for inventors and start-ups
We know what it is like trying to turn a new idea into a commercial product.
It isn't easy. There are so many things to think about that your "to do" lists go on forever. What is worse is that you are probably not attending to things outside your comfort zone.
We can help. We've been through the process lots of times and can step in and lift some of the weight from your shoulders.
Every client is different so we adapt what we do to your situation and skills, but a few of the things we can do to help include: finding early adopters and starting a dialogue with them, product launch, product marketing, forging strategic alliances, helping with funding and mentoring.
In return we expect to receive either a pre-arranged flat fee or a share in your business.
By Chris | August 23, 2010
Three types of serendipity: how do these apply to product discoveries as opposed to scientific ones?
Malcolm Gladwell entertained a diverse audience at the Oxford Playhouse recently with a 90 minute talk about serendipity in cancer drug discoveries. As usual his stories were engaging, sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always entertaining. My 17-year-old son was just as engaged by him as I was, which is a pretty big compliment. Some parts of it are in this New Yorker article.
He described a division of serendipity achievements into three levels.
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Is there an industry the iPad could wipe out at a (touch sensitive) stroke?
The gushing praise for the iPad is now turning into concrete numbers as this last week analysts have been clambering over each other to predict that Apple will ship.
Piper Jaffray & Co. analyst Gene Munster originally expected iPad sales of 2.8 million in 2010. Then Morgan Stanley upped the ante to 6 million, before their analysts Katy Huberty and Mathew Schneider reported that iPad suppliers are forecasting 8 million to 10 million iPad shipments in calendar year 2010, double the previous estimate of 5 million.
I know nothing of this. As a consumer I have felt the need for some years for a handy internet browser that would always be on and could be used anywhere in the house. There is the Ocado order to be completed in the kitchen, whilst checking the contents of the fridge. Then there is follow up research to settle arguments over dinner and digging into schedules and program details the few times we actually sit down and watch the television.
Is the iPad the device to do this? I don’t know, but I do know that $699 seems a bit steep for the whatever additional benefit it might have over my $300 netbook, which by the way, supports Flash.
But I can see one way in which the iPad could change the world.
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By Chris | March 30, 2010
A product marketing guide to Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt
Like so many things invented elsewhere[i], the high-tech industry has grabbed the marketing ploy of spreading fear, uncertainty and doubt (FUD) through disinformation and made it all their own.
The idea is simple. Put just enough doubt into the minds of your customers that there is something dodgy about a competitor, or their product, so as to instil enough FUD to stall or reverse a buying decision.
A classic was a SEGA marketing campaign with the slogan “Genesis does what Nintendon’t”.
Let’s face it; FUD is the last defence of the desperate. You just know that the corporate marketing barrel is empty when a high-tech firm turns to FUD. It implies that you can’t differentiate your product, you are haemorrhaging customers and your stock has hit the floor.
If that’s the case then your CEO will be purple in the face and with steam coming out of his ears (despite the fact that it’s probably his fault that you’re in the situation in the first place). Who is he going to call? We’re going to reach for anything we can use, aren’t we? So let’s look at the different ways you can use FUD.
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By Chris | March 19, 2010
The user interface gets very personal
Also posted in product definition | Tagged ideas, tech |
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