#37: Time-Tested Tips for Building Winning Products from Powderkeg’s Kevin Bailey and Robert Harris

My ongoing search for the best and brightest tech entrepreneurs outside Silicon Valley leads me to a lot of remarkable founders building incredible companies all around the world. But for this episode of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups, I decided I’d look closer to home and consult with a few gifted minds inside my very own office. Robert Harris and Kevin Bailey are my colleagues at Powderkeg and its parent company, Verge, and they’re also two of the smartest and most talented people I know. They both have years of experience scaling tech companies and launching multi-million dollar products, and I’m thrilled to have them serving now as my CTO and CMO, respectively. I can personally testify they’ve both done amazing work over the past few months building a new and exciting product of our own (but that’s a story for another day). Harris, Bailey and I go deep into all things product-related in this episode. From identifying market opportunities to building the first MVP and evolving the product to meet business needs, we touch on many of the important decisions you’ll need to consider throughout your product’s life cycle. As an added bonus, the two also share some exciting and hilarious stories of their past adventures in entrepreneurship and product creation. Enjoy the episode, and don’t forget to thank Harris and Bailey on Twitter @ilaunchtech and @KevinJBailey for sharing some of the wisdom and advice they’ve accumulated over the course of their impressive careers. And you should definitely consider updating your reading list with a few of the outstanding business books they recommend! In this episode with Robert Harris and Kevin Bailey, you’ll learn: -- All about their first experiences with product development -- The power of a guiding ideal, or “north star,” for your business or product -- Why you sometimes have to fundamentally change your business to scale effectively -- The role knowledge and intuition play in leading a business -- Expert advice on validating a product and identifying your target market -- Great products you can use as inspiration and guideposts in your own product development -- Their top three business book recommendations ---- Download show notes and transcripts at www.powderkeg.com This episode of Powder Keg is brought to you by DeveloperTown. If you’re a business leader trying to turn a great idea into a product with traction, this is for you. DeveloperTown works with clients ranging from entrepreneurs to Fortune 100 companies who want to build and launch an app or digital product. They’re able to take the process they use with early stage companies to help big companies move like a startup. So if you have an idea for a web or mobile app, or need help identifying the great ideas within your company, go to developertown.com/powderkeg. Thanks again to everyone who has shared an episode of Powderkeg, subscribed to us on iTunes, or left us a review. It’s the only way we’re going to spread this message and reach new people and we could do it without you. We’re coming out with new episodes every Tuesday, so make sure you subscribe on iTunes or at powderkeg.co/itunes