Product Development…to be or not to be?

What is a product ?
It has no definition, it has purpose, thought and reason, but, it may or may not have a structure, need or market.
Should you develop a product ?
Yes, the No is not even an option, even if you do not have a need, market or structure
Should you invest in a new product?
Answer to this is based on your understanding of what is a product? You, should have focused investment in a new product, be it next generation or altogether a new product
There is no wrong answer to the questions above, as only time decides the fate of multiple companies and, their products. For a big company, or a small startup, shareholder value is driven by right value generated inside that business. But as an outsider, when one looks at Google, Microsoft, Amazon etc, and admire the innovation these companies have brought at this scale in recent past, one should also look at Kodak, Nokia etc as well. Only, people who have worked over multiple generations of product development inside, can tell about the success or failure rate of the product development at these companies.
Recently, in an interview Eric Schmidt shared a case that, though he was not a pro AI guy during his time as CEO @Google, but today he is happy to be proven wrong by the very smart people by likes of Peter Norvig, recruited by Google at a very early stage. Today, Google is leading AI revolution.
For a small company, money is an issue, but that is also an issue for a big company. Money will always be an issue for a business, had it not been an issue no one would have cared about value creation, one would not have got into business of building business in the first place. But, vision of company should have this issue and smart people in a company will always find a way around money issue, if they believe in vision. After-all footnote of every company with right interest in mind is “Keeping shareholders interest in mind”
A product may be defined by business you are in, but it is not limited to the customers you have. It is just limited by your vision, a myopic vision will always be limited to seeing larger picture. If, you are satisfied with your product, then may be you do not understand it or, you are last to enter the business.
- Do not rely on management for ideas
- Never be satisfied with your product
- Perfect product is a myth
- Think free and take calculated risk
- Cost of a good product is not more than IP
- Be critical of your company
List above is endless, but in essence no one can tell you about right product, you can continue to run after customers, and they will not have any idea of right product. An individual or, a company, should let people generate ideas, they should accept that, no one has the right answer, otherwise companies like Nokia and Blackberry would not have gone bankrupt and, companies like Samsung who were not that big once, turned into a leader.
Competition drives innovation and advancement, if you are too long in your job, you will either be replaced by some more efficient method or, your work is not worth an idea in someone else life to build a new innovative idea. If you are an investor, and invested in stocks of top companies back in 1950's , and looking at your return on investment, you will not be happy, but S&P 500 would have grown with companies moving in and out of index

So, companies come and go, and they will continue to do so, in retrospect no company would have failed, but they always fail.
The only relevant advice is that, if you want increase your longevity, you need to have right people in your team, and continue to question. Very rightly put by Steve Jobs and, others from young Apple in video below