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independence4 unconnected · 1 more author in those circles
standing

contested · 10 claims against 5

applies to

b2b and consumer, no audience needed

mixed results

confidence

high

evidence

15 claims · 15 articles · 4 receipts

window

2018-04-02 → 2025-01-14

4 builders who never spoke to each other · contested

Concentrate on the product that already works

An hour spent growing the thing that already sells returns more than an hour taking something new from zero, so consolidate onto the winner, shut down or sell the rest, and expect one flagship to carry most of the revenue rather than a balanced portfolio. Resist the pivot suggestions that arrive when demand dips, since the likely outcome is a half-finished product with no traction draining the ones that work.

Where this splits

Consolidating onto the single product that works is argued against by builders who watched one product go to zero overnight, who count more than ninety percent of income in one place as a live risk, and who grew several small lines at once instead.

  1. side 01 · 10 claims

    Consolidate onto the one product that already sells

    Cory Zue · Glen Allsopp · Justin Jackson · Ron Stefanski

    1. 1Do not diversify into a second product to spread risk; an hour spent growing the product that already sells returns more than an hour taking a new one from zero.
    2. 2Put your effort into the product that already has traction and headroom rather than the newest one, even if the newest is more interesting to you.
    3. 3Once something is working, consolidate onto it and shut down or sell the rest, since spreading across products dilutes the quality of all of them.
    4. 4Expect one flagship product to carry the majority of revenue rather than a balanced portfolio, and plan the year's growth around it.
    5. 5Resist the pivot suggestions that arrive when a product's demand collapses; the likely outcome is a half-finished offering with no traction that drains your working projects.

  2. side 02 · 5 claims

    Run several products so one shock cannot sink you

    Cory Zue · Florin Pop · Justin Jackson

    1. 1Recognise the concentration risk in a portfolio where one product is over 90% of income, since a slump in that one product is a slump in everything.
    2. 2Do not let one product carry your income, because a consumer product tied to events can go to zero without warning.
    3. 3Diversify small revenue lines rather than waiting for one to work, and judge progress by doubling last year's number.
    4. 4Across a portfolio of formats the leverage sits in courses and channels, not necessarily in the SaaS.
    5. 5Run more than one product so a demand shock to your best one does not take your income with it.

What it returned

  • 2024

    Zue scrapped a written 2024 diversification plan after concluding that growing Pegasus by 10% would take a small fraction of the time needed to build a new product to comparable revenue.

  • 2014

    37signals released more than eleven products among them Sortfolio, Highrise, Campfire and Backpack; in 2014 they sold, closed or spun off everything but Basecamp, saying they had become scattered; they only started a second product again in 2019.

  • 55%

    Marketing for Developers accounted for about 55% of Justin's product revenue in 2015; side-project revenue ran $10k in 2012, $20k in 2013, $40k in 2014 and about $66k in 2015 - a 65% rise that still missed his $80k target.

  • Courtland Allen told Zue the obvious move was to focus on Place Card Me, since it had the most traction and the most room to grow; Zue shifted focus and put more hours into it than in the previous two years.

Sources

the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

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More in product

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the second source

Three plays a week, for the phase you are in

No roundup of links, no news. Three tactics more than one builder arrived at separately, with the numbers each one returned and the disagreements left in.

963 corroborated plays to draw from · 3 a week

One email a week. Unsubscribe in one click, and the address is used for this and nothing else.