How do you know when to scale your product?

Completely agree Jay. Although I would also add… correct infrastructure and corporate mindset. It takes a village to correctly put these trajectories correctly into place. How many times have we seen great ideas and products flushed because leadership has not properly educated and trained their team to handle the opportunities that are about to be endured.

This is a great aspect - if you do not have a product market fit, you do not want to spend valuable engineering resources on scaling. It's completely okay to build a limited scaled monolith that will last you for initial set of years than build highly scalable architecture that you need to constantly churn the same piece and keep pivoting.

Key: Look for strong demand, happy customers, efficient operations, and available resources Signs it's time: Consistent sales growth, long waitlists, customers buying more over time. Check your systems: Can you handle a lot more customers without processes breaking? Profitability: Do you make money on each new customer? Do you have the means: Enough funding, the right people, and the tools to grow? Remember: Don't scale up too early! Make sure you have a solid foundation first.

Handles Growth: Your product needs to function smoothly even with a surge of users or data. Scalability ensures this. Prevents Downtime: Downtime damages your reputation and bottom line. Scalable infrastructure minimizes those risks. Supports New Features: Adding features shouldn't break your system. Scalable infrastructure allows for seamless updates. Reduces Costs: Well-planned scalability optimizes resource use, leading to long-term cost savings.

Optimize technology for increased demand. Streamline processes for efficiency. Scale architecture to handle more users. Automate workflows to reduce errors. Invest in team training and management. Ensure alignment with vision and goals.

The same basic principle applies accross different areas. You need to measure, be these metrics about market or infrastructure. Often numbers in one area help project metrics for another. Consider this example: Market research, 30% growth on the first year. Naively one may think to simply throw 30% extra hardware, but it is not that simple. Hardware growth is not linear and parallel to demand. Some metrics to consider: - Avg Latency (and distance) - vCore usage - RAM - Disk I/O - Net I/O and band - Parallelism - Load balancing - DB scaling capacity These are only a few, and unfortunately I can't delve into detail here. Past growth metrics helps a lot to project future ones. So start measuring as soon as possible.

Une fois le produit validé, il faut développer son mode de distribution, chercher le volume pour réduire le cout, réfléchir à la communication. Plus on vend plus on pourra travailler sur les économies d'échelle, voir réduire les intermédiaires

Make sure your business infrastructure, including technology, resources, and team, can support increased demands and growth without major disruptions.

Research market size, segments, and trends. Validate customer needs and preferences. Identify competitive advantage and differentiation. Define clear value proposition and messaging. Plan go-to-market strategy and channels. Execute tactics for market penetration. Monitor feedback and adapt strategies. Stay agile to capitalize on opportunities.

For this, understanding your SAM and TAM is crucial. You can use platforms such as Semrush to find that data, or simply use free tools such as SimilarWeb to see how much traffic your competitors get - and main keywords that drive that traffic today you might not be ranking for or buying on Google Ads.

Validates Growth Potential: Understanding your target market's size and needs ensures there's actual demand for your scaled product. Focuses Your Efforts: A clear understanding of your competitive advantage lets you tailor your scaling efforts to where you can truly shine. Informs Go-To-Market Strategy: Knowing your market segments and their preferred channels helps you effectively reach the right audience as you grow. Thorough Market Research: Analyze market size, trends, customer pain points, and gaps that your solution can fill. Go-To-Market Planning: Develop a strategy outlining how you'll reach your target customers, the channels you'll use, and the messaging that will resonate.

L'opportunité de marché passe forcément par la compréhension des ses acteurs, clients compris. Il faut passer d'un produit parmi d'autre à : le produit que tout le monde s'arrache. Cela passe forcément par une proposition de valeur unique et identifiée par le consommateur. Un branding de marque fort, une communication impactante, une cible au coeur du message

Identify market trends and opportunities that indicate potential growth for your product, signaling that scaling could help you seize these opportunities.

Les commentaires des clients sont à prendre en compte, mais ne pas tomber dans le piège du pessimisme, je m'explique. Il est connu que la plupart des personnes qui viennent commenter vont pour se plaindre, pour raler. La nature humaine ne conditionne pas l'Homme à venir vous féliciter, c'est plut?t l'inverse. donc il est important si on veut tenir compte des commentaires de vraiment différencier l'utilisateur qui donne un avis construit et utile, par rapport au commentaire du mec qui vient juste gueuler

Listen actively to customer opinions. Collect feedback through surveys and reviews. Prioritize impactful suggestions for action. Implement bug fixes and feature requests promptly. Engage with customers to show appreciation.

Identifies Pain Points: Customer feedback highlights issues you may not have been aware of, preventing them from becoming major problems as you scale. Guides Product Roadmap: Feedback directly reveals the features and improvements your customers actually want, allowing you to make informed scaling decisions. Builds Customer Loyalty: Showing customers you listen and act on their feedback fosters trust and improves long-term retention.

