Finding the Optimal Product-Market Fit using the REAP? Methodology

The ‘anything is possible’ euphoria experienced by startup founders is the most attractive aspect of startup life.?Unencumbered by existing customers making demands on precious time and resources, teams working on new products enjoy the freedom of unfettered focus to create innovation that can have a major positive impact on the world.

Yet, the feeling of limitless possibilities is accompanied by the trepidation of messing it up; trepidation of blowing a huge opportunity by building the wrong product, addressing the wrong market, using the wrong technology, running out of money… or the million other things that can go wrong along the way.

The Product Market Fit Challenge

Your main risk at this stage is picking the wrong product/market opportunity out of several potentially winning ones. Because you won’t likely get a second chance, you need to put your best foot forward to optimize your chances for long-term success.?It goes without saying that working with real customers from day one is the best way to understand what the market needs and who is willing to pay for, today.?But even that is not enough, because when you work with multiple partners, you will always get conflicting feedback, with each partner pulling in a slightly different direction. “What product/market do we pick?” is the ultimate existential challenge you need to conquer.

That’s why it’s not enough to just work with design partners. You need to adopt a structured approach that can help you decide how best to proceed.?The solution is the Design Partner REAP? Methodology.

The Design Partner REAP? Methodology

The REAP? Methodology comprises four stages of working with design partners; Recruit, Engage, Analzye/Adapting, and Promote.?Let’s examine each of the REAP stages, in turn.

Recruit

You can’t work with partners you don’t have, so the first stage is locating the right partners. Obviously, you are looking for people who work in a role that will buy your product or influence its purchase, and work at a company that has the problem you solve. But equally important, you need to make sure your partners represent the 15% of the population who are early adopters of new products and technology.

To attract these partners, you need to complete the following:

• Build customer personas and profiles
• Create a plan for ‘finding’ these people
• Craft messages and content to attract the right partners
• Interview partner candidates
• Qualify partners using pre-defined selection criteria

Qualifying partners is critical because oftentimes, the wrong people are those most eager to join design partner programs. ?You need to ferret these ‘tire kickers’ out, because not only will they not provide you with the input you need but they will waste valuable time and energy.

Engage

Great, you’ve identified and recruited partners. Now, it’s time to define the engagement structure to ensure the program is a ‘win-win’ proposition for both you and the partner.?Like any relationship, setting expectations is critical at an early stage. You want to make it clear to the partner the benefits of participating, and in return, the time, effort, and input you expect them to contribute along the way. ?This step is an opportunity to validate a partner is truly committed to buying/using the product you are developing, albeit at a greatly reduced price, in exchange for their time and expertise.?If you sense the partner is unwilling to commit to the program, you still decide to continue. ?A lack of formal commitment is not always a showstopper, but it’s important to recognize what you can expect down the road.

One of the biggest mistakes companies make in a Design Partner program is to focus only on the product part of ‘product-market’ fit. ?Remember, design partners are treasure troves of information about the market, including how companies evaluate and buy products like yours, and which stakeholders are involved in the buying process. You are missing a huge opportunity if your program ignores the market side of the equation.

The main goals at this stage are as follows:

• Define engagement terms (formally) with the partner to summarize program benefits and commitments.
• Propose a schedule for interactions – a meeting every 4 to 6 weeks is a good rule of thumb
• Provide a tentative schedule of what you expect to present at each meeting – product features, marketing messages, questions about the buying process, etc.
• Define success criteria, and establish a cadence for communications

Things will change as your program progresses, so these plans aren’t set in stone, but failing to clarify expectations early is the main reason partners fail to deliver the goods. ?Make sure you invest time and effort to get it right.

Adapt and Analyze

Every partner interaction is a potential gold mine of information, so it’s wise to prepare before each meeting, and to dedicate time and effort analyzing feedback after each meeting.?Before a meeting, meticulously prepare what you seek in the way of feedback and prepare accordingly; create a presentation, a product demo, a set of potential marketing messages, a list of questions, etc. ?Don’t show up and expect to have an ‘open discussion.’

Following each meeting, summarize what you have learned. Today, most partners will permit you to record the meetings, so focus on paying attention, rather than on taking notes. After the meeting, make a list of the top 3 takeaways.?Create a dashboard of feedback so you can compare feedback you receive from different partners.?Ask all the partners the same questions, so you can compare the different responses. Probe to fully understand the problem or pain you seek to impact.?Reconnect with a partner between meetings if you need clarifications or if you want to use new information you gained from another partner to gauge their feedback.

After every set of meetings with partners, take a level-set to make sure you are on track. When you uncover unexpected feedback, get the team together and decide what to do. The goal of this program is to fail as early as possible, so this step is critical. On the other hand, you don’t want to change your strategy after every meeting, so temper the feedback accordingly.

Promote

The ultimate goal of a design partner program is to get to market as fast as possible with a winning product offering and to know how to sell it on day one.?That leads to the final stage - Promote. Use all the input you receive to iteratively prepare focused marketing messages for each buyer persona/stakeholder. Then build core marketing/sales tools, such as a marketing one-pager, a sales presentation deck, website content, landing pages, and much more. ?One advantage of REAP is that it prepares you for launch by generating validated messaging and collateral, which saves you tons of time, effort, and money.

A Final Word

While the REAP methodology appears to be a linear progression, in actuality it is a gradual, iterative approach, much like Agile development. ?The idea is to use what you learn in each iteration to tweak your offering in the next iteration.?So, after you analyze feedback from partners, update your product roadmap and marketing messages.?Rinse and repeat.?This doesn’t mean you change your market position from month to month.?Rather, it provides the flexibility of getting it right the first time by being responsive to what your partners are telling you.

The Book of Psalms says, “Those who sow with tears will reap with song” (Psalms 126). The goal of the REAP methodology is to save you the tears while you are sowing….so you can do it right the first time!

To schedule a free 30-minute consultation to learn more about how you can implement REAP in your organization, click here.