Product Initiatives and Executive Buy-In

I recently posted that the book The Startup User’s Manual by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf is an essential resource in how I approach products.

Products, in my mind, are each a startup business within an organization.

One of the most valuable sections in this book is Appendix A, containing over forty detailed checklists of items to address when developing your product, taking it to market, and transitioning out of “Startup Mode” - which should be the objective of every startup, or product.

The first checklist in this Appendix - Board and Management Buy-In - is perhaps the most important, and most overlooked, step in developing and maintaining a successful product.

Ultimately, without genuine Executive Buy-In, your initiative is likely to fail.

Is The Green Light Truly Green?

The start of a new product initiative is a time of great excitement.  Visions of grandeur fill the founder’s heads and everyone is itching to go.  A simple whiff of leadership approval often results in a product team diving into their development work.

However, a product leader needs to ask themselves “Is the green light truly green?”

I have learned - and relearned - this lesson throughout my career.  Every time I’ve gotten burned still stings.

In one recent instance, the market research, web analytics, and my product intuition all indicated that the time was right to introduce a particular product to market.  I got out of the building, conducted the customer and market discovery, identified a compelling value proposition, and built a business model that accurately captured the scalability, repeatability, and high margin profile of this opportunity.

I presented this business model to senior leadership.  They exhibited excitement with statements like “This looks fantastic,” “We need to do this,”  and “These margins contribute more to our bottom line than contracts triple their size.”

I left the room believing that I had a green light.

Our team and partners quickly got to work, rapidly producing a lo-res Minimal Viable Product, reiterating the product and its value proposition based on real-world feedback,  and identified a half-dozen short-term prospects.

I updated leadership on our progress and their excitement seemed to grow.

We then landed Customer #1 and successfully deployed this still-evolving product, validating our deal size  and gross margin projections.  Customers 2 and 3 were waiting in the wings.  It was time to finish the product and close contracts.

I then went back to senior leadership to get the funding to complete the product and execute our Go To Market strategy.  Everything was in line with my prior presentations.  There were no surprises.  However, the presentation was met with blank stares.

Ultimately, the investment never came.  This caused tremendous disappointment and some reputational harm with our partners and prospective customers.

The green light was never really green.

Establishing Measurements and Setting Expectations

My mistake as a product leader was in not adhering to the details of the first checklist - Board and Management Buy-In - in The Startup User’s Manual.  Specific checklist items I misread included:

• Is there board and founding team buy-in?

• Is there enough funding for Discovery and Validation? 

• Agreement on Discovery Exit criteria.

• Agreement on Validation Exit criteria.

• Buy-in of the team and board on the Customer Development process.

I errantly believed that we had checked all of these boxes.  In retrospect, I should have included a slide covering each of these points and gotten irrefutable agreement from the leadership team.

Maintaining and Monitoring Executive Buy-In Over Time

When I look back on this experience, I still wonder if something - unbeknownst to me - had changed?

In business, things change.  As a product leader, you need to maintain a regular cadence of touchpoints with leadership and remain in constant contact with your champion on that leadership team.  This will help you avoid unpleasant surprises.

Although maintaining and monitoring executive buy-in requires a considerable time and emotional commitment from a product leader, it is part of the price of admission for innovation.

I have also found that it is important to maintain a healthy paranoia about Executive Buy-In. Too often have I witnessed great product initiatives die due to shifts in business direction.

My best advice is keep your eyes wide open, be a keen listener, and never take executive buy-in for granted.