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How to Build a Product that Scales into a Company

Harvard Innovation Labs

1.8M Views . 2023-04-05

“Build it, and they will come” is a dangerous mindset in the startup world. Even if you create a great product, building a successful company around it can be nuanced and challenging. In addition to product development, you need to find and prove product-market fit—then repeat and scale through sales and marketing. About the Speaker: Chris Gardner is a partner at Underscore VC, a Boston-based firm investing in bold B2B software founders. Chris is a resident builder, happiest when he’s hands-on with a project. At Underscore VC, that means identifying and investing in uniquely qualified founders, and then helping to build their company in any way needed: networker, salesperson, mentor, coach, psychotherapist, even drinking buddy. His tinkering and building extend to his personal life, where you’ll find him getting hands-on in any manner of project. Car maintenance? He has a lift in his garage. Music? He’s recording an album in his barn studio. Cooking? His BBQ ribs are the stuff of legend. In short, if he can get his hands on it, he can master it (except golf; don’t ever ask Chris to play golf). Though he’s known as a FinTech entrepreneur, Chris is a self-professed nerd and technology omnivore who, prior to Underscore VC, spent nearly three decades at companies focused on speech recognition, video streaming, mobile marketing, mobile messaging, e-billing, and document management. His last five roles all resulted in exits that created good outcomes for employees and investors. Most recently, Chris was an executive at PayPal and led their P2P, PayPal Here, and In-Store payments products after Paydiant, the company he co-founded and built, was acquired by PayPal in 2015. Prior to that, Chris was CMO and head of products at ExtendMedia, a video content delivery and commerce platform software company that was acquired by Cisco in 2010; SVP of Products and Marketing at m-Qube, North America’s leading premium SMS mobile payments provider that was acquired by Verisign in 2006; and VP of Products and Marketing at edocs, Inc., an e-billing, payments, and customer self-service company that was acquired by Siebel Systems in 2004. Chris earned a BA in Communications from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst a really long time ago.

The talk discusses the importance of building products that can scale into companies, not just achieving product-market fit. It introduces the concept of the "Product Company Gap", emphasizing the need for considerations like go-to-market strategy, pricing, and scaling when building a product.

Product Company Gap
Product-Market Fit
Scaling
Go-to-Market Strategy
Pricing

  • The talk focuses on building a product that scales into a company, emphasizing that while a good product is a start, it doesn't guarantee company success.
  • The speaker highlights the importance of thinking beyond just the product and incorporating elements like go-to-market strategy, pricing, and business model design from the beginning to build a scalable company.

Insights from the YouTube Video Clip:

1. Beyond Product Market Fit: The "Company Gap"

The video highlights that while product market fit is crucial, it's not enough to build a lasting company. There's a "Company Gap" that needs to be bridged, which involves scaling your product into a sustainable business.

2. The Seed Investor's Perspective: What's Beyond Product Market Fit?

The speaker, a seed investor, emphasizes that while they look for product market fit in early-stage companies, they also seek indicators of potential for scaling, such as revenue and a defined customer segment. This showcases the investor's focus on long-term viability.

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