The graveyard of product ideas

I’ve got a folder on my computer I call the “Graveyard.”

It’s where all our doomed product ideas rest in peace for eternity. Some corpses were dumped at the research stage, but there are also fully developed products that were ready to launch—the Domain, tutorials, landing page, and the whole circus.

A lot of these ended up there because we didn’t find any interesting angle to win the competition, or they were not nearly as brilliant as they seemed during last night’s, erm, ‘spirited’ discussions.

The most significant criterion, however, is that if we are not using it every day, we don’t want to launch it.

It doesn’t mean it’s a lousy product or a bad idea; it just means I’m not the guy to bring it to market. A product needs to solve a real problem for the user. If I am not that user, I wouldn’t understand the pain firsthand, and I wouldn’t be able to do justice to it. It’s as simple as that.

Here are some other lessons learned.

• Product development is only 30% of the battle.
• If you can’t sell a screenshot, you won’t be able to sell the product.
• Don’t fall in love with your idea. Remember, love is blind! Even when it is for ideas.

Have a great Friday, everyone.