A classic pitfall of early-stage product development, especially in technically-oriented cultures (coming from an instructor in the school of engineering!), is the build-first mentality. We see it with organizations launching new products, and we see it with founders pitching new ideas in LaunchPad. Many engineers and technical folks get so invigorated by a gnarly challenge ("Can we build that???") that they neglect answering a MUCH simpler question: "Should we build it?"

I'm not talking about ethics (which is another important consideration in the "should" question), but about thoughtful investment of time and resources. How do we know whether we should deploy resources in a particular direction? We'd suggest that the first hurdle is desirability; namely, do real human beings actually desire the function you've envisioned? And many builders get overly-invested in the making before ever answering the much simpler question about desirability.

I'm all for tinkering. I'm all for doodling. But spending a ton of time building something before learning whether people actually want it? There are better uses of time.

A very simple way to avoid this pitfall is to encourage to simply be the product you've imagined. 75% of the new product pitches I hear start with "we are building a platform that..." or "we are a marketplace that..." or "it'll be an app that..."

Those are a HOW, not a WHAT. Platform, marketplace, app - all HOW you ultimately will perform the underlying function. But none of them are the actual WHAT you need to create. The what is the experience of having the underlying function performed in a believable manner.

Whatever follows the "that," (a platform that, a marketplace that, an app that, etc) find a way to DO the words that follow, without building anything technical or fancy! If you've envisioned a marketplace that connects textile start-ups to garment manufacturers in China, then be the product: connect a textile start-up to a garment manufacturer in China! Literally make the introduction, without building the marketplace.

If you've envisioned an app that timestamps transcripts of virtual meetings with notes, then be the product: timestamp a transcript of a virtual meeting with notes. Literally join the meeting as a product logo, and make the notes, without building the app.

Obviously, this doesn't work for everything. But there are many, many concepts that can be executed at a fraction of the cost with a cleverly devised experiment, which will help you learn what you need to build. And 99 times out of 100, it's NOT the thing you would have spent the next 100 hours building.

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