New Product & Service Development

AG

“Winning isn't everything…it’s the only thing”-Vince Lombardi

Introducing BarterQuest

• BarterQuest is a New York startup that was founded in 2006 as a global cashless e-market for members to trade products, services and real estate.

• Although membership is increasing at a rapid rate, many companies are now emulating them and their service is becoming commoditized.

• The company understands that new innovative capabilities that are true to their vision and completely unique will be the differentiator between them and their competitors.

Phase-Gate Process

• Cross-functional teams develop ideas into successful products in a logical cost & time efficient manner.– Little money is spent until the ideas have been truly vetted

• Risk is mitigated by combining logically phased due diligence, strict gate criteria, and honest gate keepers

Current Idea Selection Process

• The idea is either chosen via:– Senior Management

Executive Order– Brainstorming Session– Vendor / Client

demand

Ideation: Creating The BarterQuest Idea Bank

• Build a formal process & structure to capture, action, and store ideas– Entry:

• BarterQuest will place an idea / suggestion box on the footer of all its web pages. This link will open the idea entry screen

• Periodic emails will be blasted out to customers with this link to an idea entry screen

• All employees will be tasked with entering 5 ideas per week• Vendors will be asked to participate (hopefully new efficiencies will be found)• Competitive intelligence will be up to date to ensure we are reviewing our

competitors capabilities– Process:

• New ideas will be reviewed and scored on a biweekly basis. All ideas will have a status of Good / Dead / Hold / Clarification

• The Idea Bank owner will provide feedback to the submitters• The “Good” ideas will be promoted to the Expansion & Surface Evaluation• The “Dead” ideas will be killed• The “Hold” ideas will be subject to periodic review• The “Clarification” ideas will be returned to the submitter and asked for more

in depth clarification

Desired Idea Selection Process

• The idea funnel is now widened and Ideas are coming from many different sources both internal & external

Ideation• Objectives:

• Identify unmet market and customer needs

• Don’t be afraid of the really big disruptive ideas; Embrace them

• The ideas should be differentiators• Live in the Future

• Activities• Meet or talk with the top 20% of our

customers that make up 80% of our business

• ***Build and update a list of customers to serve on a Customer Advisory Board (CAB)***

• Meet with vendors to discuss their roadmaps

• Research market trends

Ideation Screen• Criteria

– Do they match with our e-market vision?– Is the idea a strategic fit for our niche?

• e.g.: BarterQuest does not want to compete with Ebay or Craigslist

– What is the value to the company, potential for reward?

– Likelihood of technical & marketable feasibility (Roughly)

• Output– The idea pool should be weeded down

from 100 to 7– Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle

• Gatekeepers:– Product Management

Ideation Screen Continued• Example ideas that may pass

– Private Labeling the platform and marketing it to B2B bartering exchanges– Creating an API to integrate with other Bartering e-market portals. This will be

a symbiotic relationship with our competitors to extend our reach and offering.

– Setup a project alliance with PayPal to create a currency for uneven trades• E.g. I want notebook computer but only have a few DVDs in exchange

• Example ideas that would probably fail– Cash / Credit Card auctions– Providing Bank services for transactions– Selling digital identities as an additional security mechanism and a revenue

generator

Expansion & Surface Evaluation

• Objectives:– Gentle Screen for Market

opportunity and ability

• Activities:– Preliminary Market assessment– Preliminary Technical assessment– Preliminary Business & Financial

Assessment– Recommendation for Stage 2 (Go

/ Kill)

Surface Evaluation Screen

• Criteria:– BarterQuest is a startup that is still in

the red; hence, a lot of weight will be put on the market and business / financial assessment.

– The ROI must be exponential – Must be a strategic match– Can be completed in-house

• Output:– Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle– The idea pool is now brought down to

the final three

• Gatekeepers: Market Manager

Detailed Evaluation: Building the Business Case

• Objectives:– Define the opportunity, business model, and

explain how business success will be measured

• Activities:– User Needs and wants study: Customers

have completed a “Concept” test questionnaire

– Competitive Analysis– Market analysis– Technology department provides a detailed

technical assessment– Concept testing with operations & providers– Financial / Business Analysis (supporting

numbers cost, projections, etc)– Placing something in front of the

customer for feedback, whether its screenshots, mock drawings or a limited prototype

