202 Marketing and Sales
I took this stand because most engineers like to hide behind the cloak of "marketing says" instead of really understanding what a product must do and who will use it.
In the 1990s, however, I have come to believe that it is critical for marketing to be involved in the formation of a product from the very beginning in order to increase the probability of success in the marketplace. In today's market, competition is guaranteed to be greater than in the past, products are steadily becoming more complex, and any new product must be both right and substantially better than average from the outset. All these factors argue m favor of a strong marketing effort. I still firmly believe, however, that engineers must define the product and take responsibility for its efficacy.
The preceding definition of the engineering function's responsibility almost completely overlaps Davidow's (1986) definition of the strategic principle of marketing:
'marketing must invent complete products and drive them to commanding positions indefensible market segments." If the engineering organization lacks an understanding of the product and its applications and fails to make a commitment to meeting the requirements of real users, the product is almost certain to grow in an unlimited fashion in response to "marketing input."
The CEO is responsible for resolving the inevitable conflict between what engineering can build in the small amount of time available and what marketing believes will sell.
In reality, the product's goodness (i.e., its effectiveness, uniqueness, and quality) is probably the determining factor in a high-tech venture's success. A company with a really poor product is most likely doomed, regardless of how great its marketing and sales efforts might be. Given a better-than-average product, a firm with an outstanding sales force may do well despite a lack of marketing. Having a great product, a driven sales force, and wonderful marketing is the ideal and should be strived for, although new ventures almost never live up to the ideal, in my experience. Unfortunately, most start-ups don't come out with great products at first, and it takes them longer than anticipated to build a sales organization and learn to sell the product. To put marketing into proper perspective, it could be said that poor marketing can be the number two company killer.2
It is often difficult to separate the concept of the product from other equally important views of the market, including:
2. I believe that a poor CEO is the number one killer of start-up companies. Venture capitalist John Shoch rates lack of team as the number one killer.