In this solo episode of the Love Your Business Podcast, host Mayur Bardolia argues that keeping a product secret before its launch can protect it from competitors and preserve sales momentum, while still allowing entrepreneurs to validate demand. He opens with the cautionary tale of Adam Osborne, whose premature publicity of a second‑generation portable computer caused dealers to cancel existing orders and led to his company’s bankruptcy. He then contrasts this with Apple’s famously tight‑lipped culture under Steve Jobs, where secrecy is used to surprise and delight customers at launch. Recognizing that most founders lack Jobs‑level instinct, Mayur stresses the need for early customer feedback but without revealing product details. He presents Bill Myers as a model of a one‑person secretive product developer who creates buzz by never talking about the product itself, instead focusing on the customer’s big problem. Mayur introduces the OfferCraft framework (O‑F‑F‑E‑R‑C‑R) as a systematic way to uncover painful problems, articulate impact, and test willingness to pay before unveiling the solution. The episode concludes with practical advice: talk about the problem first, generate curiosity, then reveal the product as the solution, and invites listeners to email him with any business challenges for personalized help.
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Hi, this is Mayur Bardolia and you are listening to Love Your Business Podcast. This podcast isn't about magical tactics on running the business that makes you bored and tired. Instead, it's about how to love your business so that you can enjoy doing it and enjoy more time for yourself. Many people don't know the founder of the personal computer. When we think of personal computer, we think of Bill Gates from Microsoft or Steve Jobs from Apple. But there was someone Who has invented the personal computer well before Bill Gates and Steve Jobs? It was released in 1981. Adam Osborne, who created the first commercial portable computer. The weight of the personal computer was. 12 kilo, and the cost was $1,795. Interestingly, it was sized to fit under a standard aircraft seat. He moved the personal computer industry into a consumer marketplace. With his innovation of all-in-one hardware and software packaging. By 1983, their sales reached to $100 million. This is a remarkable progress. Adam Osborne was shipping 10,000 units per month. At their peak and were said to have 3 million units on backorder. But they went bankrupt in only a year. And how did it happen? Other companies were copying what Adam Osborne has done. Compaq inherited the design And produced their first portable machine in 1983. And also, few other companies started selling at a lower price. The competition grew very quickly in just one year. Then Adam Osborne did something he thought will help him, but he failed. He started doing publicity for the second version of Osborne computer before he launched. He called the reporters of newspapers and magazines in a hotel in London and presented the computer. He thought it would generate the hype and it would help him to sell more of his version 2. Of his computer, he was going to launch officially in the next two months only. But the plan failed miserably. Adam Osborne killed his own company when dealers heard that a new and better version of Osborne computers will be launching soon. They went ahead and cancelled all their pre-existing orders. For the current Osborne computer. And till Adam Osborne launches the version 2, the other companies quickly copied the features of version 2 and successfully sold their units until Osborne delivers in the next 2 to 3 months' time. Now the much-hyped new model Failed to appear in any quantity before the company collapsed in September 1983, and the cash flow slowed down, and Adam Osborne had to file for bankruptcy. When we are creating our product, we are too excited to launch, and why not? We put our heart and soul into it. We are very hopeful for its success. We want people to know what we are going to offer. But there is always a chance that people will steal your idea. But how are we going to know if it's going to be successful or not? We were told that we need to announce our product's launch in advance. We need to get the feedback first so that we can know if people are excited to buy when we launch. Many marketers create buzz way before they release their product, and as a result, they create the flood of customers rushing to buy at the launch. So in this podcast, we are going to discuss 2 things. Number one, why you should be secretive about your product before launch. And number two, what can we do to create the curiosity in our customers without telling too much about our product? Let's dive in. Steve Jobs from Apple. Learned a big lesson from Adam Osborne. As we learned earlier in this podcast episode, Adam Osborne's idea was leaked and his company collapsed, and it had huge impact on Steve Jobs. As a result, he created a very secretive culture at Apple. Apple is Notoriously known as one of the most secretive, tight-lipped companies in tech. Secrecy is like a religion at Apple. It has become infamous for its secrecy around new product announcements and launches. They want to surprise and delight the customers at the time of launch. They even have a very big team who makes sure their information does not get leaked. People are strictly not allowed to talk to each other. People don't even know what they are working on. For example, people working on a 9.7-inch screen They did not know if they were working on a small laptop or a big phone. They realized they had been working on the iPad only when Steve Jobs showed the product on the stage. Apple does enormous research on what customers want. They invest so much time and money to find out What will sell? They don't want their competitors to know and also don't want their customers know before they launch, because as we said earlier, they want to surprise and delight the