How to build the $100M Product

Let’s talk about the strategies that can help us build a product that could eventually be worth over $100 million. This isn't about the specific tactics, processes, or technology behind it—it's about figuring out a strategy that will lead to a $100 million exit.

Before we dive into the three main concepts, let’s first define what makes a $100 million product. To build a scalable product, it needs to be simple. It should be easy for users to use, of course, but it should also be easy to buy, support, develop new features for, and even talk about. Your grandparents should be able to understand what your product does. Users and buyers shouldn't have to worry about security or need special training to use your product. A $100 million product also needs to have obvious value. You shouldn’t have to force it on buyers. You should be able to say, “Hey, do you have this problem? Great, we solve it. Let me show you how!” Value can be subjective, but we’ll get into that later. Lastly, our $100 million product needs to be doable. With our skills, knowledge, and time, we should actually be able to make this happen. Once you nail down these traits, you can start creating your $100 million product roadmap.

So, what is a product roadmap, and why do you need one? First, let’s clear this up—your roadmap is not the same as your backlog. They’re different things, and that’s why they have different names. Your backlog is a list of features, bugs, and tasks that your engineering team needs to work on. Your roadmap, on the other hand, is a strategic tool you use to communicate a plan. It’s important because it helps you motivate your internal teams, work with partners, and show your customers that you have a vision. Too often, companies use their roadmaps to overpromise features that never get done. If you can only deliver 4-5 major features a year, own it. What are the 4-5 features that your customers and partners care about the most? What features bring in the most revenue? You can’t have everything—you need to get critical and decide what’s most important for your ideal customer. Your roadmap won’t include every single feature, bug, or task, but it will highlight the big, important items that you're going to deliver, all tied together with a common theme.

Roadmaps should include the following:

1. Goals - Every epic or feature should have a clear business goal that benefits your end customer.

2. Measurable Outcomes - What are the tangible results for your customers? Did they gain leads or get solutions? You need to be able to clearly communicate these outcomes to them.

3. Vision - What is your vision for your product this year? Make sure your roadmap reflects this.

4. Be Achievable - Ideas are cheap; what matters is your ability to execute them. If you commit to doing four things, make sure you do all four—five if you can manage it. If you constantly promise to deliver 20 things but only manage to complete five, you'll lose trust, and your reputation will suffer.

3 Steps to Build the $100M Product Roadmap

Step 1: Identify Your Customers' Problems
It's easy to get stuck in an endless cycle of feature requests, so it's crucial to step back and look at the bigger picture. Have a system in place to log all feature requests, but don't just list them—understand what your customers are trying to accomplish. What problems are they trying to solve? Use methods like the "5 Whys" to dig deeper, but be tactful to avoid frustrating your customers. The goal is to uncover the underlying problems, document them, and then develop a feature that addresses multiple issues at once. Trying to fulfill every single feature request will overwhelm you. Remember, your customers rely on you for your expertise—show them a better way to solve their problems.

Step 2: Perform a Sniff Test
Once you've defined the problems, brainstorm some potential solutions. Develop a "good, better, best" approach and get a detailed estimate of the effort required for each option. While there are always trade-offs, the team needs to decide how much you're willing to invest to solve the problem. Make sure there's a clear return on investment (ROI) for each solution to help guide your decision. Evaluate the effort involved and weigh it against the potential value.

Value can be subjective, but it's crucial to know which problem your business is focusing on solving. Are you struggling to acquire new customers? Having issues with customer retention? Dealing with tech debt? Identify your core challenges. Your company should have primary objectives for the year, and it’s impossible to tackle all of them at once. In Q1, you might concentrate on time to value, while in Q3, your focus could shift to acquiring new customers to align with your ideal customer profile’s buying cycle. Remember, with a small team, you can’t do everything.

To help define value, consider two main things: your current objective (like new revenue, time to value, or retention) and your ideal customer profile (ICP). Every company has a variety of customers, but some have a better customer acquisition cost (CAC) to lifetime value (LTV) ratio than others. Focus on these high-value customers and prioritize their needs. You might have a large customer bringing in significant revenue, but if their needs don’t align with your ICP, carefully consider whether to invest in their requests. It’s okay to “fire” customers if they push you in a direction that doesn’t benefit your overall customer base. If you have a plan to acquire similar high-value customers, that’s different. Ultimately, you need a strategy to attract new customers and retain the ones you already have.

Once you have estimates for both effort and value, you should plot them out to help visualize your strategy.

Step 3: Prioritize Your Features

This is where we build the roadmap. I'm a fan of the Now/Next/Later framework, even though I know it’s not always popular with sales and customer success teams. But think about it—if you have small teams, would you prefer they spend their time building the product or just creating estimates? Do your customers care more about knowing when something might happen, or do they care about having a working product? Large companies can afford to make detailed Gantt charts all day because they have teams dedicated to that. Your teams, however, are also the ones building the product.

Using our value/effort plot, we should prioritize items in the top right quadrant first, then move to those in the top left. Occasionally, you might need to address items in the bottom quadrants, but these should be crucial tasks like handling tech debt or security issues. While these tasks are important, they don’t directly contribute to increased revenue.

We’ll communicate to our teams what’s being worked on now, what’s coming next, and what’s planned for later. You might also have a list of ideas that you’ve noted and acknowledged but that just don’t fit into the current roadmap.

Recap

To create a $100M product roadmap, focus on these three key areas:

1. Log Your Customers' Problems - Dig deep to understand the root causes behind feature requests, identify patterns, and design solutions that address multiple issues at once.

2. Plot Them Out - Create rough estimates for effort and value based on your business objectives for the year.

3. Prioritize - Clearly communicate what is most important for the team to focus on and achieve.