We tackle all the big stuff in this mini-series We talk market analysis, define pricing and packaging, and plan the next iteration.

The first episode is all about conducting market analysis. We explain how Porter’s five forces can help figuring out whether we should enter the race to Mars, and we talk about our target audience and which attributes they should have to make them successful new-age pioneers.

Episode 1:

We talk about how we would approach a shift towards Open Borders. How to identify stakeholders? How to communicate with them and convince them?

The first episode is all about stakeholder management, something both product managers and product marketers have to do a lot

Our delivery episode covers roadmaps. We talk about defining the MVP and how to communicate roadmaps to stakeholders.

In the last episode we discuss measuring success. We identify metrics we should measure, and talk about the difficulty of communicating success for a project with a longer time span.

Listen in to all three episodes here:

Episode 1:

Episode 2:

Episode 3:

We want to build a D&D game for seniors and walk through points that need to be considered before launching the new product  

Those points are:

• User and buyer personas of current and future product
• Fit with current product range
• Adjusting tone and style to suit the new product
• Launch and demo of the new product

Listen to episode one here:

Listen to episode two here:

Listen to episode three here:

Useful links:

Dungeons & Dragons official website

Community doing D&D

Stranger Things doing D&D

Critical Role – a D&D YouTube channel

The Adventure Zone – a D&D podcast

Unearthed Arcana – the D&D blog

Dragon Talk – the D&D podcast

We discuss the Roam founders’ approach to product development and their search for product market fit. We also marvel at its ‘cult’ following and its excellent white paper.

Daniel outs himself as a huge Roam fanboy. He shares why he appreciates the product so much – and it’s not just for the product’s sake but also for the approach the founders have taken to develop it. He talks about finding product market fit and Roam’s path to nailing it

Lena covers Roam’s target audience, an old shtick she just cannot rid herself off. She talks about Roam’s early adopters – researchers and tech workers – and why they are the perfect target audience. She also talks us through Roam’s white paper, which is definitely worth a read.

Our recommendations for Roam?

• Stay awesome and don’t lose focus. Deliver on that 30-year plan
• Keep engaging with your followers. Never lose focus on your amazing community
• Keep your simple UI for as long as you possibly can. It acts as a fantastic filter for attracting and retaining users who truly care about the core product

And as always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in episode

Roam Research – website

Roam’s white paper

Product market fit – explained

We discuss the difference between Zip and a credit card, talk about aligning its interest with those of its users, and cover the company messaging.

Daniel shares what problem Zip is solving for its users and contrasts this to a credit card offering. He also explains the idea of interest alignment between a company and its customers. For Zip, there is a clear alignment of interest between it and merchants, but perhaps not so much between it and customers borrowing money.

Lena covers Zip’s positioning and compares it to two of its competitors – AfterPay and OpenPay. It turns out that all three have slogans and websites that sound and look very similar. Zip’s three core values all hint at it being different and innovative, so sounding and looking exactly like others is a problem

Our recommendations for Zip?

• Figure out your USP and create messaging around it. Simply saying you’re different doesn’t tell people what it is you stand for.
• Rethink company strategy: align yourself with your users’ interest. How can you make it so that when you do well, your users also win?

And as always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in episode

Zip website

Boris Müller – Why do all websites look the same?

Lior Yair – Longing for Innovation

We discuss how Zoom won over the video conferencing market even though it was late to the party. Hint: creating a better product and marketing to early adopters may have played a role.

We also talk innovation: how can Zoom shape the future of remote?

Daniel talks about how ‘frictionless communication’ (Zoom’s mission) is not quite enough. To win users, we need more than frictionless – we need a meeting experience that is as close to an in-person meeting as possible.

Lena covers Zoom’s USPs: great user experience, time-saving integrations, and the fact that only one person has to download the software are top of mind. She also shares Zoom’s early marketing strategy and explains why it was successful

The episode ends with recommendations about where to go from here. We offer some feature requests, but mostly dream big. How can Zoom reinvent remote work? Time to disrupt your own business model and go full Schumpeter, Zoom!

Our recommendations?

• Some features need attention: fix that whiteboard! Or even better: rethink that whiteboard and get away from your current skeuomorphic design.
• Think big. Destroy your current business model and reinvent remote work. The billion dollar question is: how do we get people to prefer remote meetings over in-person? What does that experience look like? We’re excited for you.