customers. Steve Jobs had a very strong instinct on what people will love to buy. That's why being secretive about the product can work very well for you if you also know exactly why people buy. But we don't have that instinct like Steve Jobs, and that can put us in trouble. When we don't know what will sell, we cannot afford to spend months behind developing the product. It's going to be disastrous for us. We need feedback from our potential customers in advance. Then we can have the confidence of making and selling the product. Marketers call it the validation of the idea. So how can we find the balance? We don't want to crash the sales of our current product. At the same time, we also create the buzz for our future product. Let's find out in the second part how to do it, shall we? Bill Myers is one of the most underrated product developers. He created many of the books on how-to topics, videos, CD, or product development tools when very few people were doing. Also, people created more products using Bill Myers products or software. In his over 35 years of career, he built many information products softwares. And he hasn't formed a big size company. Instead, he has run a one-man shop. He built and sold dozens of products. If you see a lot of information products around, we can say that Bill was one of the first few people who started developing them. He got retired recently in just 2021. Some of his products made over 6 figures of income, and not only that, some of his fans have bought all the products that he has made. He had a similar way of keeping things secret, but still He created buzz for his products. How did he do? He would never talk about the product before he releases them. Nobody knows what product is he working on, but people know what is he doing. In the book OfferCraft, you will learn the element of big problem. While creating marketing and sales message, it's about finding the problem of the customers and deliver the solution. But finding a problem is not easy. You can know the big problem once you learn the system shared in the book Offer Craft is O F F E R C R. AFT, OfferCraft. Go to Amazon and get the book because Bill Myers was doing the same. Bill talks about the problem. He would write about the problem and find out why it's so painful. He would talk about why you must stop the problem immediately. He writes about the impact of the problem. And then he would listen to the customers. He would gather the feedback and find out how the customers react to it. He would listen to what people say when he talks or writes about the problem. And once he finds out that the customers are ready to pay the price to solve Then only he would showcase his product. As we talked about earlier, keep the secret about the features of your product. Don't talk about the product. People don't want the product. People want the solution. Talk about the problems first, or else you will blow up the money. You will also lose the sales of your existing product. You can know how to do it. You should read the book OfferCraft. You should know your customers more than they know themselves. If you can learn the psychology of your customers, you will know why they buy from you and not from others. So talk about the problem before you launch your product. And then only showcase your product as the solution afterwards. So that takes us to the end of the podcast. Let's find out what's happening in our world. What if someone gives you an answer to the pressing problems of your business, and not only in just one or two lines? But in detail, and that too as often as you want. Will you take the advice from someone who will give you the exact answer that you are looking for? You will be answered with love and care. We offer the same support to you. Those who know me. They know I always love to talk to people and give them the information that gets them out of their struggle. So what are you struggling with? Send me an email at mayur@mayurbardolia.com and I will reply to you just like I reply to everyone, whether you are already my client or not. Try out! I will do my best to help you. I will be real with you. Ask me any question or challenges about anything. I can help you to deal with the challenges with marketing, mindset, meditation, spirituality, personal branding, business problem, sales, and time management. So if you are struggling with anything in those categories, drop me a reply and let me know. If I think I can be of assistance, I will answer not in just one or two lines but in too much detail. And you can ask me as many questions as you want and as often as you can. I have the best interest of yours in my heart. If I can't be of assistance, I will politely let you know I don't know. Or if I know someone better, I will direct you to someone who may be able to help. Sounds good? So send me your questions at mayur@mayurbardolia.com. Start with one question, so take a minute or two to ponder. Think about it. Then hit reply and let me know. I will reply to you in less than 12 to 16 hours and sometimes in an hour. Keep listening to this podcast for the update. Contact me if you have any queries or challenges. I'm happy to help you. Find me on Facebook or LinkedIn. Just type my name and you will find me. So that takes us to the end. It's Mayur Bardolia. Thank you for listening. Bye for now. Still listening? You're listening to the Love Your Business podcast. As you're listening till the end, it means you probably like what you learn in this podcast. If you think the idea is worth sharing with your friend, then please share it. Ask your friend to subscribe to Love Your Business Podcast. Share the link mayurbardolia.com/subscribe. They probably love the Love Your Business Podcast and they will thank you later. Please leave a review if you can. Send your question, or if you want to talk to me, just send me an email at mayurbardolia.com. I will answer. Yes, I read and reply to every single email. It's Mayur Bardolia. Thank you for listening. Bye for now.
