Daniel Shefer
www.shefer.net
DS_PM/delete-this/@spamex.com

Five years ago, "first to market takes all? was all the rage. A common approach of the companies that survived the crash was a more balanced view where time to market is important but what is more important is that new products addressed a real need and are backed by business plans grounded in reality. Companies learned that innovative ideas are not enough. They need to screen them so that the limited resources available to develop them will be used effectively. To do this, companies have to set up processes for screening and processing ideas. This is where Catherine Kitcho, the author of From Idea to Launch at Internet Speed, writes from experience. In the nineties she managed the New Ventures Program at TRW-ESL. The book is based on her personal experiences and includes insights from many marketing professionals. Today Kitcho is a product launch consultant and is known as the Launch Doctor.

From Idea to Launch encompasses two themes:

• A guide for creating an internal innovation process for taking ideas and turning them into profitable products.
• A detailed discussion of the criteria that make an idea a good candidate for turning it into a product.

The book's eighteen chapters discuss the screening of product ideas, business models, market strategies, speeding up product development, partnering and lessons from the dot-com boom and bust. It also discusses business and marketing plans as well as product launching tactics.

This book is divided into four parts. The first part, screening ideas, is where it is decided if an idea is worth pursuing. The six criteria the book covers are:

• The strategic fit with the company's culture, core competencies and business objectives.
• Who the customer is and what is their pain that the product will solve?
• Who are the competitors? What do they, or could they offer?
• What are the market size and trends?
• The impact of the proposed product on existing resources, people and technology.
• The profit potential.

The second part of the book discusses in detail product strategy and planning, the product's business plan and examines the option of partnering for sales and marketing leverage and a faster release. An important topic that is covered in this section is business model mapping where the product manager maps the business environment and tracks the paths of the product from manufacturing to the customer and the path of the money back up the chain.

The third part of the book discusses the product launch process, how to choose the right marketing programs and ways to leverage the web for the product launch.

The fourth and last part of the book wraps up with a discussion on streamlining the processes that were covered earlier to create a successful, repeatable process for fostering new products.

Most chapters end with relevant questions Product Managers should themselves ask as well as checklists.

The book includes two appendixes--a reading list and customizable templates, checklists and other tools that are also part of the attached CD.

This book is a good read for any product manager that wants to take a methodological approach to bringing products to market while increasing their chances of success.

The author also maintains the Launch Doctor website that offers articles and a newsletter on product launch issues.

You can buy the book from the publisher at a discount or from Amazon.