Product Development

6 Product Development for Small Firms and Entrepreneurs

Much of this book has been directed towards large companies with significant financial resources and staffs of talented people. But, what if your firm has only 100 people and limited cash resources? Or only 50 people? Or a startup with six people? What would be a practical approach for product development? How can one compete with the big corporations with billions in annual revenue? Where can small companies go for help?

Funding for Your Start-Up: A Necessary Ingredient

Today’s small companies and start-ups have many options to consider in how they develop their products. However, it should be noted that most startup companies fail not to a lack of ideas or creativity, but to a lack of capital … that is, they run out of money. There have been several successful firms where the founders had extremely high drive, believed in their product, and were able to sell their ideas to a market or partners. Microsoft and Apple were both started in their founders’ home garage and today they are earning billions of dollars in revenue annually. Of course, this did not happen in one year.

But you must be realistic in your quest to develop your product: if will take cash to get started and succeed.

Start-ups basically have five options to obtain funding for their products and ideas:

1. Use their own personal savings; and convince friends and relatives to provide additional funding as passive investors.
2. Obtain a loan from a bank or the ...