Why your SaaS product isn't successful?

For all of us who create products (SaaS) or online services, whether B2B or B2C, it's a common experience that our brilliant idea doesn't achieve the success we want, or when we want it to. Some may never achieve it, others almost never, and a fortunate few occasionally do ;)

And this doesn't just happen to small businesses, because even the "unicorns" aren't exempt, as seen with Google and its failed products (Glass, Lively, Buzz, Google+, Reader, Wave...). Closer to home, without making invidious comparisons, we have Spanish startups or those founded by Spaniards that have to close or adjust their plans to face harsh realities. If you follow Twitter or X, you've probably heard that several high-profile Spanish startups have laid off a significant portion of their development and product management teams to "meet" their promises to investors.

The harsh reality is that from the big players to the small ones, many mistakes in product execution and planning are made by not adhering to product management phases and their associated actions when necessary, and unfortunately, it's not the fault of the budget or the market, but rather the responsibility lies with those in charge.

Let's analyze some of the main problems that need to be addressed:

1. Lack of Market Focus: Product Managers can struggle to understand the real market needs and develop a product that meets customer demands. There are two types of Product Managers in this scenario: The Visionary PM: They don't need customer feedback or validation tests and never make mistakes. The Reactive PM: They only take action when prompted by higher-ups or when customers complain about application issues.
2. Poor Requirement and Priority Management: Product Managers without a clear strategy or facing frequent goal changes will find it difficult to make decisions and cause delays in development. Gathering requirements isn't an easy task; it should provide all the information the development team needs, such as a clear definition, data worked on, impacts, integrations, credentials, acceptance criteria, etc. Without this, the development team is burdened with research tasks that are not their responsibility. The recommended option is to have a Product Owner working closely with the Product Manager to efficiently manage this process.
3. Weak Planning and Estimation: Development teams can struggle to plan and estimate work due to unclear specifications and frequent changes in requirements. As mentioned in other posts, any planning is a "fallacy," although we are obligated to make an estimate. These estimates MUST be based on data, such as sprint development velocity, epics per sprint, or release data, to make informed estimates. Anything else is unprofessional.
4. Inefficient Communication: Inefficient communication between the Product Manager and the development team leads to misunderstandings, poorly defined goals, and difficulties in meeting product expectations. There are cases where a Product Manager provides a 5-minute explanation and expects the development team to understand what needs to be done and commit to deadlines. If you want to demand, you must first give (knowing how to give). Otherwise, you won't get what you want no matter how much you ask or demand.
5. Lack of Alignment Between the Team and Product Goals: Development teams may find themselves working on objectives that contradict business interests due to ineffective communication or a lack of shared vision. There is no greater detriment than a development team left "orphaned" without proper Product Management guidance. The primary mission of the Product Manager is to maintain a shared vision with the project's goal.
6. Disorganized Technical Development: A lack of organized structure in technical development leads to messy and hard-to-maintain code, increasing costs, technical debt, and long-term complexity. When the team lacks technical leadership and autonomous self-organization, chaos grows exponentially, and every day of work generates 10 days of technical debt. Multiply that by each team member, and you can imagine the cost this entails.
7. Limited Resources: Startups, in general, may face limitations in financial and human resources. This affects their ability to hire and retain talent, acquire suitable tools or technologies, and carry out product development initiatives at the most appropriate times for the business.
8. Pressure for Rapid Launch: Pressure to launch the product quickly can lead to skipping crucial development and testing stages, resulting in a low-quality product and poor customer satisfaction.

To overcome these problems, startups must focus on improving internal communication, proper planning, effective leadership, involving users in the development stage, and prioritizing market focus and customer satisfaction. Additionally, adopting agile methodologies can help address some of these challenges and facilitate more effective product development management.