Get Focused Set your market focus, chart the path,
and dominate your space

Our Top Level Approach Is Built On Focus

FOCUS

What are you better at than anyone else? What area of the market are you trying to own? Is your focus rooted in solving your market’s biggest pain points? Without this foundational focus, growing your product to the next level is almost impossible.

COMMON STRUGGLES

LACK OF VISION

SHIFTING & UNCLEAR GOALS

VAGUE TARGET MARKET

LOTS OF #1 PRIORITIES

NO LENS FOR SAYING 'NO'

TEAMS SPREAD TOO THIN

PLAN

Do you have a plan for pursuing the best product opportunities? Do you have difficulties aligning and committing to strategic product plans? Without a sound strategy and an effective way to prioritize opportunities, precious team bandwidth goes to waste.

COMMON STRUGGLES

FUZZY STRATEGY

SHIFTING PRIORITIES

REACTIVE ROADMAP PROCESS

LACK OF TRUE CUSTOMER DISCOVERY

'TOP DOWN' INNOVATION

DATA NOT DRIVING DECISIONS

EXECUTE

Do you have effective and scalable execution processes? Are your team and customers prepared to leverage new innovation? Are you driving customer value? As you grow it's critical to have high performing execution, delivery and optimization techniques.

COMMON STRUGGLES

LONG BUILD CYCLES, WEAK RESULTS

SOLUTIONS NOT MATCHING PLANS

UNDERWHELMING MARKET DELIVERY

LACK OF TEAM TRUST

UNREALIZED PRODUCT VALUE

NOT MEASURING SUCCESS

GROW

These simple, yet powerful, fundamentals drive sustained and scalable Product growth for years to come. Whether you need help with certain pieces or comprehensive assistance, we offer customizable services to guide your path to growth.

IMPACT

CLEAR VISION & GOALS

COMPANY ALIGNMENT

SMART PRODUCT INVESTMENTS

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT

TRUE VALUE CREATION

DELIGHTED CUSTOMERS

Learn More About Our Services

Operationalizing Focus To Create Customer Value

Once a high level focus and strategy is in place, we'll guide you through an iterative process for delivering customer value through disciplined market validation and risk mitigation of your Product roadmap. With this approach, our goal is to maximize market impact by validating (or invalidating) new potential Product value as early and efficiently as possible.

PHASE 1 > MAXIMIZE CONFIDENCE IN CUSTOMER VALUE

1

PROBLEM VALIDATION

Is There a Real and Pervasive Customer Problem?

How It Works

Problem Validation

What Is It?

The first step is conducting internal and/or external customer validation that provides high confidence that the Epic's target problem for the target user is painful enough and worth solving now. Tactics can include problem validation interviews (preferred) and surveys.

As learnings occur, the Product Opportunity Brief is updated appropriately. If there is not enough compelling evidence that there's a big enough problem to solve, the Epic should be de-prioritized or eliminated altogether.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner) & Product Designer

2

SOLUTION KICKOFF

Introduce The Concept To The Broader Team

How It Works

Solution Kickoff

What Is It?

Now that you have evidence that the problem is worth solving, bring the cross-functional Product team together to  introduce the new concept using the Product Opportunity Brief as the core vehicle for communication.

The goal of this step is to help Engineering understand the who, what and why behind the opportunity and get feedback / input that will help to guide the solution design (esp. any technical constraints or guidance that needs to be factored in). Engineers may also have good ideas on how to approach the solution, features that could / should be included, etc.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner) & Full Product Team

3

SOLUTION DESIGN

Design a Loveable Solution To The Problem

How It Works

Solution Design

What Is It?

Now it's time to start designing a solution that can be validated with target users. This is an iterative process led by the Product Manager (often in partnership with the Designer and sometimes Engineers) to create a solution concept that aims to address the target problem(s), features and success measures defined in the Product Opportunity Brief.

If there's a visual component to the solution, the design is usually presented in the form of mockups or a UX prototype (or sometimes functioning software if it's required for appropriate learning).  The solution doesn’t necessarily have to be presented as a visual design as long as the solution can be communicated effectively (e.g., set of solution requirements) in order to capture the internal and external validation required to mitigate the biggest risks.

