Gorka Santamaria · Unabhängiger Produktberater
Launch Decisions
Preparing products for confident market introduction
Who should be the first customer for this product?
Does the proposed price reinforce the proposition, or does it contradict it?
How much range does the market really need on day one?
Will the chosen sales channel strengthen the product or change how it is perceived?
Which assumptions still need evidence before launch, and which can safely be tested afterwards?
What should be decided now because it will become expensive to change once in the market?
My approach
I begin by defining the actual launch decision: the customer, the problem being addressed, the first proposition and the assumptions on which the expected business depends.
I then test whether the product scope, price, business model, channel, sales argument and service requirements reinforce that proposition. This often reveals that a technically ready product is still relying on commercial assumptions that nobody has examined closely.
The next step is to look at the consequences around the launch: the investment still required, the effect on existing products and channels, operational dependencies, and what becomes difficult to reverse once the product enters the market.
From there, I formulate a recommendation: launch as planned, narrow the first market or configuration, test a critical assumption, change part of the proposition, delay, or stop.
A typical decision
A new piece of furniture was ready for production.
The prototypes worked. The design had survived the usual rounds of refinement and suppliers were identified. There was already a price in the business plan.
But the product still had several possible paths to the market.
It could enter as an accessible extension of the existing collection, with relatively broad distribution. Or it could be introduced more selectively, at a higher price, allowing the design itself to carry more of the value proposition. A third possibility was to launch only one configuration first and leave the larger family for later.
None required changing the product very much. Yet they would create very different products in the eyes of the market.
That is often the uncomfortable point just before launch: the object may be finished while the commercial decision around it is not.
Launch Decisions helps settle the choices around price, range, channel and proposition before the market settles them.