{"id":24656,"date":"2023-04-21T12:37:21","date_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:37:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/?p=24656"},"modified":"2023-04-21T12:38:32","modified_gmt":"2023-04-21T12:38:32","slug":"time-to-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/time-to-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to Market: How to Measure and Accelerate Your Top KPI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time to market (TTM) is a key metric for increasing a new product\u2019s chances of success. Learn about the importance of TTM and discover strategies your business can use to accelerate product development cycles.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Today\u2019s business landscape moves fast.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your company\u2019s ability to bring a product to market quickly can be the thing that makes or breaks your <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/product-launch-marketing-plan\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">product\u2019s launch<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why it\u2019s become common practice for businesses to focus on time to market, a metric that measures how long it takes for a company to release a product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A faster time to market can lead to competitive advantage, brand recognition, and higher revenue \u2013 all highly desirable outcomes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In this article, we\u2019ll cover this critical metric, discussing what it is, how to measure it, and some key techniques for accelerating it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is time to market?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time to market (TTM) is a metric that measures how long it takes for a company to bring a product through the entire launch cycle from initial ideation to market release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, if you come up with the idea for a new product on January 1st and launch it on July 1st, your TTM will be six months, or two quarters.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time to market is an important measure in fast-moving, agile industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bringing a product to the market first can offer a significant competitive advantage (often called first mover advantage), giving you enough time to win <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/importance-of-brand-loyalty\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">brand loyalty<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and recognition before your competitors release a competing product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">On the other hand, a slow TTM might mean that your product will be lost in the fray by the time it\u2019s released, leaving your company in the weak position of playing catch-up.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why many businesses prioritize time to market as an important KPI.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it\u2019s important not to sacrifice quality for the sake of accelerating TTM, doing so the right way can have a number of benefits including:<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Higher revenue<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The sooner you can bring your product to market, the sooner you will be able to earn revenue from it, especially if there is minimal competition within the market<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Lower costs<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; The less time your product spends in the costly development stage, the lower your total cost will be of producing it, making the product more profitable<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Higher market share <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">&#8211; With less competition, your product is certain to capture a higher share of the market<\/span><\/li>\n<li aria-level=\"1\"><b>Brand reputation<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> &#8211; Instagram Reels may be a successful imitator of TikTok, but audiences continue to associate the short-form vertical video format with the company that first made it popular. This demonstrates how much first-mover advantage can impact your brand\u2019s recognition and reputation.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24659\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24659\" style=\"width: 701px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24659\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image3-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"701\" height=\"468\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image3-1.png 701w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image3-1-300x200.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 701px) 100vw, 701px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24659\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This graph from RubyGarage demonstrates how TTM can impact sales<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is TTM vs. GTM?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another term related to time to market is <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/go-to-market-strategy-2\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">go-to-market<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> or GTM. While time to market is a metric measured by an amount of time, GTM refers to a strategy.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Specifically, a company\u2019s go-to-market strategy is the methodology they apply to introducing and marketing a product to potential customers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">GTM includes everything from marketing and advertising to sales and distribution. A strong GTM strategy is an essential part of a product\u2019s success, helping a business drive sales by better reaching its target market and generating demand for a product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">TTM and GTM can have a significant impact on one another. A well-planned GTM strategy has the ability to shorten TTM by creating early demand for a product, enabling companies to execute helpful market research, gather <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/customer-feedback-analysis\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">customer feedback<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and even pre-sell products.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conversely, a shorter TTM can enable sales by ensuring that a product enters a less competitive market, making GTM easier. For success with a new product, TTM and GTM are both important factors to consider, both helping the launch process go smoothly.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to measure TTM<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The good news is that measuring TTM is quite straightforward as long as you keep accurate records about your product development process. Your TTM will be measured in time, whether that is days or weeks (less likely) or months or years (more likely).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">There are several options for exactly how to measure the TTM period. Potential starting points for measuring TTM include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When an idea is first mentioned.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When your business decides to move forward with an idea.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When an idea is approved.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the project is first assigned resources, including personnel and budget.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Potential endpoints for measuring TTM include:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the product goes into manufacturing.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the product first hits the market.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When the first sale is made.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s ultimately up to your company how you want to define TTM for your own internal purposes, but it\u2019s a good idea to stay consistent from product to product. This will help with your internal benchmarking, allowing you to more accurately compare the TTMs of different products.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to accelerate TTM<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With how much of an impact TTM can have on your product\u2019s success, it\u2019s standard for companies to aim to create processes and initiatives that help reduce, or accelerate, TTM. There are many different strategies and approaches that a business can take in order to become faster and more efficient in the product development process. We explore some of the most relevant and popular techniques below.