What is the difference between OpLaunch and someone who offers to set up a new Stage-Gate process or sell us some product development software solution?

OpLaunch uses a wide variety of techniques that are implemented to supplement and improve your current business processes and to produce results quickly. We do not require prerequisites that would likely take more than one year to implement such as a major company cultural change (such as the adoption of a Stage-Gate™ process or enterprise-wide software to manage new processes). Our goal is to improve your organization's current development processes and plan for future improvements (which may require specialized tools).

Besides plans and processes, OpLaunch adds value by contributing to your actual product deliverables.

Our CEO thinks that we shouldn't incur additional "overhead" expenses for the product launch. We are trying to cut expenses. We have already reduced our staffing. What do you suggest?

Increasing the effectiveness of your product launch will increase the success of your new product and your company in the marketplace. Ultimately, the team must operate within the time, scope, quality, and resource parameters of the project. OpLaunch can suggest plans and deliverables to maximize the results with the available time and resources (budget).

The OpLaunch team can identify the most critical launch tasks and you pay only for the required product launch assistance. This may alow other staff members to focus on other critical business operations. Assigning targeted resources to specific needs may minimize the overall financial concerns.

Other items to emphasize include:

• The budget for the new product development (which includes the launch) is an investment in the future success of the company
• The costs should be evaluated as total costs (factor in the revenue over the life of the product, consider the loss of opportunity, calculate the return on investment,...)
• Product launch is a time of reckoning. The company will be evaluated on how it actualized its business plan and promises to investors. Typically, new products are responsible for a significant portion of a company's revenue.
• Lessons learned for the current product launch will serve as a basis for the next launch.
• Heroic efforts by one or two individuals usually cannot rescue an understaffed product launch team that is operating in a reactive mode.

 

Who are the main competitors to providers such as OpLaunch?

Three types of competitors include:

• Groups that have an "I will do it myself" preference may believe that they can save their company "time and money." Internal groups can have actual product launch performance that ranges from great to terrible. Mediocre launch performance can be due to a lack of knowledge or experience. Poor launch performance can be due to competing priorities (for example, the featured product launch versus the day-to-day requirements for current products).
• Vendors that offer computerized approaches to product life cycle management. Typically, this becomes a process change with company culture implications that occurs over a period of more than 12 months.
• Marketing services companies that do not have a sufficient background (in areas such as science, engineering, and software development) to serve clients that produce technology-centric products. A marketer who has to announce, "I am not technical" will have difficulty gaining respect from people in your organization who are masters of technology.

Two types of groups that complement resources provided by OpLaunch include:

• Groups that have a marketing communications, public relations, or advertising focus. OpLaunch provides support to groups such as engineering and marketing to develop the primary product, improve the product life cycle, and create secondary materials that can be used by groups including marketing communications, public relations, and advertising.
• Companies that specialize in the ideation, concept generation, or fuzzy front end of product development. We focus on the development and launch phases.

"Product commercialization (launch) often turns out to be the most expensive and risky part of the new product process, as well as the most poorly-managed." Crawford and Di Benedetto, New Products Management, 6th edition, McGraw-Hill Education, 2000, page 358.

 

How can a product champion determine if OpLaunch should be part of the next product launch?

After several phone conversations or exchanges of e-mail, both parties determine if there is a potential match between what you require and what OpLaunch can provide. If there are opportunities, we schedule a short meeting at your site. During that meeting we explore the potential opportunities for both companies. There is no charge for this meeting.

If there are opportunities for both companies, the scope of the project determines how we can prepare a proposal.

 

Can you provide examples of initial proposals?

Listed below are two project examples to illustrate what your company can expect initially when working with OpLaunch.

"For one of the product launch deliverables, we would like a professionally produced presentation of our CEO's 30-minute speech for distribution to employees for delivery on our web site. The budget should not exceed 1000 dollars."

For a clearly defined, small project, an accurate proposal can be generated quickly after our first meeting.

"We are a start-up company. We would like to introduce our product in 4 to 6 months. We hope to hire a VP of Marketing in a few months. Most of our staff is currently working long hours to design and code our software. We can't spend a lot on marketing. What should we focus on now?"

To ensure a successful product launch, preparation should begin immediately. There should be synergy between the development efforts and the launch plans. Often an appropriate, first small-project is to evaluate your current capabilities and develop several viable alternatives (with timelines and costs) for an optimized product launch.

For a large project that hasn't been clearly defined, we typically suggest segmenting the work into manageable small-projects.

 

What are the advantages of small, initial projects?

We have found that it is beneficial for both parties to begin a working partnership by completing a small, initial project together. These projects have durations of 2-10 days. We will learn your work preferences and strengths. You can validate our capabilities.

Small, initial projects allow both parties to minimize the risks and uncertainties that are part of new working relationships. Following the initial project, we will be able to design and implement more focused solutions with increased confidence and accuracy.

 

What are a few factors that may limit the success of a product launch?

The effectiveness of a product launch can be constrained because of an incomplete understanding of the success factors. For example, a technically superior product that is first to the market AND that has the benefit of a creative and large advertising effort may have a mediocre product launch BECAUSE a critical ingredient (such as usability) was compromised.

Using what is perceived to be a "standard" new product development checklist may jeopardize a product launch. No two product launches are the same.

Experience with actual product launches often provides a sense of what to do and what to avoid in a particular situation.

 

Can the success of a product launch be evaluated?

Yes. The group of people who lead the development of a new product should determine the measurable goals for the product launch.

Prior to launch, this is usually described in an continuously evolving document known as a product innovation charter. For example, is the product new-to-the-world or a replacement product? Is the product meant to have a long life or is it a temporary solution? Does the company want to capture selective demand by taking market share from a competitor or does it want to expand the market by building primary demand?

Once the goals have been set, there are qualitative and quantitative measurements that can be used to model the potential success of a product launch. The degree of success should be evaluated by comparing the expected versus the actual performance.

After the launch, a launch management system should be implemented to spot potential problems, select problems to control, develop contingency plans for the control problems, and design the tracking system.

Measuring the success of the launch would be incomplete if it were limited to a perception of how well the product was reviewed at a trade show or by tabulating the sales leads that were collected.

 

What is the worst product launch that you have seen?

A product that had the potential to be great but was mediocre because of poor product launch management.

 

Where can our team obtain product launch training? We would prefer a seminar at our site.

For a list of books and other printed materials, visit the Product Development and Management Association (www.pdma.org) site. Contact OpLaunch for customized product launch seminars.