What's the best way to pick your product's most important features?

This is how product features should be prioritised (in a decreasing order of priority) 1) Features needed for immediate business continuity 2) Feature that give a significant uptick in revenue 3) Features that cater to a new significant market demand/needs of big customers 4) Features that save cost for the company. Any features that do not fit the above criteria should be deprioritised till they do.

Start with your MVP to get valuable data, but it's essential to continuously iterate based on various factors such as user engagement, click patterns, and time spent on different screens. These insights can guide you on which features to be more focused about. Additionally, employing methods like experimentation and A/B testing can deepen your understanding of customer needs. Always prioritise 'customer obsession' to ensure everything aligns with their preferences and requirements.

For early products, it's almost always more impactful to remove a feature than it is to add another feature to your offering. What is your product's moment of delight? Focus on 10x'ing that, not adding 10 more features.

It is a good idea to practise your pitch or presentation in front of different audiences and ask for feedback.Find?out about their objectives, desires and?motivations.

To pick your product's most important features, follow these steps: Understand User Needs: Conduct user research to identify what problems and desires your target audience has. ???♂? Analyze Market Trends: Review competitors and market trends to find gaps and opportunities. ?? Prioritize Impact: Focus on features that provide the highest value and solve critical pain points. ?? Test and Iterate: Build prototypes, gather feedback, and refine features based on real user experiences. ?? This approach ensures you concentrate on features that truly matter to your users and drive success. ??

The first thing to know is that assumptions are mostly always wrong. The validation stage isn't about confirming you're right, which is a dangerous mindset. Assumptions are a starting point to build a test around and learn from. There will be (usually) nuggets of genius in those assumptions and user testing can validate those. Mostly it will tell you how what you're putting front of people isn't quite right and where you need to make tweaks to find product/market fit. Your value proposition/ability to generate leads is upstream of everything and relatively easy to test (sales conversations, waiting lists, smoke tests etc.). We find Google design sprints are the easiest way to prototype and user test new product assumptions at speed.

People who validate their assumptions by building real products first are usually those who have too much money to burn. Remember that there are better ways to reject many hypotheses before you spend your budget on software development. That way, you can increase the probability that validation of the small number of not rejected hypotheses by building the MVP or beta version of your product will result in positive outcomes.

The value it provides to customers determines a products best feature. Take Sildenafil, better known as Viagra for example, a medication created to treat hypertension (high blood pressure) and angina pectoris (a form of cardiovascular disease) turns out to treat erectile dysfunction in men. One intended use a different customer value. So you only ever know of your products true value once you collect insights from your customers.

To validate your assumptions, design experiments to address three key business aspects: building the right features, offering them at a competitive price, and achieving a decent profit margin per transaction. Starting with the first question: Are you building the right features? Begin by writing and testing 5-10 different value propositions, and gather feedback. If the feedback is positive, clear, inspiring, and practical, treat it as your guiding principle. Then, create a comprehensive product ideas backlog and visualize these ideas using sketches or design software. Ensure they align with your value proposition or even enhance it. As a design-driven individual, I believe that user experience is crucial for a successful startup.

??Test your assumptions with prototypes and beta testing. Gather feedback and data to ensure your product fits real user needs and desires! Then work ??? until you get to those goals. ??

Put a price tag on a feature and see if people really click on it. If you are in the MVP phase, it is a good practice to add "unlock this feature" type of call to action buttons on the features that you think are important for your customers. If users are really clicking on that CTA button to see that feature's price, then it is a sign of purchase intent for you. If you also add "get notified when we ship" kind of a message along with a sign-up form, you can even build a list of interested users to promote your early product. With the help of this test, you can decide which features to actually build.

When it comes to methodologies, I'm a big fan of simplicity – and that's why I always like a Kano analysis. Create a Matrix with two axes. The vertical axis maps your assumed or tested customer satisfaction. The horizontal axis asks to what degree a feature is implemented. This gives you a framework to decide if your feature might be a basic function, a performance feature, or a true exciter! From here, build—measure—learn ??????

At the end of the day, with your limited budget (as all startup budgets), you need to learn how to choose between "very, very, very important features" and "very, very important features". There is no simple method for that. However, observing your users' behaviours and learning from the data might be useful.

Everything flows backwards from these questions: ? What creates the motivation for a customer to use and love my offering? ? What "outcome" does it enable that they value? ? And how is that outcome differentiated from the outcome provided by competitive offerings? Now for each feature you are considering, ask the question: ??How much does that feature contribute to the aspired customer outcome and how they attribute "value" in the questions above? The features that have the most positive impact on increasing perceived value are the ones you prioritize.?? The "cool" features, or the ones that don't have a direct impact on adding to "perceived" value, get added based on their relationship to value creation.??

It’s not your job to prioritize features—let your customers do it. Assemble a committee of 3-5 key customers to decide what to build and how to build it, and offer them incentives in exchange for their time. No matter how advanced your analytics are, nothing beats face-to-face feedback from your customers.

I've often found that listening to our least tech savvy and demanding customers often leads to the best ideas for improvement. While it can be frustrating when people ask seemingly simple questions, the value of addressing their concerns becomes apparent when the product is launched. Their issues can multiply once the product is live. In fact, bad feedback is often 10x more valuable than positive feedback that simply praises your work

"One of my most productive days was throwing away 1,000 lines of code." - Ken Thompson (Unix, Bell, Turing Award, UC Berkley) In the process of iteration, ask yourself: - What can I add? - What can I subtract? - Should I start over? I rewrote my DB/CRM software 18 times from scratch! It's not that it had an issue! It just had a better version which required total subtraction!

