BUILDINGGREAT

PRODUCTS…

(WHY SOME STICK?)

#YahanSeKharido

SOME BACKGROUND.• Snapdeal CPO (The best is yet to come… stay

tuned!)

• Bharti Airtel CPO (Wynk, One Touch Internet, My Airtel, Airtel Money). #7 and #93 on Google Play.

• Yahoo! (Yahoo App., Apple Integrations, Search / Local, Shopping)

• Co-founded Aeroprise Inc. (acq. BMC Software)

• Investor / Advisor to Angstro (Google), Audeze, FreightTiger, Instalively, Pluss…

WHY ARE WE HERE?

Why Products? – Exercising a different muscle

Your Favorite Products

Why Products ‘Stick’?- S-U-C-C-E-S

The 10 Principles To Think About

Some Practical Case Studies

MY FAVORITE PRODUCTS

#YahanSeKharido

WHAT ARE YOUR FAVORITE PRODUCTS?

How did you discover them? Eg. Game of Thrones

How did they make you feel? Eg. low cost airlines, iPhone

Why did you keep coming back? Eg. AmEx

WHAT ARE YOUR LEAST FAVORITE PRODUCTS?

Did the feeling ever change? Eg. calling cards

Was the negative feeling bigger than the positive feeling?

Will ever trust that brand again? (Brand and Culture are really two sides of the same coin)

WHY SOME PRODUCTS STICK?

S-U-C-C-E-S model!

Simple – finding the core of any idea

Unexpected – grab attention by surprising them

Concrete – ensuring the idea can be grasped & recalled

Credible – give an idea believability

Emotional – help people see the importance of an idea

Stories… - empower people to use the idea through a narrative

JFK – SUCCES MODEL?

“I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. No single space project will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the long term exploration of space.”- John F. Kennedy, Address to Congress, 1961.

WHAT ABT MR.MODI?

“As a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi, let’s aim to free India from open defecation and open drains by creating a ‘Swach Bharat’ before his 150th birthday in 2019 through the construction of over 800 million toilets and setting up modern sewage systems.”- Narendra Modi, 2014.

WHAT ABOUT WYNK

Why it landed well in India? Will it continue to scale?

Simple – OTT app built by Airtel (advantages in both)

Unexpected – wait… you guys are NOT screwing us?

Concrete – user experience, stability, moods, pricing, no bill shock

Credible – Vodafone Music VS. Wynk by Airtel

Emotional – legacy of music as well as innovation within Bharti

Stories… - piracy is 4x bigger, can you wynk me the song, employee videos, price of enjoying music etc.

10PRODUCT

PRINCIPLES

#YahanSeKharido

tenets to live by.

Build and support products that your family and friends will enjoy and that you will be proud to show them.• Why keep it subjective?• Pride as a motivator, love as a motivator • Google Vs. Yahoo

Focus on painkillers, rather than vitamins. Look for “ten figure” ideas that move the needle.• Which medicines do you remember to take? • Stopping a man in the street in Bihar to explain an idea

in 30 secs.• Why 10-figure ideas are better to go after

Simple > Pretty. Strive for Simplicity. Perfect is the enemy of simple. • What is an ugly product that you love? Why? • When do you launch? What is a good V1? • How can we support a product team launching a V1?

“When you need to go fast, go alone. When you need to go far, go together.”• Collaborating and how to build LT partnerships? • Internal VS. external partners

If you torture data hard enough, it will tell you whatever you need to hear.• Better horse buggies vs. automobiles • How to rely on “signals” • Analysis VS. Paralysis

Trouble our employees, not our users.• Quality checks, and holding each other accountable. • Your customers are NOT your QA team (except in rare

instances)

404s are your enemy.

It takes a hundred NOs to say a single YES. Don’t be afraid to prioritize on behalf of users.• We are a surrogate decision maker for our users • Apple deciding to take Flash out of iPhone • Saying NO without making it personal. Clear Reasons.

Do not look for the NOs in the organization. • Asking questions to which the answer can be NO. • Advocacy vs. pushing an agenda

Solve one problem fully, as opposed to two problems partially. • Earning the right to solve bigger problems for users • PeopleSoft

THANK YOU & QUESTIONS.

#YahanSeKharido