Each iteration of Solution Design is typically accompanied by an iteration on Solution Validation (next step).

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner), Product Designer & Engineers

4

SOLUTION VALIDATION

Validate The Solution With Target Users

How It Works

Solution Validation

What Is It?

Every iteration of a potential solution is validated internally and / or externally with the goal of increasing confidence (and minimizing risk) of the potential solution with respect to the target problem(s) and success measures.

There will typically be certain areas of the solution that carry more risk (i.e., confidence is softer) and these are the areas that should be the primary focus of Solution Validation.

Each validation session should be driven by the prioritized list of target risks and a corresponding script to drive the desired feedback.

Feedback participants should ideally include actual end-users but can also include internal proxies for end-users (e.g., internal employees) as an efficient backup. Internal engineering feedback should also be incorporated from a technical feasibility perspective.

Depending on the learnings coming out of the validation feedback, Solution Design may require iteration and another round of Solution Validation will be performed until the PM and Designer have confidence that the solution will drive high enough customer value.

Depending on the scope of the solution and embedded risk, this iterative process can often require many iterations. But, it is time well spent.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner), Product Designer and Other Team Members (optional)

PHASE 2 > MAXIMIZE CONFIDENCE IN MARKET DELIVERY

5

BREAKDOWN & BUILD

Create And Execute An Efficient Build Path 

How It Works

Breakdown & Build

What Is It?

Once there's high enough confidence in the solution based on the Solution Design & Validation process, the solution is ready to be built using Agile methodologies.

The first step typically involves the entire cross-functional Product team where the goal is to break down the solution into consumable chunks so that the Engineering team can create and execute an efficient, high quality build plan.

Once a build plan is created, the build is staged out across one or more upcoming Sprints to be completed. Similar to the Solution Validation phase, build steps and effort will often need to be re-assessed once work begins and implementation learning occurs.

After each Sprint, the remaining work is re-assessed and the remaining plan is adjusted accordingly.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner) & Full Product Team

6

LIMITED RELEASE

Start Slow to Optimize Broad Market Delivery 

How It Works

Limited Release

What Is It?

Once you have a usable, early version of the solution, a Limited Release (sometimes called "Beta") with a small number of customers at least 4 weeks prior to full release, can help to:

1) Garner early success stories and testimonials that can be leveraged for the full rollout

2) Iron out remaining rough edges (e.g., bugs) that may significantly impact first-impression usage upon full rollout.

Limited Release programs require substantial Engineering investment to launch, so it’s vital that Solution Validation has been properly completed prior to this stage to avoid major rework.

The Limited Release is led by the Product Manager and is typically done in partnership with members of Customer Success team (for customer recruiting and early support education) and sometimes the Marketing team (for awareness to drive recruitment among customers).

Once Limited Release customer participants have been selected, a kickoff meeting is conducted with each participant to introduce the new product / feature, and set goals, timelines and expectations of the program (including the expectation of usage and feedback by the participant).

Any pre-defined success metrics should be captured as part of Limited Release usage and used as the main barometer for early success stories (in addition to qualitative user feedback).

Any key learnings will be assessed by the Product team and may be acted upon prior to Full Market Release or prioritized for the future. 

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner), Customer Success, Marketing

7

FULL MARKET RELEASE

Maximize Awareness And Adoption of New Innovation

How It Works

Full Market Release

What Is It?

Once you're feeling good about your Limited Release and have the desired early feedback and testimonials, you're ready for the Full Market Release to your entire customer base.  Depending on the scope of the innovation, this can be done by itself or as part of a broader release of several new features. And, depending on the size of your customer base, this may happen all at once or staged out gradually over several days / weeks.

The Full Release will be accompanied by product marketing tactics that serve to maximize initial adoption (email campaigns, in-app notifications, etc.), internal enablement training and documentation to help Sales / CS / Ops effectively sell, install and support the new functionality...and end-user documentation to optimize user adoption and value.

You'll also want to make sure you're set up to broadly and efficiently gather the right metrics to gauge success as usage starts ramping up.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner), Product Team, Release Manager, Marketing, Customer Success, Sales, Operations

8

POST RELEASE OPTIMIZATION

Make Vital Improvements Based on Success Measures

How It Works

Post Release Optimization

What Is It?

