Years ago I set out on a mission to rid the world of product failure.  I thought the crazy high failure rate of products (greater than 9 out of 10) was insane and if I could even make a dent in that number then I could help a lot of people. A big part of…

After you’ve identified problems worth solving and selected the problem you wish to solve, the next step is to think through exactly how you are going to solve this problem and provide value to your client. Since you are likely interested in building a product to solve this problem, you are probably at least considering…

When I speak with operators of professional services firms, they often have similar goals related to scaling and boosting profitability.  Unfortunately, the typical structure of professional services firms are not naturally designed to support either of these goals.  So to truly solve them we must get creative. At the same time, we often speak about…

Adding a software product to your list of client offerings introduces a lot of exciting possibilities to help your professional services firm grow.  However, without a well thought out product plan, this project can go sideways quickly.  Remember greater than 9 out of 10 software products fail.  I’m here to provide everything you need to…

Professional services firms have a tremendous opportunity right in front of them but most of them don’t realize it.  The challenges associated with building and growing a successful professional services firm are relatively well known by those in the industry.  I have first hand experience with these challenges myself in my effort to grow NxtStep.…

For those of you that have been following much of the content I product, you are no doubt well aware that there is much to do before you actually build your product. However, if you’ve ever asked yourself any of the following then this article is for you. When will I be ready to actually…

Creating new features for your SaaS product is exciting. We hope that what we’re spending time building will be loved by everyone, but far too often it isn’t. On this topic, have you experienced any of the following? When it comes to conversations about further developing your product, customers will make a lot of feature requests. This…

There are countless pitfalls to watch out for when trying to build a successful product business. Some are obvious, while others most certainly are not. One of the least obvious pitfalls to watch out for is something called the capability trap. Have you ever found yourself trying a product strategy that seemed to work previously that…

In the world of building product businesses, being an expert is a disadvantage. If you consider yourself an expert in your craft, think long and hard about your answer to the next question. When was the last time you were wrong? If it’s been awhile, then you may be experiencing a symptom of a larger…

Many product businesses are born from ideas NOT problems. This is one of the reasons why the vast majority (9 out of 10) of product businesses fail. Why does this matter? It’s simple – if you start with an idea, it may not solve a problem and if your product business doesn’t solve a problem then…