AMA: Notable Head of Product, Tom Alterman on Building 0-1 Products

The first step in developing a 0-1 product is to deeply immerse yourself in the problem space and understand the users experiencing this problem. This foundational understanding is crucial as it ensures that the product development is user-centered and data-driven. By starting with a thorough grasp of the problem and user needs, you minimize the risk of building something that fails to address genuine demands, maximizing resource efficiency and adaptability in your development process. Here's the approach I take: 1. Gather existing knowledge * Conduct a comprehensive collection of all current knowledge about the problem area. * Organize a collaborative session, such as a FigJam, with key stakeholders to discuss their hopes, perceived risks, and success metrics. 2. Synthesize insights * From the gathered information, craft a clear problem statement, a testable hypothesis, and a prioritized list of assumptions. * Ensure the most critical assumptions are validated first, as their invalidation might negate the need to test lower-priority assumptions. 3. Validate assumptions * Collaborate with your team to design experiments that test these assumptions quickly and cost-effectively. * Aim for a level of confidence in your results that satisfies the team’s criteria for progress. 4. Iteratively learn and adapt * Remain flexible and ready to revise your hypothesis based on new learnings and insights. * Foster a culture of experimentation and quick pivots based on real user feedback and data analysis.

Deciding to launch a second product and transform into a multi-product company isn't just about diversifying your portfolio—it's a strategic choice that should be deeply aligned with your long-term vision and the realities of the market. It's crucial you base this decision on solid evidence and careful analysis, ensuring that expanding your product lineup truly benefits your core mission, business and customer needs. Here’s the approach I take: 1. Assess Market Saturation and Growth Potential: * Check if your current product is maxing out its market potential, limiting growth from both new and existing customers. * Explore emerging market trends or needs that your current product setup might not address effectively. 2. Leverage Customer Feedback: * Consistently collect and scrutinize customer feedback to pinpoint recurring demands or issues not currently met by your product. * Be on the lookout for unconventional ways customers use your product, which could signal opportunities for a new offering. 3. Evaluate Financial and Strategic Readiness: * Review your company’s financial stability to gauge if it can support the risks associated with developing and launching a new product. * Consider whether your team possesses the necessary skills or if you need to bring in new talent or expertise. 4. Consider Synergies and Risks of Cannibalization: * Analyze the potential of a new product to either complement or undermine your existing products. * Assess if the new product could increase overall customer retention or create additional sales opportunities through upselling.

It really depends on what the problem statement is and the hypothesis is. If it's about learning from existing needs and behaviors I conduct interviews, surveys, and sometimes observational studies to see firsthand how users experience the problem. This helps confirm whether the problem statement reflects real user challenges. Once your trying to understand if your solution hypothesis is valid, it's then time to figure out the cheapest thing you can build (maybe even just use humans) to validate if you're on the right track. I have a talk on that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcbO24G4sh4