10K Customer Product Launch

A framework for when and how to launch additional products in a SaaS or technology business, based on Jason Lemkin's experience.

Key Timing for Multi-Product Strategy

• Must have second product by 10,000 customers
• Second product needs to be bigger than the first product
• Example: HubSpot's CRM will be bigger than marketing automation in 2 years

Common Mistakes in Product Extension

• Taking the easy route with simple product extensions
  • Example: Adding conditioner to shampoo product line
  • Problem: Small extensions never catch up to main product growth
• Not thinking big enough with second product
  • If main product is doing $150M growing 20% ($10M/year)
  • Small second product doing $1M first year will never catch up

Strategic Requirements

• Second product must have potential to surpass first product
• Must be willing to tackle harder product development
• Need to avoid defaulting to easy product extensions
• Think strategically about market size and growth potential

Success Metrics

• Second product should be positioned to become larger than first
• Growth rate needs to outpace original product
• Focus on products that can achieve significant scale
• Avoid small incremental additions that won't move the needle

The key insight is that companies often default to easy product extensions when they should be pursuing bigger, more challenging opportunities that can become larger than their core business.