“The Three Phases of Consumer Products” – Arjun Sethi 

I read a great article today on a topic that has started to become my central passion: how to build amazing products. This is going to be the first of many posts on product design, development, and growth. For the complete list make sure to search for the product tag in my archive.

Sethi defines the growth of a product in three life phases. The user first has a want that the product is designed to meet. As a user gets more comfortable and  experienced with the product, they begin to need to use it. Finally, the need slowly turns into a utility as more functionality is built into the product. Think about how mobile phones have developed from a car phone to a cell phone to a smart phone. At first we wanted to be able to make calls on the go, the highest value customer segment of which was business people. The want was there and was eventually met with the car phone. But the want became a need as we required more and more connectivity. Slowly as the connectivity network developed in tandem with the internet, the need for a mobile phone was transformed into a utility as a smart phone.

One important life skill that I have made a point of having is to identify exceptional people to emulate. The most prominent figures in entrepreneurship and technology are those who focus almost exclusively on building great products. In the article, a video is linked to of a young Mark Zuckerberg who’s sole goal is to create the perfect social product of Facebook. Sethi attributes this burning desire for exceptional product to the success of Facebook as a platform. I looked deeper and found more interviews with entrepreneurs from their early days here. I’ve only gotten through some of the content but make sure to check it out.