Post # 16: If You’re Afraid of People Stealing Your Idea, It’s Probably Not That Good

Thoughts on Product Development

We’re currently developing some new products that I’m super excited about. The process though, can be tricky, expensive, and stressful. I wanted to pass along my approach since it’s the result of hours of trial and error…

• The best place to start is by asking “What does the brand stand for?” If you/your team are clear on your brand’s identity, that’s a North star that helps steer everyone in a similar direction. Most importantly, it should help dismiss ideas that are definitely not a fit.
• When it comes to developing brand new products (rather than just additional flavors/variations), think about what adjacent categories you could enter into while staying true to your brand. The key here is being honest around your ability to create a product that’s substantially better. In tech, people like to say that something needs to be 10x better than what’s out there. While not totally applicable to food, the thinking holds true.
• Once you’ve identified an opportunity, get as much feedback as you possibly can. If you’re afraid of people stealing your idea, it’s probably not that good in the first place. The biggest mistake I often see is “development hubris.” A brand doesn’t take the time to survey the marketplace and dumps tons of money into a product no one wants/isn’t very good. At joyloop, the best investment we’ve made when it comes to product development is in high-level design. Spend a couple thousand dollars to get mock-ups made of what the product would look like and then “pre-sell” it. Bring those images to your retailers, distributors, investors etc. and see what people say. If excitement is off the charts, you can move forward into real development. If not, think of it like an insurance policy — you just spent a couple thousand dollars to save yourself a lot of time, heartache, and much more money down the road.
• Treat product development like you’re starting a new venture. Much like you’d write a business plan, create a brief to outline key objectives and goals. What you put in this brief is up to you. Here’s what I like to include:

1. Problem — What problem are you solving? (EVERY product needs to solve a problem)
2. Current Marketplace — What’s already out there?
3. Product/Place/Price/Promotion — What is the product + why is better? Where will it be sold? How will it be priced? How will it be sold?
4. Core Customers — Who are you selling to?
5. Why Us — Why are you the most qualified team to produce/sell the product?
6. Why Now — Why does it make sense to do this now? (being too late or too early is the same as having the wrong product)
7. Go-To Market — How will you enter the market?
8. Costs — What are the development costs? (R&D, design, packaging etc.)
9. Responsibilities/Owners — Who will own what aspects of the development?
10. Next Steps — Where do we go from here?
11. Outstanding Questions — What questions do we still have? (you definitely should have questions at this point)