If instead you go in saying, “this may be too early for you but…” and they agree you then say, “how about I give you a call in a year or so when I have other early customers?” Most will appreciate it.

Of course, there’s a risk some will think you wasted their time. However the alternative is sitting in your building finishing your product so it’s “done” and only then finding out that most of the features you built aren’t wanted by anyone.

steve

Since we’re aiming for the Enterprise segment, 9 future clients out of 10 looks like a pretty high price to pay.

An offer usually consists of several vectors of differentiation, all of which are being invested in and improved.

Moore’s technology adoption lifecycle also shows how the entire company and complete offer change over time. Every offer component, again, being a vector of differentiation, not just the application or technology.

The technology layer and product/service/experience layer(s) all have vectors of differentiation. If you consider the technology layer to be carrier, the product layer would be the carried/content layer. These layers are independent, and potentially independently discontinuous. The entire stack is a collection of vectors of differentiation.

There is plenty to iterate at all times.

If you want to change your vector of differentiation, it will require a discontinuous innovation long before it is ready to replace your current technology. This requires a Christensen separation, as in a division, at the technology layer. The S-curve for this technology should be at a less mature part of its curve when it is positioned to intersect your current vector of differentiation at the point in time when you want to change direction.

All of this can take twenty plus years. There is no rush as long as you make your quarterly revenues.

Further, you can sell individual minimal marketable features to customers in other markets. Look at MMC snap-ins. Or, n-tiered functionality. As long as it has a market fit, you can always add a new MMF, or a new thread of MMFs.

We sold a thing called a node. We added optional elements to the node. We sublimated external functionality. We had other discontinuous technologies productized in other markets and cross-sold only to those in our current market that would find it useful, not everyone. Worked towards a gradual merging of those populations. We also crossed platforms. Plenty of stuff to do well beyond your 18 mo. horizon. Expected cash flow events every 3 months.

Minimal viable product is something else. The minimal marketable feature is the deliverable. It need not be barely working and in need of further work.

Here is a link to a famous skit from Saturday Night Live where the producer keeps asking for more cowbell.

http://noolmusic.com/my_video/snl_will_ferrell_more_cowbell_-_ebaums_world_video.php

Would you agree that “More Cowbell” is a metaphor all the things we add to products that the end customer doesn’t care about and is not willing to pay for.