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Assigning more resources to the product<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more resources you can dedicate to a project, the faster it\u2019s likely that the development cycle will take.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">More budget and more people allow you to increase work capacity, enable multiple teams to work on different parts of the project in parallel, and help employees focus better to produce better quality work.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, it\u2019s important to ensure these resources are used effectively and efficiently, as more people also require more coordination and improved communication.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2. Release an MVP<\/span><\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24658\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24658\" style=\"width: 1999px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1.png 1999w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1-300x200.png 300w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1-1024x683.png 1024w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1-768x513.png 768w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image2-1-1536x1025.png 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24658\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Source: This infographic from Inflectiv illustrates how to build an MVP<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it can be tempting to wait until a product is absolutely perfect before release, this can significantly slow down TTM. Enter the concept of MVP: a minimum viable product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This strategy involves releasing a product with the minimum features needed to satisfy early customers and gathering feedback for further improvements. It can help companies test the viability of a product while reducing TTM.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Streamline workflows<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One of the most important things you can do to accelerate TTM is to optimize and streamline your workflows.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more steps and blockers employees face in their jobs, the slower the development process will be.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Similarly, do what you can to minimize the number of approvals required to begin working on something. Multiple approvals from many different stakeholders are often redundant and lead to unnecessary wasted time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. Use automation\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One thing that can make your workflows much faster and more efficient is automation. Modern technology can automate many different repetitive tasks, freeing employees up to work faster and focusing on more strategic, needle-moving tasks.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">That\u2019s not to mention the fact that delegating more tasks to computers and AI helps reduce human error, further contributing to increased efficiency.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5. Do your research<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The more market research you can do upfront, the better understanding you can develop of the marketplace you\u2019ll be launching your product into. This can help you get things right the first time and avoid mistakes that will cost your team a lot of time (not to mention money).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">AI-powered market research platforms like Revuze can deliver insights in just hours, helping you design a GTM strategy that will enable as fast a TTM as is reasonable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/resources\/charbroil-case-study\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This success story<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> from leading grill-maker Char-Broil goes into detail, explaining how automating market research boosted revenue and accelerated TTM.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">6. Take an agile approach<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Agile is a product development methodology originating in the high-tech world that focuses on enabling teams to work more efficiently and respond to change with flexibility.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The principles of agile, including breaking down projects into small manageable tasks, receiving continuous feedback, ongoing testing and Q&amp;A, adaptability, and empowering team members, can all help contribute to a faster TTM.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_24657\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-24657\" style=\"width: 521px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-24657\" src=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image1-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"521\" height=\"409\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image1-1.png 521w, https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2023\/04\/image1-1-300x236.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 521px) 100vw, 521px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-24657\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This graphic from Replicon illustrated how the agile methodology works<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">7. Consider outsourcing\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another strategy that can help speed up your development process is outsourcing to external partners.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When doing so, you gain access to people with specialized expertise. Further, outsourcing allows you to quickly scale your team up or down in accordance with your needs without having to spend the time and money required to hire and train new employees.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In general, external partners are often able to provide services at a lower cost than hiring a full-time employee would incur, meaning you can spend resources more efficiently and receive more bang for your buck.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">8. Prioritize communication\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Product development requires many different employees and teams to collaborate efficiently and effectively toward the same goal. Strong communication is absolutely essential to achieving successful collaboration.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Stakeholders effectively communicating the requirements for a product helps reduce misunderstandings, revisions, and delays. Effective communication can also help improve risk management and ensure that feedback is received and acted upon quickly to improve the quality of the product.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">9. Reduce silos and bottlenecks\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One major obstacle to fast TTM is the bottlenecks and silos that can exist in large organizations. In order to work together effectively, every team member and individual working on the development of your product should have open lines of communication and clear guidelines for how to cooperate and collaborate effectively.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Transparency and free-flowing information are key to making sure that workflows flow freely and blockers don\u2019t hold up a project and cause unnecessary delays.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Time to market is a critical metric that can have a significant impact on the success or failure of a product release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By prioritizing and striving to accelerate your TTM, you can improve your market share and enjoy a more profitable product.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The right partners, technology, and strategies for improving communication, agility, and workflow can all contribute to a much faster TTM and, in turn, a more successful product launch.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And you know what else can help you create products that perfectly fit your user base? Collecting customer intelligence to understand your customers\u2019 wants and needs. Read more about it in <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/customer-intelligence\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">this article<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Time to market (TTM) is a key metric for increasing a new product\u2019s chances of success. Learn about the importance of TTM and discover strategies your<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":24660,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24656"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.revuze.it\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}