Detailed Evaluation Screen: Building the Business Case

• Criteria:• Project Financial , Risk, and Business

Assessments pass• Marketing, Operations, Technology and

Test plans pass• Customer approval• Value / Benefit to the customer; meets

unarticulated needs• Not just delights the customer but

answers their hot button issue

• Output• Completed “Concept” test

questionnaire validates assumptions• Plan of Action; high level project plan

that answers the “how” & “by whom” questions

• Detailed Evaluation Screen: Final check before heavy spending

• Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle

• Gatekeepers: President, CTO, Operations, and Marketing

Cross-Functional Development• Objectives

– Physical Development will commence across all work-streams (Sub-NPSD funnels)

• Activities– Master project plan is created– Business Case Plans are being translated into

deliverables– Prototype creation and review with the

“CAB” customers often – When Questions arise there will be constant

customer contact– Parallel Actions: Sub NPSD Phase Gate

Processes (Funnels) commence– Sales & Marketing will commence their full

blown marketing and launch plan– Objectives, Strategy (including Go-To-Market),

Tactics, Distribution, etc– IT & Engineering– Operations, Support, and Logistics will

develop their processes– Intellectual Property: BarterQuest currently

owns several patents– New Patents may need to be filed

– Commence development Alpha Test (Pre-Test Test)

Cross-Functional Development Gate• Criteria

– Milestones are being hit on time.– Project is operating within budget– Market, Business, Technical, and

Operation requirements have been addressed

• Output– Prototype created– Business Case Plans translated into deliverables– Post Development Review & Quality Assurance– Budget Review– Signoffs form the other NPSD Sub Funnels– Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle

• Gatekeepers: Finance, Marketing, Operations, Product Management, & Technology

***Project definition or market requirement may change, if so the idea must start over and be re-evaluated***

Testing and Validation• Objectives:

– Validation of the new product, capability, or service

• Activities:– End-to-end Internal Technology and

Business UAT testing• Including stress & connectivity test with

vendors systems when applicable • Setting up Beta, and Pilots with “CAB”

customers– Letting customers test drive the

application– Operations will test their processes

and workflows– Fix bugs in the product, optimize

pricing and refine operation process– Defects are tracked differently than

enhancement request– Send enhancement request to the

idea bank– Marketing will need to update their

collateral with screenshots, slip sheets, etc.

– Soft Launch a Test Market for CAB and “Opt in” customers

Testing and Validation• Criteria:

– The product or full working Prototype is now complete

– Product quality and workflows have been evaluated across all work streams e.g. Technology, Marketing, Operations, Sales, etc

– All “Critical” & “High” bugs have been fixed

– Product completeness has been verified– Back-out / Rollback plan has been tested

• Output:– Empower Marketing & Sales with a

working Demo for prospective customers, road & trade shows

– Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle

• Gatekeepers:– Marketing, Operations, & Product

Management

Deployment

• Activities:– Sales, Operations, Logistics, and

Support (Help Desk) are in the Readiness / Deployment State

– Marketing executing their “Go-To-Market” strategy

• PR, Coordinated product reviews, customer quotes, etc

• All online help and other legacy documents are updated to reflect the new capabilities

– Product Management will provide the final Go/No recommendation

• Objective:– Mobilize the work-streams and

ensure all units are ready for the launch

Deployment

• Output:– Marketing, Sales, Technology,

Operations, Logistics, and Support (Help Desk) have signed off on the launch

– Marketing is executing their “Go-To-Market” strategy

– Launch Date & Backup Launch Date have been planned

– Final refinements are tweaked for the Launch commencement

– Go / Kill / Hold / Recycle

• Gatekeepers:– Marketing, Operations, Product,

Technology, & Senior Management

• Criteria:– All work-streams are in the

readiness state– Market conditions have not

changed • If the market has changed its still

cheaper to call this off before the launch

Launch Phase• Activities:

– Update the home page with a positive awareness note on the upcoming capabilities

• Posted 2 weeks prior to cutover– Marketing continues executing the final

stages of their “Go-to-Market” strategy– Launch occurs on the previously agreed

upon date• The site closes for a 3 hour maintenance

window• Development promotes the code• Internal business tester check out the

code• Go/No-go decision is made• Promoted code is now the new

production• Operations and support are on a

heightened sense of alert for 72 hours• The site comes back online

• Objective:– Releasing the new product,

capability, or service on the web site

Post Launch Review

• Objectives:– Assess the quality and effectiveness of the deliverables and the process

• Activities:– Conduct a performance review

• Usage• Updated project costs• Revenue and Projections

– Capability Evaluation– Strengths– Weaknesses– Lessons learned

Post Launch Review Gate

• Criteria:– The product is achieving the desired goals: Sales & Usage

• Output:– Performance review– Continue / Kill decision

• Gatekeepers:– Product Management & Senior Management

Thank You