Product Reliability versus Innovative Features

Problem Most start-ups are founded for the purpose of delivering a new, innovative product to the market. When partnering with Panasonic, ReplayTV chose to launch a new product platform with increased functional capabilities, rather than the revision 1.0 ReplayTV product. The new platform suffered from reliability and stability issues that frustrated the Panasonic team.
Analysis The Panasonic team was much more interested in delivering a stable and reliable product to the market than one with increased capabilities. This difference in priorities caused friction between the two teams.
Action At a management meeting between Panasonic and ReplayTV, Matt clearly laid out the pros and cons of continuing with the new platform development versus upgrading the revision 1.0 product. Matt facilitated the discussion between the two teams to arrive at a mutually agreed upon direction.
Result ReplayTV and Panasonic agreed to upgrade the revision 1.0 product and launch that product under the Panasonic brand in North America. This may be the first time that Panasonic has branded and sold a product designed and manufactured in the US.

 

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