95% of new products fail.

Let that sink in.

This is a staggering number.

These figures come from the Harvard Business Review.

But every single one of these failed products share a few things in common.

The reasons for their failure.

Joan Schneider from HBR stated that the most common reason for the failure of new products launching is “lack of preparation”

Many companies will spend so much time designing or developing a product, without knowing if it is fit for market.

Why spend months, or years, building a product, if the end user doesn’t want, or need it.

Preparing for Success

The TfWL accelerator programme prepares our start-ups for success.

Success for building a fit-for-market solution that can be launched across TfWR.

A solution to help improve TfWR solve business problems. A solution that will allow them the start-up to launch a product and grow their business.

Week 2 of our accelerator programme covered product-innovation. The session was dedicated to guiding startups across a number of topics including:

  • Analysing why products fail.
  • Successful product launches, and the process behind these.
  • Identifying and maximising opportunities.
  • How to understand what the customer/user wants.
  • Methods of developing a product that is fit-for-market.

This was a session aimed at highlighting the reasons why products fail. Then, showcasing methods and strategies to avoid these and ensure success.

Exploring

Week 2 also gave our start-ups a chance to find out more about the challenge areas that they are looking to solve.

Start-ups met with their stakeholders to engage in a fact-find and explorative session.

These stakeholders will act as product sponsors, and products owners throughout the programme.

These will oversee the start-up projects and assist them with resources where needed.

Start-ups will continue developing their solutions over the duration of the programme, before pitching to TfWR stakeholders in week 11.

Follow @waleslab for more updates on progress within the TfWL programme.