Tech Startups Don’t Always Make Great Products: Here’s Why

Ask any entrepreneur of any tech startup whether they think that they have a good product, and they’ll always answer in the affirmative. Every founder thinks that his or her product is the best and that everyone will want it. But it turns out that creating value is exceptionally hard to do. Founders may love their product, but that doesn’t mean that it will be successful once launched.

In this article, we’re going to look at some of the reasons why tech startups don’t always create great products.

The Founders Are Focused On The Product They Want, Not The Product The Customer Wants

Startup entrepreneurs can sometimes get confused between the product they want to sell and the one that their customers want to buy. They might have a specific set of rigid criteria that their product must abide by, but those criteria may conflict with customer needs.

Founders, therefore, need to prioritize listening to customer feedback and thinking dispassionately about what it is that customers want.

Entrepreneurs Fail To Work With The Right Partners

Finding the right partners when developing a new technology product is essential. If you’re developing a physical product, you need people who can deliver all the techniques that you need, like metal lift off, to create a great prototype and working models. You also need partners who can scale as your business needs evolve. A small production house won’t suffice if you want to build something for the mass market.

The Founders Don’t Empathise With Their Customers

Having empathy for your customers is the bedrock of any successful business. But for tech companies, the challenges are more significant than those of many firms in other industries. While most companies know what works in their industry and what doesn’t, tech companies are in a unique position of needing to experiment with what works and what doesn’t. A grocery store knows that its customers want a clean environment and product availability, but a tech company coming up with something new has to write the rules itself to some degree.

The Founders Are Unwilling To Learn From Failure

Learning from failure is vital if founders want to be successful. But many entrepreneurs are unwilling to accept defeat and, worse still may begin to blame the customer for not liking the product when it offers clear value.

Unfortunately, the onus is always on the firm to create products that people want, not the consumers to want them. Founders that learn from their mistakes can adjust products and come back with something better.

Amazon, for instance, didn’t have much success with the original Fire phone. Instead of continuing to believe that it should enter the smartphone market, the giant online retailer turned its attention to voice assistants and created Alexa, now a class-leading home assistant AI in its own right.

The Founders Don’t Bring Together Enough Skilled People

It can be tempting to keep costs as low as possible at a startup. But when developing a product, this can work against you. It’s important to get staff with the necessary skills to create something consumers will want.