In this talk, we will understand the challenges & risks associated with new product development. We will also learn the concept of a discovery process to minimize these risks in a systematic way. During the talk we will build a fictitious product using the discovery process to understand this methodology.

1. Building New Products -
Discovery Process (Part 3)
SUNDAR RAJAN
3/25/2019
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2. About me
 Principal PM at Microsoft
 I am an ex-Googler, ex-Investment Banker
 Been with Microsoft >5 years - Shipped E2E product / key scenarios on Bing Ads, Bing Search,
New Product / Market Insights
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3. Before we start..
These are my views and not the views of my organization
As you can imagine, nature of PM roles varies across the products & business groups
 This is “a way" of building new products not "the way"
There are many different ways to do build new products.
 I consider myself a student of craft! I have a lot to learn!
I have had some success with this method. But there are pitfalls as well. Happy to share my thoughts and hear your feedback!
 Acknowledgements
SVPG, “Inspired” book, PMHQ articles, Innovation Arts / Project Signals, Lean Launchpad, “This is Product Management” podcast and others
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4. Key Steps
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Frame the problem
Ensuring executive & partner alignment -
building a shared understanding of the
opportunity and risks
Mitigate risks through Discovery
Mitigate customer, stakeholder &
technology risks through customer
discovery, stakeholder FAQs &
technology prototypes
Rally the team
Rally your executive sponsors, key
partners & development teams through
the pivots!
Fundamental principle: Acknowledge that new innovations fail. Do everything you can to
minimize the risk of failure as quickly as possible!

5. This is part 3 of the 4 part series:
(1) Introduction to New Product Development
(2) Framing the problem
(3) Discovery Process
(4) Rallying the team
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6. Scenario
Imagine VP of Product at Career.ly (Fictitious tech based job placement company) wants to build a
new product for aspiring product managers! And you are the chosen PM to head this effort! How
would you go about it?
Target Customer: Non PMs who are aspiring to switch to a PM role.
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7. Mitigate risks through discovery!
Talk to the customer for customer risks! (Not buyers, not customer service, not sales, not partners)
Build prototypes for evaluating feasibility risks!
Build Stakeholder alignment FAQs for internal risks!
Steps for mitigating customer value risks:
 Create a portfolio of customers
 Identify key pain points & needs (Customer Discovery)
 Validate usefulness value props, low fidelity story maps, working prototypes (Product Discovery)
 Validate pay worthiness
 Iterate!!
7Please refer to Part IV in Inspired: How to create tech products customers love
Mitigate risks through Discovery

8. Create a portfolio of potential customers
 Identify 20-50 representative customers
 Customers should be representative of the target market (actively looking to switch careers to PM
roles)
 Inability to find representative customers indicates that you are probably solving a problem which
is not big enough!
 Goal is to create a set of reference case studies [4-6] to highlight the power of the product
e.g., “Matija used our product to switch from data analytics to PM at a Tier 1 company!”
8Please refer to Part IV in Inspired: How to create tech products customers love
Mitigate risks through Discovery

9. Customer Discovery
 Goal is to deeply understand the customer needs & pains before showing any solution
 Conduct customer discovery interviews
• What is their current role today?
• Why do you aspire to be a PM?
• What is your number one pain point in your efforts to become a PM?
• How painful is it a scale of 1-10? Why?
• How do you solve this for today?
• If you had a magic wand and could solve any problem what would that be?
• If we built a solution how often would you use this?
• If we built a solution how likely are you to pay for this solution?
 Ensure managers of Engg, DS and Design participate in these conversations!
9Please refer to Part IV in Inspired: How to create tech products customers love
Mitigate risks through Discovery

10. Map the customer journey & identify key needs
HELP ME BUILD A
PM RESUME
HELP ME CONNECT
TO PMS TO KNOW
MORE ABOUT THE
ROLE
HELP ME STUDY THE
BASICS OF PM ROLE
HELP ME CONNECT
WITH PMS & PEERS
TO PRACTICE PM
INTERVIEWS
HELP ME APPLY FOR
A PM JOB
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The needs identified & priorities are simplified for illustrative purposes.
Mitigate risks through Discovery
Based on the customer discovery interviews, map the customer journey and identify key needs

11. What is your number
one pain point in your
efforts to become a
PM? How painful is it a
scale of 1-10? Why?
If you had a 100 points
to allocate, how would
you prioritize your
investments?
Resume Builder
Help me build a PM resume & LinkedIn profile
PM Course
Help me study the basics of PM role
PM connect: Role Understanding
Help me connect with PMs to know more about pm role
Interview Prep
Help me connect with PMs & Peers to prep for PM interviews
Job Search
Help me apply for a PM job
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12. 5
10
10
15
60
0 20 40 60 80
Resume Builder
Job Search
PM Course
PM connect: Role
Understanding
Interview Practise
You are probably investing
in a wrong effort!
Validate hypothesis further,
but be prepared to for a
Pivot
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Mitigate risks through Discovery

13. Product discovery
• Form a group of 15 - 20 customers
• Meet them twice a week
• Show your value prop, proposed concepts, prototypes & product as you build
• Iterate! Iterate! Iterate!
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Mitigate risks through Discovery

14. Resume Builder
Our product helps you create PM resume “snippets” by analyzing your resume
and matching with PMs with similar experience
How useful is this for you on a scale of 1 (not useful) – 5 (extremely valuable) in getting a PM role?
Why? How do you do this today? How often? How effective is your current process?
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Mitigate risks through Discovery
For illustrative purposes: Average usefulness score: 1.2. Mostly confirming that it is not useful.
But sometimes customers don’t get it till they see it! May be worth one last try!

15. Mitigate risks through Discovery
Resume Builder
Here is a mock up of how our solution would look like
How useful is this for you on a scale of 1 (not useful) – 5 (extremely
valuable) in getting a PM role?
Why? How do you do this today? How often? How effective is your
current process?
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LinkedIn example for illustrative purposes.
For illustrative purposes: Average usefulness score: 1.5.
It is time for a PIVOT!!!

16. Your role as a product leader is not just to give a bad
news, but to solve hard problems!
So, start exploring other solutions!
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17. Interview Practice
Our product helps you practice interviews by connecting you with PMs who
have done it before
How useful is this for you on a scale of 1 (not useful) – 5 (extremely valuable) in getting a PM role?
Why? How do you do this today? How often? How effective is your current process?
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Mitigate risks through Discovery
For illustrative purposes: Average usefulness score: 4.4. Mostly confirming that it is useful.
Just because they rate the value prop highly doesn’t mean that our solution meets their needs.

18. Mitigate risks through Discovery
Interview Practice
Here is a mock up of how our solution would look like
How useful is this for you on a scale of 1 (not useful) – 5
(extremely valuable) in getting a PM role?
Why? How do you do this today? How often? How
effective is your current process?
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Tinder example for illustrative purposes.
For illustrative purposes: Average usefulness score: 3.5
Problem is worth solving, but solution is not the most effective!

19. Questions | Comments | Feedback
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Contact me: sundarrajan.g.s@gmail.com