Why Most Products Deliver Disappointing Results

And Why We Have to Do Better in Climate Tech

Research shows* that across industries, 40% of new product launches deliver disappointing results. In the study, “disappointment” is defined from a senior leader’s perspective: a product is disappointing when it misses targets for revenue growth, sales and/or profitability.

This is even more likely for products that push the boundaries of technology or become part of a complex ecosystem, like most of the solutions we need to stabilize the climate.

60% of products succeed — but that’s not good enough.

This means that 60% of products are deemed to be successful, which is why businesses continue to invest in new product development. But experiencing a disappointment, or a string of them, erodes confidence in a company’s ability to deliver innovation at all.

If a company is a startup with limited funding, they may not have the resources to recover after a disappointing product launch. In climate tech, the stakes are even higher: we can’t afford to waste the time, money, people or carbon emissions on solutions that fail to deliver the impact they promise.

Poor product design can have catastrophic consequences.

The Causes of Disappointing Product Launches

This article is part of the series “Rapid Learning Cycles for Startups” for our paid subscribers.