I'm in a startup with a B2B product where we have found a few "visionary customers" and have had them on board for a year or so already. They have been essential in the development of a number of essential features of our product. What we're struggling with now is determining the right moment to hit the mainstream with our product.
In one sense we're still building out some features that may very well be essential for some customers, however we know there are a good amount out there that our current benefit/feature-set would be very beneficial for.
In short -- how do you determine when a product is detrimental to future growth (making a bad name for yourself by selling an incomplete product) and when it is ready?
Just IMHO, and stated in extreme terms: I think the test is entirely based on the need of the market and not at all on the app.
That is, if you app does something that customers need to do, that they can't do, they will be delighted to have it no matter how crappy it is (provided it can actually do what they need). Christensen calls this "targeting non-consumption".
Bonus: if you improve it quickly, you get much more kudos than if it was that good in the first place.
However, this does not apply if your customers already have an alternative to do the job - especially if it is better than what you offer. And that's what it boils down to: you only need to be better than what they have now.
If they cobbled together their own ad hoc solution, you only have to be better than that. If they have nothing, you're OK as long as you are not "worse than useless".
> there are a good amount out there that our current benefit/feature-set would be very beneficial for.
Target those people. The others aren't your customers - yet. But they'll keep on eye on you, if you keep getting better... which is expected in technology. As long as you don't pretend to be something you're not, I don't think it can harm you. Bonus: people pay much less attention to your launch than you could possibly believe. (e.g. How many launches have you noticed?) I would also suggest that incremental word of mouth is how you really build success, not by launch. That is, don't "hit the mainstream", but just expand your circle, step by step. YMMV
One way to do this targeting is to have a roadmap, or the promise. This clearly states to customers what you can't do, so they won't get fooled (and they'll trust you more for being straight). And yet it also captures their mindshare, because they'll keep you in mind for when you can. Some of them might even aggressively demand, like J. Jonah Jameson, "We need feature X now - when will you have it?!" That's a good thing.
It's a new product in a fairly untapped technophobic market for businesses with already tight margins. The businesses currently mostly only have paper solutions or crap homegrown access solutions. The key is that our product, although it has a cost, will lead to a good ROI.
-Regarding your product.... On the whole I think mainstream customers expect a whole product.
-Regarding how to move to mainstream customers... one thing that often happens is that influential users start spreading the word and it blows up... At the first consulting firm where I worked, they had a huge win with one of their early customers that gave them lots of momentum. So you might focus on getting good referrals...
-With regards to your situation... What is the reason customers give for not buying? You say margins are tight. Have you considered lowering your prices? You call the customers technophobic. Are the people using the current paper/homegrown solutions putting up resistance? Is there anyway you can disarm them? Maybe a free lunch for a demo/training session?
Thanks for the response. I don't think the reason customers aren't buying isn't because our prices are too high (we somewhat have competition and they're all more expensive), I think it's more of a case where they don't see a need for the technology, or really understand the benefits, or currently have the money (or are able to forecast what money they will have).
About it spreading -- yeah we're realizing more and more how massive that is. We have clients that have people who want to sell our product to others. We're starting to work with them on it now so it will be interesting to see how that turns out.
Disarming them is what we need to do. May just need to improve on our method :).
In one sense we're still building out some features that may very well be essential for some customers, however we know there are a good amount out there that our current benefit/feature-set would be very beneficial for.
In short -- how do you determine when a product is detrimental to future growth (making a bad name for yourself by selling an incomplete product) and when it is ready?