How to Structure a Sustainable Product Development Process | With Expert Christian Cox

You know, those early stages of SaaS founders looking to maybe define that framework for their MVP, how do you work with them to choose that kind of baseline of what's needed as a core functionality and just enough to get released? Versus them saying, no, look, this is what we want, this is what we want to build. They tell you this big vision, go out there and build this, this, this, and this, um, where all you need is, you know, just this start, this first part, make sure, you know, this is what your users want, and then how do you work with them to define that first part and get it released?

So, so SaaS founders, um, they're always looking to figure out, you know, some sort of gap, um, in a process that already exists, um, right? So when you're looking at that gap in the market that you're trying to fill Obviously a ton of ideas come to mind, but it really is kind of just like this grounding experience where you just talk— it's literally just talking through it, right?

Mm-hmm.

Where you say, you know, okay, this gap that you're trying to fill, at the very bare minimum, how can we fill it, right? Like, without all the bells and whistles, what's going to bridge this gap? What's going to make it, you know, 2% easier for the end user, right? I think most of us, and, you know, a lot of products, they're like conceived as a result of, you know, us as a user being like, hey, this process sucks, I wish I could do this, this, and this, and then they go out and build it, right? I think if we can kind of put ourselves in the customer's shoes, right? So for me, one, putting ourselves in the customer's shoes as remembering what it's like for us as consumers, And for us as the user who is frustrated with whatever process we're working with. And then 2, if you can actually have conversations with people and say, hey, you know, let's say you've profiled a certain type of person at a certain type of company. If you can just ask questions to people and say, hey, you know, I bet you do this quite often. Would it be helpful if you could achieve the same outcome, but skipping this step and just going straight here. If you can have those conversations and then couple that with me as a user, what drives me crazy, right? And at the very bare minimum, what do I need to make this process just 1% better, right? I think if you can help people make processes more frictionless, Whatever is— and it's going to be different for each context, but that's why it's important to have these conversations. And the SaaS founders who are ideating all this, they're the ones who are going to know, right? And so for me, it's just like I ask them, can you just tell me everything that you've noticed or that you've observed about this process? And then where can we drill down to start? Where can we find the baseline? Because there's going to be a ton of things that you can build on top of that. And then also, as you get in front of more people, they're going to tell you, hey, you know, it would be nice to have this feature, this feature, and this feature. But I think, you know, kind of to reel it back in, it's 2 parts for me. It's— if it's MVP, can you talk to potential users who you know, you know, perform a certain task or perform a certain process? Can you find out what's driving them crazy? you as a user, what is grinding your gears as well? And then whatever patterns you notice between the conversations you're having and also what's driving you insane when you're doing these tasks, what's the very, like the least amount of effort required and the most bare bones functionality that you can get to just make this process 1% better? At least 1% better just to make sure it's a working product and get it out in front of people. if you've made their process slightly less, you know, have slightly less friction, then you're onto something.

So you said slightly less friction. I wanna kind of make it a little bit more tangible. So let's say you're talking to these ideal, you know, your ICPs or these buyer personas you've identified, you're going out to them, asking them what products or what problems that you can help them solve, and you go and build a product for them. Is there any metrics that you like to measure specifically that can tell you, You know, is this segment a good fit or the right target, or you go out to these 3 and they say, no, this one is the right one that you want to continue focusing to build around?

Yeah. So for an example, and this is actually a conversation I had with my wife the other day, where like, I think the service business industry is notorious for having these super outdated onboarding processes. So you think about like cleaning services, car washes, details. That sector is actually getting better. Lawn services. But the other day I was on a website for a cleaning service and it's still like, you gotta call, they gotta tell you the quote, they gotta ask you so many questions. And right there, if you're the webmaster, You can look at what's the abandonment rate on my website, right?

Hmm.

So you can look at the before, and then if you're trying to improve this particular process, me as a consumer, I personally like less steps. If I can go to that site and understand exactly what it is I'm getting, how much I have to pay, then my conversion rate, me personally, is gonna be higher, right? I go and I know what I need, I know what I'm looking for. I found it, so I filled out the form and I paid. So that's an example of a metric that you can look at. In the case of the service business, it's how many people got to the site and ended up putting something in the cart and paying. If it's SaaS, it's kind of like if your user has a very specific task to perform, And you have some sort of— and you're capturing data around the use of this task, you can look at how many steps are involved to complete a certain task. And you can see, you know, did they reach the endpoint or not and break it down and say why. And then look at every single step involved and see, you know, where can we eliminate steps to make this easier. That's, you know, actually one of the most recent projects that we worked on is, you know, we've A lot of, a lot of, a lot of companies, they might, you know, have a lot of hotfixes that are built on top of each other. And for the audience, if you're, if you're not familiar with that term, a hotfix is basically just something came up and rather than looking at it from a long-term point of view architecturally to figure out what's the best design to implement, you know, it's kind of sweeping it under the rug with a quick fix and then it just stays there, but it's not really useful.