I simply believe in this process of continuous improvement. It is always possible to improve continuously and consistently. The after effects are simply mind-blowing and customer can feel it, and is completely impossible to copy or incorporate with money or power. It needs the complete understanding of the process and belief on the principles of Japanese-Kaizen.

Iterating and improving are essential in refining a startup's product features because they allow for continuous learning and adaptation. Startups often begin with limited knowledge about their market, so each iteration provides insights into customer needs and behaviors. Through rapid feedback loops, teams can test, adjust, and prioritize features based on real-world use rather than assumptions. This process minimizes the risk of overbuilding and ensures the product remains aligned with user value, enabling more informed decisions about which features drive the most impact and growth.

The journey of refining your product's key features is an ongoing endeavor, not a singular event. It entails a continuous loop of learning and enhancement. Constantly monitor your product's performance, solicit feedback from customers, and measure outcomes. The objective is to discern what resonates, what falls short, and where enhancements are needed. This adaptive approach enables you to stay attuned to evolving needs and expectations, fostering continuous improvement and innovation.

You should start by targeting an underserved niche. Talk to customers who feel the current options don't work for them and figure out why. Then build a solution for them.

Drawing insights from successful precedents is invaluable in selecting your product's pivotal features. Analyze the strategies employed by other startups within your industry or niche, observing their product development journeys. Evaluate the features they have incorporated or omitted, and the outcomes they have attained. The objective is to glean inspiration, valuable insights, and best practices. By doing so, you can sidestep common pitfalls and errors, leveraging the wisdom of those who have navigated similar paths before you.

Look to successful products within and outside your industry for inspiration. Analyze how they've prioritized features and the impact those features have on user satisfaction and engagement. While your product is unique, understanding the principles behind successful feature prioritization in other products can provide valuable insights and spark creative solutions for your own.

Be inspired by others. Some of the best and most useful data for your business can come simply from exploring, understanding and unpacking what others in your industry, sector or space have done or not done. Equally, be inspired and learn from other founders and customers, not just other businesses. It is important to balance learning from relevant persons vs general learning. Be tactical, direct and relevant with who you seek to learn from, but also find time to be open minded and see what you can learn from other entities who may not at first seem relevant. A completely different person or business may open your eyes or help you see something from a different angle.

Understand Your Users: Talk to your customers and learn what they need the most. Identify Pain Points: Focus on solving the biggest problems your users face. Check Competitors: See what others offer and find your offering and gaps to fill. Keep It Simple: Avoid adding too many features; stick to what’s essential. Test and Get Feedback: Try different features with users and listen to their feedback. Prioritize Value: Focus on features that provide the most benefit to your users. Start small, test features with users.

To win as a startup you need to be able to iterate quickly. Listen to customers and adapt your product and features to fit the market's need.

Market needs and customer preferences evolve, and so should your approach to feature prioritization. Stay flexible and be prepared to pivot if data shows that a different set of features would better serve your customers or if new opportunities arise. Creativity in how you solve user problems can often lead to simpler, more innovative features that differentiate your product in the marketplace.

Flexibility alone won't cut it; you need creativity too. This can mean making user journeys more fun and personal with little animations and reward-based interactions. It’s also about promoting new features properly to your existing customers. Funny enough, it's often easier to convince new users about new features than it is to persuade those who have their routines. Keep pushing to creatively engage all users.

This is really important. We need to be flexible in prioritization and changing priorities based on the changing market and customer needs.

In the fast-paced world of startups, flexibility and inventiveness are essential when deciding on your product's major characteristics. Stay open to new ideas, feedback, and possibilities to ensure that your product properly answers actual requirements and stands out in the market. Adopt an innovative approach, always refining your product to give outstanding value while also fulfilling your startup's vision. Adaptability and innovation will be your partners on the way to success, assisting you in navigating obstacles and capitalizing on new chances.

Choosing the right features to implement is a tough job. Finding out which one to skip and still deliver value to your users and deliver it faster is even more difficult. That is why, whenever possible, you should hire a professional Product Manager instead of doing that on your own. Aside from experience and knowledge, such a person will be much less biased than a startup founder, so her decisions have a bigger chance of being more accurate, especially if based on real data.

Start by gathering input from target users through surveys, interviews and focus groups about what they value most. Analyze competitor products to see what features seem indispensable. Distill your product down to its core purpose and ensure your MVP aligns. Pare down your wishlist to 3-5 killer features that enable that purpose. Evaluate expected usage, development costs and impact on adoption for each potential feature. Focus first on solutions to customers' biggest pain points. The best features solve problems in a way competitors don't. Refine through rapid iteration and testing. Stay laser focused on delivering exhilarating user experiences.

The market will dictate, develop and decide your product. Speak to customers and check out what your competitors are doing or have done. Learn from those around you and you will understand the market for your product. Remember that your biases might not reflect the actual market. Equally if you are seeking to learn from others, remember that you need to obtain sufficient data and robust insights before drawing conclusions.

PRETOTYPE AND TEST LIKE TESLA As innovation facilitator of 100+ projects, I like to share how Tesla interested buyers for their first car. In 2003, the founders of Tesla had an ambitious idea (an all-electric 2-door sports car). In order to convince potential buyers to order its car, Tesla created a pretotype of what the car would look like. Lotus supplied Tesla with a ‘glider’ Elise - which was filled with models of key components. This was not a prototype, because the vehicle didn’t function. Tesla was able to show buyers a close proxy for the final design. Tesla asked “Will you put down a $5,000 deposit to have it built to order? From this test Tesla secured several hundred deposits, a non-trivial result to reassure their Investors