{"id":16405,"date":"2019-05-07T13:39:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-07T13:39:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/?p=16405"},"modified":"2019-05-07T13:39:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-07T13:39:30","slug":"starting-small","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting Small"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The following insights were gleaned from a presentation at INDUSTRY given by Deborah Clarke of CarTrawler&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/debclarke?lang=en\">@debclarke<\/a>.&nbsp;Download <a href=\"https:\/\/producttactics.com\/vol1\/\">Product Management TACTICS eBook<\/a> for more.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Big ideas may be the fuel behind the fire, but aren\u2019t enough to strike a match. In order to actually execute, it\u2019s critical to get more detailed and focus on specifics. Instead of focusing on trying to find that \u201cbig idea\u201d, starting small can actually end up making a big impact for your product.<\/p>\n<p>When you\u2019re at the start of an idea for a solution to a problem that you\u2019re considering moving forward with, ask yourself three questions before you get started:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Is this worthwhile?<\/li>\n<li>Is this actually innovative?<\/li>\n<li>Is this nuanced enough to compete?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Whether an idea is actually worth pursuing is a balance of risk and opportunity to learn.&nbsp; Some of the biggest decisions you will make as a product person will have a high risk and a high reward. Cartrawler\u2019s decision to become part of Ryanair\u2019s mobile app was a high-risk move since there was a heavy focus on mobile, which wasn\u2019t something that Cartrawler had focused on beforehand. The bet paid off with big mobile growth and a stronger business.<\/p>\n<p>When asking yourself whether something is innovative, it\u2019s important to have a definition of what innovation actually is.&nbsp; Innovation is about knowing why and when buyers act: the entire buyer journey. It requires creating additional value for the user, not just adding features for the sake of adding features. Different decisions are made at different times. Understanding how and why your customers act will help you build the product they want.<\/p>\n<p>Nuance requires focusing on customer pain points and solving them. Sometimes, those pain points aren\u2019t so obvious, though. At Cartrawler, it was discovered the language around car rental insurance was just not understood very well at all.&nbsp; Simplifying the language to better describe car rental insurance options made a 5.9% increase in the number of customers opting-in.&nbsp; It was a simple enough copywriting change, but it made a real impact because we were able to hone in on a very specific pain point.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t assume too much about what your customers know. Icons that may be common among people in the tech industry may not mean the same thing to the average person at home. Instead, spend time with your customers.&nbsp; Try to step into their shoes, so to speak.&nbsp; Understand the lives that they\u2019re living every day\u2026 before, during, and after they\u2019re actually using your product.&nbsp; It will help you gain<\/p>\n<p>the empathy you need to create products that solve problems for them.<\/p>\n<p>To view Deb\u2019s full presentation, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/art-building-impactful-products\/\">https:\/\/productcollective.com\/art-building-impactful-products\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The following insights were gleaned from a presentation at INDUSTRY given by Deborah Clarke of CarTrawler&nbsp;@debclarke.&nbsp;Download Product Management TACTICS eBook for more. Big ideas may be the fuel behind the fire, but aren\u2019t enough to strike a match. In order to actually execute, it\u2019s critical to get more detailed and focus on specifics. Instead of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16466,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Starting Small - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starting Small - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The following insights were gleaned from a presentation at INDUSTRY given by Deborah Clarke of CarTrawler&nbsp;@debclarke.&nbsp;Download Product Management TACTICS eBook for more. 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Instead of [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/productcollective\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-05-07T13:39:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-05-07T13:39:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-05-07-at-9.38.58-AM.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"943\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"571\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul McAvinchey\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul McAvinchey\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/\",\"name\":\"Starting Small - Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-05-07-at-9.38.58-AM.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-05-07T13:39:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-05-07T13:39:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f34ceda9eb6237e864633ca033061c0b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-05-07-at-9.38.58-AM.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Screen-Shot-2019-05-07-at-9.38.58-AM.png\",\"width\":943,\"height\":571},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/starting-small\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Starting Small\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/\",\"name\":\"Product Collective | Organizers of INDUSTRY: The Product Conference\",\"description\":\"For people who build, launch and scale world-class software products.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f34ceda9eb6237e864633ca033061c0b\",\"name\":\"Paul McAvinchey\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PLnHr3Hu_400x400-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/productcollective.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/PLnHr3Hu_400x400-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Paul McAvinchey\"},\"description\":\"For over 20 years, Paul has been building and collaborating on digital products with fast-growing startups and global brands, including AOL and WMS Gaming. 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