The "Innovation Graveyard": Why Products Fail Before They Launch

Have you ever seen a company pour resources into a new product, only to see it vanish without a trace? You're not alone. According to the Product School, “90% of new products fail, often after significant investment in time, money, and talent.

Though there are many reasons as to why this happens, in this article I would like to focus on feasibility. 

 Often, companies fall in love with an idea and rush headlong into development without a thorough feasibility assessment. By the time they realize the project is too expensive, time-consuming, or simply doesn't meet market needs, it's too late to turn back.

Here's a better approach:

• Define & Fund Feasibility Assessment: Allocate a budget specifically for exploring new product ideas. This research phase could involve market analysis, user interviews, and prototyping and can be conducted internally or by leveraging external resources like consultancies or research firms.

• Build/Buy/Partner Decisions: Use the research findings to make informed decisions. Can you build it in-house? Do you have the domain or technical expertise to hit the ground running? Is it cheaper or faster to buy a similar solution? Could a partnership be beneficial? Which option will yield a marketing advantage? 

• Fail Fast, Learn Faster: Such research and analysis allows you to minimize “failure” costs while learning valuable lessons, before significant resources are wasted.

• Preserve Development Bandwidth: Utilizing external resources for feasibility analysis, allows you to make go/no-go decisions for innovation ideas while keeping your internal development teams focused on current projects and your roadmap initiatives on target.

Feasibility analysis can drastically improve your innovation success rate.

👉 Ready to build a better innovation pipeline? 

✅ We offer solutions to help you assess feasibility, make informed decisions, and bring successful products to market. 

✅ Schedule time for a free consultation today!