Better Product

What happens when your audience doesn’t use your product like you anticipated they would?

If you’re like Stephanie Ragozzino, you evolve your solution to deliver the right user experience. Stephanie is the EVP of Product Development at PERQ, which leverages Artificial Intelligence to help guide buyers through complex purchase decisions.

PERQ wasn’t always a digital product company, but they had a vision for how a product could elevate their existing service business. When Stephanie joined, she took this vision and turned it into a usable and marketable product. However, the journey to identifying and building the right product didn’t happen overnight.

In this week’s conversation, you’ll hear how Stephanie was able to continually evolve PERQ’s product offering to deliver true value to its end user. She also shares her insights on how a great product may be great, but without the right support staff (i.e. sales and marketing), the product means nothing: It just becomes another tool. 

• Connect with Stephanie
• Learn more about PERQ
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Having a product-market fit doesn’t guarantee sales, and sometimes, founders find out the hard way.

Jon Gilman started Clear Software with a clear vision of who his end users were. That vision had to shift as he quickly learned he was selling to the wrong audience. His messaging wasn’t resonating, and his demos weren’t converting. Instead of closing up shop, he changed his go-to-market strategy to deliver in the enterprise space.   Join Christian and Anna as they discuss how Jon navigates the complex sale to drive value for his end users.

• Connect with Jon
• Learn more about Clear Software
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Throughout Season One of Better Product, we’ve been fortunate to have some amazing guests on our show from product marketers, to head of products, to the CEOs who run these organizations. One thing we ask all our guests is, what is better product?

We’ve sourced some amazing answers and as a way to close out our first season, we are sharing the answers to this now infamous question with you.

So, what does Better Product mean to you?

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Can you turn a services business into a digital product company without losing the human element?

Sally Reasoner had this same question when Ascend decided to build a product with the goal of serving their customers better. Ascend’s mission is to connect college students to the right job opportunities.

Join Christian and Anna on this week’s show as they discuss how companies can use products to scale without sacrificing personalization. From Sally’s viewpoint, the product enabled their growing organization to provide better service without losing the personal touch, which drives partnerships and relationships.

In this episode, you’ll hear Ascend’s approach to taking customer feedback and how they use it to fuel improvements on all levels of the business. We go beyond the product to uncover how technology and people can truly work together to deliver on the company’s value proposition.  

• Connect with Sally
• Learn more about Ascend
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

How do you start a tech company when you don’t have a tech background?

That’s the position Carrie Griffith was in when she started Little Nugget, a baby photo app that helps parents personalize, organize and treasure their favorite moments.

This week on the Better Product podcast, we’re breaking down the process of bringing a product vision to life when you’re not a ‘tech person.’

Carrie was her own user case study, yet she quickly learned the power of research and connecting with a community outside of her existing circle. So before a line of code was ever created, she spent nine months asking questions, seeking feedback, and understanding her audience.

Some of the best tech companies have non-tech founders. In this episode, you’ll hear what unique advantage you may have and how you, too, can bring your product vision to life.

• Connect with Carrie
• Learn more about Little Nugget
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

How do you balance the old with the new? For product companies, knowing your audience and continually evaluating your portfolio is key to driving value for your users.

This week on Better Product, we are talking with Amy Reitz (@AmyReitz), General Manager of the Intersect™ product line at Hobsons, which offers a recruitment optimization platform for higher ed admissions offices.

On this episode, you’ll hear why Hobsons was forced to take a step back because their portfolio, made up of more than 80 products, was in conflict - the story no longer made sense.

Going beyond the financial drivers for scaling down their product line, Amy shares how the team reexamined its vision and mission to differentiate in the marketplace.

Find out how Amy and her team decided which products to keep, which ones to retire, and why.  

• Connect with Amy
• Learn more about Hobsons
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

How do you build an audience when you don’t yet have a product?

This week on the Better Product podcast, we’re talking with Dave Gerhardt (@davegerhardt), VP of Marketing at Drift and author of Conversational Marketing. When Dave, a.k.a “DG”, started with Drift, there was no product. Yet his first assignment was to build an audience. So, how did he do it?

He started by asking questions. Just like when you go to build your product, you talk to who you think the end user is. You ask them questions, you seek to understand their pain. Then you build, or, in this case, you create the content.

You’ll learn how DG focused his content to serve their future product users. In doing so, he built an established audience who already trusted Drift as a brand. So when it was time to launch the product, they already had users in place.

If you feel like you’re fighting a product feature war - or just struggling with marketing in general - this episode is a must-listen.

• Connect with Dave
• Learn more about Drift
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

How can you build a product based on feedback and observations, all while staying true to the problem you’re trying to solve in the first place?

On this week’s episode of Better Product, you’ll hear from Rod Feuer, Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Costello, an AI-driven software platform designed to help salespeople sell better.

When it comes to Rod’s target market, he knows his users. He understands exactly what they do, how they do it, the way they make decisions, and what is important to them.

In this episode, you’ll learn how Rod and his team eagerly seek feedback - listening to their customers and not just doing what they say, but taking it a step further, interpreting it based on their knowledge of these users’ behavior and needs.

If you’re struggling with your product-market fit - or what that even means - this episode is for you.

• Connect with Rod
• Learn more about Costello
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

What matters most when it comes to digital product? Is it design? Is it the features? The functions? Or is it marketing?

Cara Wagner (@cara_saur) is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Mimir, a software company that grows the software engineering workforce through its core product, Mimir Classroom.

In this episode, Cara digs into how to develop marketing strategies for your product.

You’ll also hear a brand new perspective on how product companies should think about marketing and PR. If you’re part of a startup or product company, you should start thinking about incorporating PR into your long-term marketing plans.

If you’re looking to learn how to develop compelling marketing methods for a highly technical product, this episode is a must-listen.

• Connect with Cara
• Learn more about Mimr
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

When is the right time to build a new product? And who should lead the charge: Sales or product? What features should you build and when? These are the questions we explore in this week’s episode.

We’re talking to Jeremy Leventhal, Chief Product Officer for Springbuk, a health analytics software company.

You’ll hear product management best practices and Jeremy’s insight when it comes to first to market versus best in market. Learn how he managed a complex roadmap for launching a new product.

You’ll also hear from Innovatemap’s Lacey Lavies (Innovatemap’s product management and strategy expert) on how to handle and react to customer feedback. No matter what your level of experience, this conversation with Jeremy is a must-listen for product managers.

• Connect with Jeremy
• Learn more about Springbuk
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap