Will your development team be able to create a great product?

Reading the book The Silicon Valley Way by Elton Sherwin. I came across an interesting test that is sure to help startupers look for weak spots and white spots in their future products.

For each question, put the following points:

• No and I do not plan - 0
• No, but I plan - 4
• Fifty percent true - 5
• Eighty percent true - 8
• Yes, absolutely right - 10

So, let's go:

1. Product description in one sentence
   Can you and your development team describe the product in accessible terms?
2. Intended Consumer
   Can you and your development team identify your intended consumer?
3. Background and operating environment
   Are the necessary conditions and operating environment of the consumer defined?
4. Production
   goals Are production goals written in plain language on one sheet?
5. Schemes and drawings.
   Is there a sketch of the product and the scheme of its work?
6. Information about competitors
   Are all the features of competitive products recorded along with the characteristics of your higher products?
7. Production Experience
   Do developers use your competitive product daily?
8. Action Plan
   Is there an action plan on one sheet with three to ten main steps?
9. Intended cost
   Will developers create an affordable product?
10. Ability to quickly and flexibly reproduce
    Are you going to use an iterative production process?
11. Marketing and Development Agreement
    Have the developers and sellers defined the project objectives?

Results:

More than 100 - too good to be true
90 - 100 - future winner
80 - 89 - a good start;
Less than 80 - requires further work; too much risk if you have three months left before graduation

About the author: Elton Sherwin investor and managing director of Ridgewood Capital in Palo Alto. Before joining the Ridgewood team, he managed the Motorola ventures office.