And as always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in episode

NPS explained (video)

Crossing the Chasm, Geoffrey Moore

Eric Yuan, Zoom Founder & CEO

Nick Chong, Zoom Head of Global Services, former Head of Product Marketing

In this episode we talk about what airport security measures are trying to achieve, and how this is communicated to the public. Warning: this may be our most critical episode yet

Daniel defines what the “job” of airport security is. We end up stating it as an optimisation problem: minimise an objective function of monetary costs and passenger inconvenience, constrained by maintaining expected plane hijackings at zero. (Can you tell that we are both recovering economists?)

Lena covers the messaging side. She talks through how airports are currently communicating with their users – spoiler: not enough and not very clearly – and can’t help but dive into recommendations early.

We also discuss feature creep in the context of airport security. It seems that measures are never rolled back. Once we have knives in shoes, liquid explosives, battery bombs, etc, we introduce a new measure and keep it for good measure (as it were).

Our recommendations?

• Clear messaging is key. Inform users about estimated wait time and walk time to gate. Is there a second security check? Is it safe to buy a water bottle now?
• Creating a department for passenger satisfaction might act as the counterpart to security feature creep. Daniel uses the analogy of a compliance department vs a growth department. They pull in opposite directions, but both are needed to achieve overall success.

There are more recommendations in the episode – this one is full of them. So go on and have a listen.

And as always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in episode

Marty Cagan, PM thought leader

What is airport security? – just in case

What is feature creep? – in case it wasn’t clear from our discussion

Peter went from making PJs in his mum’s kitchen to absolutely nailing the loungewear game – he now has stores all across Australia and a business making more than $250M in annual revenue. In this episode we take a look at how he got there and what makes his pyjamas so special.

Daniel is back with his old tricks, talking about what the underlying product is. And let me tell you, it is so much more than just PJs. We’re talking a feeling, a movement, a status symbol.

Lena borrows April Dunford’s wisdom and muses about who Peter’s actual competitors are. Rather than other high-end loungewear, she concludes that it’s more likely to be an old but comfortable shirt.

Peter’s triple scented vanilla caramel candles play a large role in our conversation. We both have a strong scent association with his products, which is really cool and novel. Do you have any products in your life that bring to mind a certain smell?

Our recommendations revolve around reclaiming the shopping experience and only selling in their own stores – currently Peter also sells in department stores. We’re also wondering whether it’s worth going down the relax route even further: Daniel suggests making stores into comfort centres… Don’t worry, Peter, we can workshop the name some more!

As always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in epsiode

Peter Alexander, Pyjama King

April Dunford, Positioning Queen

Steve Blank, Business guru and author of 4 Steps to the Epiphany

And here’s Peter with dogs for you:

In this episode we analyse a more abstract concept – a big birthday. We share how product management and product marketing can guide you through decision-making processes and help you with birthday messaging.

Daniel applies Teresa Torres’ opportunity solution tree framework to his birthday party planning. He talks us through his decision-making process and how he arrived at the perfect party plan

Lena uses G2’s Go-To-Market playbook to talk through considerations around how to launch the birthday product This includes guest segments, party ideation, messaging, and collateral needed for birthday party invitations.

Our birthday recommendation is to communicate clearly: presents (yes or no?), drinks (byo or provided), dress code (fancy, clearly!). No such such as too much info.

Figuring out what you’re trying to achieve is key. Daniel says that “your first idea is almost certainly not the best one” (thanks Daniel), so keep thinking and move along that opportunity solution tree.

As always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in epsiode

Teresa Torres, Product Discovery Coach, on LinkedIn and Twitter

G2’s Go-To-Market playbook

Message House explained

Beat81 is a Berlin startup reinventing group exercise by combining efficiency, technology and community They offer 45-minute group exercise classes maximising calorie burn, sweat and tears.

On the PM side, Daniel muses about “the job to be done” – a concept he stole mercilessly from Clayton Christensen. He identifies that Beat81’s job to be done is not just group exercise, but more so to make people look and feel good.

Lena talks through Beat81’s four key differentiators (efficiency, technology, analytics, community) and sneakily adds her own fifth one: the fact that classes are in English. She also touches on buyer personas, including a perhaps surprising observation: the majority of participants are women!

We end the show with recommendations about better targeting core groups (like women and English speakers!), and rethinking positioning (edging more towards community and away from the hardware angle).

As always, please let us know your thoughts

Links to resources mentioned in episode

Beat81 – Sweat Smarter Together

Clayton Christensen, inventor of ‘Jobs To Be Done’

Aris – best trainer everrrr