Courses

Product managers are familiar with the concept of a minimum viable product (MVP), a product with enough features to attract early-adopter customers so that one can validate the product idea early in the development cycle. While MVP has helped companies focus on validating the riskiest assumptions, the approach has notable downsides, the most significant one being that alpha or beta versions of products often don’t engage users or create enough “love” to help the product grow. So what makes a product stick? Why do some products, like many social media apps, gain initial interest yet fail to sustain long-term growth? Why are other products, such as personal productivity apps, early and “imperfect” yet able to attract loyal followers? This course will provide a five-step framework for developing a product that sticks. We will discuss where to concentrate when preparing to launch a new product and what to focus on when growing beyond the initial launch. We will focus on critical areas such as problem statements, user definitions, and iterative approaches. The course will include interactive classroom discussions, group projects, and deliberately selected guest speakers with real-world builder experience.