Reference · Phase 2 — Product Recommendation & Design
Product Optioning, Pricing/Packaging & Roadmap/MVP
Load when product archetypes, option scorecard, pricing models, packaging tiers, MVP, roadmap horizons.
Part of the Product Strategy skill · loaded on demand from SKILL.md
Part of the product-strategy skill. See SKILL.md for the workflow spine and when to load this file.
V. Product Optioning Logic
Purpose
Convert customer, market, and competitor insights into a set of strategic product options.
Starting Point
Begin with customer needs and behaviors:
- Which jobs-to-be-done are most valuable?
- Which pain points are most severe?
- Which current solutions underperform?
- Which customer groups are underserved?
- Which use cases have high frequency or high value?
- Which problems are urgent enough to drive adoption or switching?
Product Archetypes
Potential product archetypes include:
1. Core Product
A focused product that solves the primary customer problem.
Best when:
- The pain point is clear
- Speed-to-market matters
- Customer trust is not yet established
- Simplicity improves adoption
2. Premium Product
A differentiated product with advanced features, better service, or bundled benefits.
Best when:
- Customers show willingness to pay
- There is a high-value segment
- The client has strong brand or service advantage
- Feature depth creates differentiation
3. Ecosystem-Linked Product
A product integrated into a broader customer journey, platform, or ecosystem.
Best when:
- The client has distribution advantage
- Data or workflow integration creates value
- Cross-sell or retention is important
- Network effects or lock-in are possible
4. Embedded Product
A product delivered inside a partner, platform, marketplace, or workflow.
Best when:
- Customer acquisition is difficult directly
- The client can access distribution through partners
- The product is most valuable in context
- Speed and reach matter
5. Infrastructure or Platform Product
A product that enables other products, partners, or developers.
Best when:
- The client can monetize capabilities
- There is demand from third parties
- APIs, data, or infrastructure are reusable
- Ecosystem strategy is important
Monetization Levers
Potential monetization models include:
- Subscription
- Transaction fee
- Usage-based pricing
- Commission
- Take rate
- Financing or interest revenue
- Interchange or network revenue
- Advertising
- Data or insights monetization
- Licensing
- Marketplace fees
- Premium tiering
- Bundling
- Cross-sell
- Revenue share
- Service fees
Product Option Scorecard
Evaluate each option across:
| Criterion | Description |
|---|---|
| Customer value | Does it solve a meaningful need? |
| Market size | Is the opportunity large enough? |
| Monetization | Can it generate attractive revenue or margin? |
| Differentiation | Is it meaningfully better than alternatives? |
| Right-to-win | Does the client have an advantage? |
| Feasibility | Can it be built, bought, or partnered? |
| Speed-to-market | Can it launch in the required timeframe? |
| Risk | Are regulatory, operational, or brand risks manageable? |
| Scalability | Can it grow beyond MVP? |
| Strategic fit | Does it support broader company priorities? |
Sequencing Logic
A common sequencing approach:
- Launch the product with the strongest customer pull and fastest path to market
- Use MVP to prove adoption and unit economics
- Expand features that drive engagement and retention
- Add premium or monetization features
- Scale through additional channels, segments, or geographies
- Build ecosystem or platform extensions once core traction is proven
VI. Pricing & Packaging Framework
Purpose
Define how the product captures value and how pricing supports adoption, profitability, and positioning.
Key Questions
- Who pays?
- What do they pay for?
- When do they pay?
- What is the value metric?
- Is pricing subscription, usage-based, transactional, commission-based, financing-based, or hybrid?
- What features are included in each package?
- What is free, core, premium, or enterprise?
- What willingness-to-pay evidence exists?
- How does pricing compare with competitors?
- What are the unit economic implications?
Pricing Model Options
Common pricing models include:
- Free
- Freemium
- Subscription
- Usage-based
- Per-seat
- Per-account
- Per-transaction
- Percentage take rate
- Commission
- Revenue share
- Financing spread
- Tiered pricing
- Bundled pricing
- Enterprise contract
- Performance-based pricing
- Hybrid model
Packaging Architecture
Common package types:
Free / Entry
Used to drive acquisition or trial.
May include:
- Basic features
- Limited usage
- Self-service support
- Standard integrations
Core
Used for mainstream monetization.
May include:
- Primary feature set
- Standard limits
- Basic reporting
- Core support
Premium
Used for high-value customers.
May include:
- Advanced features
- Higher limits
- Priority support
- Better economics
- Integrations
- Personalization
- Analytics
Enterprise / Custom
Used for complex customers.
May include:
- Custom features
- Dedicated support
- Compliance features
- Admin controls
- SLAs
- Custom pricing
Pricing Outputs
- Pricing recommendation
- Packaging architecture
- Feature-to-tier mapping
- Revenue model
- Willingness-to-pay evidence
- Competitive pricing benchmark
- Gross margin implications
- CAC payback implications
- Price sensitivity analysis
VII. Roadmap & MVP Definition
Purpose
Translate the product strategy into a sequenced build plan.
MVP Definition
The MVP should include only the minimum set of features required to:
- Solve the core customer problem
- Deliver the value proposition
- Enable adoption
- Prove demand
- Test economics
- Operate safely and compliantly
- Learn what to build next
Feature Prioritization Criteria
Evaluate features using:
- Customer value
- Pain point severity
- Revenue impact
- Retention impact
- Differentiation
- Strategic importance
- Cost and complexity
- Regulatory dependency
- Data dependency
- Operational dependency
- Partner dependency
- Time-to-market
- Reusability
- Risk reduction
Roadmap Horizons
Now
Focus:
- MVP
- Critical capabilities
- Early adopters
- Core use case
- Regulatory or operational must-haves
- Measurement and learning infrastructure
Next
Focus:
- Feature expansion
- Monetization improvement
- Channel expansion
- Customer support maturity
- Operational scaling
- Partner integration
Later
Focus:
- Premium tiers
- Ecosystem expansion
- Platform capabilities
- New segments
- New geographies
- Advanced analytics or automation
- Defensibility and scale
Roadmap Outputs
- MVP scope
- Feature prioritization matrix
- Now / Next / Later roadmap
- Dependency map
- Release plan
- De-scope list
- Experiment roadmap
- Product backlog handoff