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It’s a pretty interesting time to be an entrepreneur trying to develop a new product. 2016 has been characterized by various firms revamping the niche of invention, and making monetisation of new ideas more democratic with platforms like Kickstarter and Quirky. If you’re sitting on a great idea for a new product, then there’s really no time like the present to start turning it into a reality. However, it’s certainly not something you can just wing. Here are some important things to understand about bringing a new product to market.
You Can Make or Lose a Small Fortune
One of the many things that tempts people into trying to launch a new product is the huge amount of money they can make for themselves and their business. If your product is a success, you can go on to sell a business rather than licensing your intellectual property, which has the potential for much higher returns. However, starting a new business around a product takes a tremendous amount of capital and commitment, which will only really pay off if your product enjoys some major success. Once you’ve invested a large chunk of your life savings in this venture, it’s obviously not going to be all that easy to walk away! If you have a view to a plan where you license the product instead, consider this before you jump right into running a business.
Getting a Product to Market Will Take Longer Than You Think!
Ask anyone who’s ever launched a new product, and they’ll tell you that it certainly isn’t the fastest process in the world. It’s not all that uncommon for a product launch to take twice as long as an entrepreneur thinks it will, no matter how much time they’ve invested in planning it out. For entrepreneurs who have little experience with managing any kind of venture, and are still a little shaky on the definition of prototyping, it’s extremely important to be extra conservative with all their planning and financial projections. There have been many great product ideas which have failed because the person at the head of it all has had to suddenly return to work just to make sure they can pay the bills! I’m sure you don’t want your product to be one of these, so make sure you’re not being too rash with your planning process.
You Can’t Survive on One Product
As part of your long-term planning, you need to be aware that you’re going to have to develop follow-up products if you want your company to stay afloat. There are very few companies out there which have been able to thrive on the strength of just one product alone. Unless you’re working on the best thing since the pesonal computer, make sure you’re keeping other irons on the fire as you work towards your first product launch. If you don’t have follow-up ideas already, start thinking about where you’re going to source them from. Without a plan to develop follow-up products, you’ll end up being swallowed up by the innovation curve!
