDuel), and even Mark Duplass (award-winning filmmaker and co-star of Apple TV's The Morning Show).

How to create a successful product launch that drives sales. Every year, companies introduce over 30,000 new products to the market — but around 95% of them fail. Most fall due to not having a solid product launch plan, while others cannot position themselves well enough for prospective customers. The folks at Qualtrics, explain different product launches, what product launch strategy is, and how you can use their template and checklist to get your product ready to go.
(via @Qualtrics)

How do you launch a product? While there’s not a hard and fast product launch formula, there are some pretty tried-and-true rules for launching your new product or new business. Mary Kate Miller believes that an informed entrepreneur is an empowered entrepreneur, so she’s collected everything you need to launch a successful product into a single guide. 
(via @foundr)

Create a product launch plan: who, what, and when. Effective product launches require careful planning, often months in advance. To create that “I must check this out” anticipation, you need to consider your target audience, the size of your launch, and overall timeline. The folks at Appcues give you the ultimate planning guide to help you think through the details and put together the perfect launch for your product.
(via @appcues)

Transitioning from Managing Products to Managing People

As Product Managers, it's tricky enough to navigate what it takes to successfully build, launch, scale, and manage technology products. But at a certain point, you may be asked to do something that takes a whole new set of skills — manage people. In doing so, you'll need to be adept at recruiting, training, developing and mentoring Product Managers. But making that transition isn't so straightforward. In this discussion, we dig into all of this — and will make time for your questions as well!

In this discussion, we'll dig into this conundrum — and you'll be able to ask questions of your own as well.

1. A newsletter each and every Friday centered around an important product topic, like roadmapping, strategy, and analytics.
2. Access to a thriving Slack group with thousands of others to share advice, tips and get feedback on your work.
3. Plus, invitations to exclusive video chats, special member privileges at the conferences we hold in the United States and Europe, and more!