Most small companies are reluctant to venture into new product development. They appear content with the one or two product they started their business with.
They think they are too busy with day-to-day operations and that planning a new product or service will slow them down. Others believe that new product development is only for the big leaguers. “Small companies don’t need to worry about that” is a common observation. Moreover, having a new process implies for them a bureaucracy typical of big companies and would make their operation inflexible.
What they may be overlooking is new product and service development is essential to staying competitive.
Small entrepreneurs looking to implement a new product development project may derive inspiration from what technology super stars say about product development. Here, from forbes.com are some useful and interesting sound bites:
“Get five or six of your smartest friends in a room and ask them to rate your idea.” -Mark Pincus, Zynga CEO
“Wonder what your customer really wants? Ask. Don’t tell.” – Lisa Stone, BlogHer co-founder and CEO
“Your most unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning.” Bill Gates, Microsoft co-founder
“The last 10% it takes to launch something takes as much energy as the first 90%.” -Rob Kalin, Etsy founder
“Make every detail perfect and limit the number of details to perfect.” – Jack Dorsey, Twitter co-founder