Last, but certainly not least, it's essential to monitor and capture ongoing success metrics across the user base to assess how well the new innovation is performing overall, and generate insights on potential improvements going forward. The goal is to continue optimization until the original success goals have been attained. 

The success data is typically shared with the broader Product team for awareness, and potentially more broadly across the business to help key stakeholders understand how recent innovations are performing.

Depending on potential impact, resulting optimization efforts may be fed directly into upcoming Sprint schedules or funneled into longer term roadmap priorities.

Tactics for capturing pertinent feedback include automated behavioral data, user feedback surveys and / or 1:1 feedback conversations.

Who's Involved?

Product Manager (owner) & Full Product Team

TESTIMONIALS FROM TOP BRANDS AND STARTUPS

"Simply put, Don was a game changer for us. He was instrumental in driving the greater product strategy, as well as guiding teams and individuals in the day to day execution and delivery. His critical thinking, relentless work ethic, and obsessive commitment to delivering amazing products were critical to our company’s growth. Don has a rare passion and gift for helping teams deliver amazing products – we were lucky to have him on our side!"

COOPER BANE, CO-FOUNDER

BOOMTOWN

"SurgePath was critical in helping us implement the necessary strategic frameworks, processes and disciplines to help our team focus and scale as we transitioned to a cross-functional mission team organization and true Agile SCRUM. We were able to make a huge positive impact in a very short amount of time."

BEN ARMSTRONG, VP PRODUCT

K4CONNECT

"Don is one of those rare product visionaries and strategists that every company needs...He is simply the best product leader I’ve had the privilege to work with in my 20+ years in technology and I strongly recommend him to any company who is looking to get their Product or Product team to the next level."

CHRIS HUMPHRES, CO-FOUNDER & CTO

WINDSOR CIRCLE (ACQUIRED BY WHATCOUNTS IN 2018)

"SurgePath brings to bear a set of skills, experience and attitude that are enormously beneficial and have been a welcome addition to our product management and strategy disciplines. I can confidently say that our product is in a far better place with SurgePath than it would have been otherwise."

CHUCK JAYNES, DIRECTOR OF ENGINEERING

iCONTACT (ACQUIRED BY J2 GLOBAL IN 2019)

"Don has the rare ability to lead at the level of strategic prioritization and also drive effective processes to ensure each iteration is better than the last. In one instance he helped us cut ⅔’s of our scope and still deliver the core value to our users - it’s hard to think of a better investment than his ruthless prioritization that helped us ship a great product 3x faster."

MIKE SCHNEIDER, CO-FOUNDER & CEO

FIRST (ACQUIRED BY REMAX IN 2019)

"Don had a huge impact in a short period of time both strategically and at the roadmap-level by spearheading our 2020 strategic planning process and integrating valuable processes and frameworks into our product management discipline. I would heartily recommend Don to anyone looking for a fresh outside perspective on their product strategy."

RICHARD WHITE, CO-FOUNDER & CEO

USERVOICE

"Don’s clear command of product management helped us immensely as he kept asking "who’s the perfect customer", "what’s the perfect outcome for the customer", and "let’s move from minimum viable product to minimum loveable product". He has made huge contributions, for which I am very grateful."

MATT WILLIAMSON, CO-FOUNDER & CEO

WINDSOR CIRCLE (ACQUIRED BY WHATCOUNTS IN 2018)

"Don's team's research was comprehensive and thorough, and their recommendations were excellent. We adopted nearly all of them."

STEVE HARBULA, SENIOR DIRECTOR OF MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS

DENVER BRONCOS

"SurgePath’s process orientation really helped us to make sense of complex tasks like shepherding our product roadmap and continually iterating with feedback from our key customers. Their guidance forced us to ask ourselves the tough questions that we really needed to answer."

JESS MARTIN, CTO

FIRST (ACQUIRED BY REMAX IN 2019)

Let's Start Growing Your Product

 

We've had success with some great SaaS companies. We have a passion for helping more.

Let's chat - we'd love to help you!

Contact Us