One of the product questions entrepreneurs need to ask themselves early on is if they’re going to go deep or broad with the application. In general, as customers ask for new features, they have a tendency to be broader requests (e.g. can you add adjacent feature XYZ?). Keep in mind the importance of product focus, especially the part about being opinionated.
Here are a few questions to ask when considering going deep or broad:
- Is this product a point solution or a platform (everyone wants to be a platform but point solutions are much more common)?
- Does this feature request strengthen an existing feature or does it introduce a new concept?
- Are customers asking for more product depth or more product breadth, generally?
- Does the product roadmap reflect more depth or breadth? Is that direction intentional?
- How does depth and breadth reflect reflect the current customer base vs the desired customer base (e.g. entrepreneurs often want to expand upmarket over time)?
Entrepreneurs would do well to think through their product strategy when it comes to going deep or broad with the application. Deep is the more common successful route.
What else? What are some more thoughts on going deep or broad with the product?
David Cummings on Startups 