You’ve Got a Product. Now Scale!
Even if your management team has developed a great product that people want to buy and has identified a channel to successfully reach those buyers, your company isn’t necessarily set up for instant success The first iteration of your product may not be the same iteration that scales past early adopters.
There are some things to consider in order to message a product in such a way that not only will make early adopters buy it, but so will the masses and the real end users…finding the right best practices process is key.
Charles Baden-Fuller and Ian MacMillan from the Harvard Business Review list the following as three main points to consider when scaling a new venture:
1. Realize that customers are not the same as users
2. Recognize that first users are not the same as scaling users.
3. Anticipate that first products are not the same as scaling products.
In the end — first products may be easily embraced by early adopters, but that doesn’t mean it is refined for mass market consumption and this may take some agile product development.