Feedback do cliente é essencial. Ouvir periodicamente o cliente e criar um pipeline de melhorias que atendam a necessidade do publico fara com que o produto/servi?o ganhe competitividade e avan?os no mercado. N?o basta apenas adicionar em backlog tudo o que o cliente solicita, mas coletar os feedbacks e agrupa-los em fatores que fazem sentido ajuda a ter uma linha de desenvolvimento lógica. Lembre-se sempre em considerar que nem todos os feedbacks s?o melhorias. Uma pesquisa prévia auxilia a entender, dado grupo de clientes, se uma idéia é boa ou ruim.

Consider these distinct levels of customer feedback. 1. Product-issue (generates a ticket): This is a bug or user error that refinement can fix. 2. Solution-issue (product doesn't work for their use): This is a strategic issue that may prompt your next industry-changing innovation. Be open to learning new facts (aka gathering evidence) to support your future decision making.

Provides Direction: A well-defined strategy prevents haphazard growth and ensures your efforts align with long-term goals. Manages Expectations: Realistic goals and measurable milestones help track progress and make adjustments as needed. Optimizes Resource Use: Knowing your scaling method (horizontal, vertical, etc.) assists with making the most of your budget and team capabilities.

Establish clear goals and objectives. Define a roadmap with milestones. Select the appropriate scaling method. Consider horizontal, vertical, or hybrid scaling. Allocate resources wisely. Manage budget and timeline efficiently. Focus on user acquisition and retention. Aim for revenue and profitability. Adapt strategy based on market dynamics.

This comes naturally from the process. You will probably need domain-specific guidance at each step of the way. The biggest challenge in scaling, from a strategy perspective, is prioritizing and delegating. You are going to want an expert-level operator managing each phase of the scale up.

Before scaling, craft a comprehensive scaling strategy encompassing vision, roadmap, and milestones. Set measurable goals for user acquisition, retention, revenue, and profitability. Choose an appropriate scaling method (horizontal, vertical, hybrid) aligned with product needs. Efficiently allocate and manage resources, budget, and timeline to ensure successful execution. By strategically planning the scaling process, you can optimize resource utilization and drive sustainable growth.

Be prepared for potential pitfalls. Anticipate obstacles and risks. Mitigate common scaling challenges. Address technical debt and quality issues. Ensure security against breaches. Focus on reducing customer churn. Stay vigilant of market saturation. Adapt to regulatory changes. Respond to competitive threats. Learn and improve continuously.

Uma otima ferramenta que podemos usar para pensar nos desafios de dimensionamento é uma matriz SWOT, levando em considera??o todos (ou quase todos) os possíveis contratempos. Atentar-se aos fatores internos e externos que podem comprometer, assim como fatores internos e externos que podem fortalecer o dimensionamento, uma metrica que pode ser avaliada no final é quanto de custo teremos x quanto de lucro teremos. Cabe ao planejamento procurar uma analise mais detalhada para entender qual a porcentagem de lucros/custos é aceitável para ter a no??o de quanto o dimensionamento é plausível ou n?o.

Anticipating scaling challenges is crucial for success. Mitigate common issues like technical debt, quality concerns, and customer churn through proactive measures. Stay adaptable to address unexpected challenges such as regulatory changes and competitive threats. Embrace a culture of continuous learning to refine your product and business based on scaling experiences. By effectively navigating challenges, you can optimize scalability and drive sustainable growth.

Drawing inspiration from a renowned case in the tech industry, let's consider the trajectory of a groundbreaking social media startup. Initially, the platform witnessed moderate user engagement, but after a pivotal feature update, user activity surged dramatically, demonstrating a clear product-market fit. The startup meticulously monitored user retention rates and net promoter scores, which consistently improved, indicating a strong and loyal user base.

Achieving product-market fit indeed signals a readiness to scale, characterized by a product that not only addresses a tangible market need but also resonates with a substantial and committed customer base, supported by a viable business model. However, the journey to ascertain product-market fit extends beyond conventional metrics like customer retention, referral rates, revenue growth, and feedback. I've learned that integrating advanced machine learning and data analytics into the product strategy can provide a more sophisticated and dynamic understanding of product-market fit. Not just using AI/ML in the product, but to assess the product and market fit, has helped us stay ahead of trends and competitors.

It is worth paying attention to the less obvious aspects when scaling your product: Make sure your infrastructure can handle the load of more users. Develop a plan that allows your team to easily adapt to changes in operations and processes. Additionally, make sure you are compliant with all legal requirements, intellectual property protection, and public offerings. If entering new markets, smoothly adapt your product and marketing to the cultural specifics and new regions. Identify potential risks associated with growth and develop measures to mitigate them.

Developing a new product or service requires creativity, experimentation, trial & error. Scaling a product or service requires discipline, process and focus.