A long time ago, after a disappointing personal failure, someone told me: “Steve, there are no failures, there are only results. Sometimes you get what you want, and sometimes you get what you need—specifically, information about how to get what you want. Both results are helpful.” This changed my whole attitude on life. Instead of… Read More

“If you do not know where you’re going, any direction will do” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland We are often brought in to help with troubled product development projects that do not seem to be progressing as expected. You might expect that the reason for the lack of success would be poor technical skills in… Read More

What’s the most common complaint managers of small businesses have about product development projects: it always costs too much and takes too long. Albert Einstein once said: “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them”. If you want to reduce product development time and money, then you are almost… Read More

We often get calls asking if we can design a prototype, or, have you ever worked with the XYZ technology/IC/Software/etc. After a few probing questions, what we learn is that this company really needs a product developed, not a prototype designed—at least not yet. Developing a product is not the same as designing or building… Read More

The prototype is all done and it seems to work well. Now, how do you get the prototype manufactured reliably and at a reasonable cost? If you’re like a lot of small companies, this is not something you do all the time. Finish Line has done more than one thousand projects for more than 300… Read More

We often get calls asking if we can design a prototype, or, have we ever worked with the X Y Z technology? After a few probing questions, what we learn that this company need is a product developed, not a prototype designed—at least not yet. Developing a product is different than designing a product or… Read More

Some of the myths about raising money are all too familiar. “I just need to be introduced to the right person.” “I will put my idea on one of those crowdfunding platforms.” “Once my prototype is done, everyone will want to fund me.” Or, my favorite, “We will bootstrap with [students/interns/work for stock] people.” Raising… Read More

Small companies do not have significant sales volumes to offset development cost. They must keep product development budgets reasonable, without sacrificing quality. However, they often have smaller and inefficient teams. They also have less than complete processes and long product life cycles. What should a small company do? Here are the top 3 methods for… Read More

Some of the myths about raising money in a startup are all too familiar. “I just need to be introduced to the right person.” “I will put my idea on one of those crowdfunding platforms.” “Once my prototype is done, everyone will want to fund me.” Or, my favorite, “We will bootstrap with [students/interns/work for… Read More

A Requirements Document (RD) is the first step to creating a great product. Because it is the first step, an RD has the greatest leverage of all product development activities. A small error in the direction at this stage can make a big difference in were the product ultimately ends up. Good is the enemy… Read More