We are Launching our First Product soon

Here are some things I have learnt so far.

Photo by John Baker on Unsplash

In just a little while, we would be launching our first our first homegrown product. But first,What does Idea Cove do?

At Idea Cove, we do three things.

1. Strategy Execution: We help startups and medium scale businesses find balance, become efficient and get results.
2. Project Management: Merging our love for execution with our experience of managing people. We go a step further to help our clients by managing key projects in order to guarantee success.
3. E-learning: With a solid background in Information Technology, we know have a deep understanding of the knowledge economy. Hence, why we partner with SMEs (Subject Matter Experts) who want to digitize their knowledge to create an excellent product worth selling. We also provide educational institutions, with custom-fitted, highly interactive E-learning solutions from conceptualization to launching. We do the research to ensure that the end product actually delivers value to the end-user which is the only guarantee for impact since only value generation guarantee value in return.

With this passion for delivering consistent result, it shouldn’t be a surprise that we are about to bring our first product to market.

So here are a couple of things I learned that should interest you.

Talk is Cheap(er)

As a business built upon showing other businesses how to get the results, they crave; (with outstanding results If I might add). This project exemplifies everything product managers have to deal with when managing people. Creating this product reinforced the idea that strategy is always better on paper, but the execution is where the real action is.

Plan:

I know, I know. “Strategy is always better on paper” and not everything went according to plan. However, planning was essential to hitting our goals, in fact, it was the planning that helped us set our goals.

A plan is a roadmap. It shows your starting point, your desired destination, and the most logical paths you need to follow to get there. However, sometimes in life, you go out for some social function, you plan your route and discover that the route you planned was not undergoing repairs or better still, you receive a call that the destination you were going to has been changed. On average having plans change due to unforeseen circumstances shouldn’t stop you from planning, it should instead prompt you to also plan for the unforeseen circumstances. This leads to the last

Be Flexible

Continuing with the travelling analogy, having a route planned out doesn’t stop you from taking alternative routes. Unexpected roadblocks can and often do appear and at those times where you are faced with three options,

1. Turn tail and run
2. Stick to the plan or
3. Take an alternate route.

It should be a no brainer that taking an alternate route is the way to go. Business success belongs to those who can make quick decisions. The startups that thrive are those that know how to quickly iterate, or pivot when their strategy does not align with market realities.

Sometimes our perceived reality and the “real” realities are not in sync, and every time this occurs, it is only reasonable to bend to accommodate the true reality. Just remember that trees that don’t bend during a storm end up breaking.

Empower your Team

One reason you build a team is that an individual can only do so much on his/her own. Whether you are building a business or launching a product, you would need to rely on your team’s knowledge and expertise. Members of your team should be more skilled in the things that you are not and if they are not, you may need to change your team or grow them.