Right? Mm-hmm.

It's like a one-off case that you develop something really quickly to fix this point in the process. And one of the most recent projects that we worked on, this client had a ton of hot fixes just piled on top of each other. And we discovered that when we were looking to rebuild some of their user flows, there were a lot of steps involved in certain processes that really weren't necessary. And it just makes the process as a user cumbersome. And so kind of walking through, through, you know, those examples and, you know, these folks, they weren't collecting any data, but if there is data that can kind of help you see, you know, you know, how many people are doing what, what we thought they were going to be doing, and if it's not in line with what we expected, where can we pick across— where can we pick apart that process? go through it and see where the hiccup might be. Why might the user be more hesitant to finish this process than this other process? Are there parts we can eliminate? Are there steps we can eliminate to make sure that they get to the end goal quicker and easier? Just make it simple and painless.

Right, that makes sense. And then adding to that, so those people who are, maybe built something, they've talked to their audience, they've kind of set up their metrics to see what's kind of working. For SaaS specifically, do you have any strategies? I'm assuming you've worked with different SaaS companies who've launched products. How should they be looking at releasing it? What does a successful release look like, especially at the beta stage? And do you have any places you suggest for people to promote and launch at the early stages?

So I think a successful release is— I think a lot of successful SaaS companies have had releases when they can get some really good initial traction. And obviously, you're going to probably see that reflected in both your usage traffic, and then if you're paid right out the gate, depending on what kind of revenue structure you have. Let's say you have a 7-day trial and then people convert to paid. That's another really good metric that you can look at. And I think about it from, as a consumer, there have been different tools that I've used for such and such a reason where I'm happy to pay for it after the trial's over. And then there's other tools that I've used and I've done the trial, but it didn't kind of blow me away.

Mm-hmm.

So if you're launching for the very first time, I think that's a really key metric. And depending on your pricing model, if you've done the free tier and then it converts to a paid subscription, if there's a significant drop-off there, then I think you've got something to work on as far as what your value is that you're providing to the user. And on the flip side, if you've done the same pricing model where it's free upfront, and then after a certain amount of days, it switches to a paid subscription, If you've noticed kind of like a steady path there, and as well, if you've noticed like an uptick there because more people are getting on and onboarding, that's also a very key metric to pay attention to. I think one of the things after that kind of launch that founders really need to be wary of is after the initial hype wears off, how do you keep the user falling in love with the product every single time, every time they come back? 'Cause we've seen time and time again, I'm sure everybody's seen it where like a product did really well in the first year, 2 years, 3 years, but then it just couldn't quite keep up with the demand that people were having for the product. And to me, that falls squarely on the product development piece because you can throw money at sales and marketing all you want, but if at the end of the day your product development's not accompanying that, it's gonna be super difficult for you to stay relevant in a market that's so saturated because a lot of people are doing things that are really similar to you. Even if your competition is doing the exact same thing that you're doing, Why should your user stay with you, right? What's that one thing or that small handful of things that you're working on or the way you deliver that's a game changer for the user, right?

Mm-hmm.

What's, you know, I think that's something that to me is kind of just like something that I've paid attention to. And what I'm actually, what I'm really curious to pay attention to these days is, you know, Clubhouse and Twitter Spaces. I'm really interested in seeing how that plays out. 'Cause from a product development standpoint, Twitter Spaces is like ramping up their delivery.

Yeah.

And you can tell that they've been building increments really quickly. And Clubhouse, I think they did a raise not too long ago, but I'm still just trying to figure out what's gonna happen there. 'Cause as a user, it's cool. But me personally, the notifications drive me crazy. And I think that's what most people have— I think what most people have complained about. So, you know, it's interesting, you know, I think that's a perfect example. Like after the initial hype wears off in the long term, like what does Clubhouse look like in 2024? You know?

Right.

That's kind of like what I'm trying to get at. 'Cause you can have an initial release and everybody's gonna go crazy around it and it's great. But there's this kind of like pivotal growth stage, right? And that's kind of like where we come in and we say, okay, you've done some really awesome stuff up until today. How do we sustain that and improve and build upon it?

Mm-hmm.

So that's kind of just like, I think I got off track there, but it just came to mind, you know, after the, you know, getting to the MVP and figure out, did your release go well? You know, you definitely celebrate that when it does, but you know, it's, it's the beginning, and I think most people look to the future anyway.