Press-Release-First Product Ideation
Write the launch press release before you build to keep products marketable
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Time to result
- ~days to results
- Steps
- 2
- Confidence
- 85%
Borrowed from Amazon, this framework has teams write the product's press release at the very start of ideation, beginning with the end in mind. It solves the recurring marketing-product gap where engineering ships many features that lack a coherent theme, leaving marketing with what Dietrich calls a bag of doorknobs.
Origin
Originated at Amazon (working-backwards / PRFAQ); Dietrich experimented with it at Classy and advocates it from her marketing vantage point.
Core principles
- 01Starting with the end in mind forces clarity on the outcome you're trying to create
- 02A product without a marketable theme is a bag of doorknobs; customers want the door and the concept, not the parts
- 03The press release becomes a negotiation artifact to test whether the idea will really resonate
How to run it
- 1
Write the press release at ideation
Before building, draft the launch press release describing the finished product as customers will hear about it.
Pro tip Starting from the announcement clarifies the theme marketing will eventually need to talk about.
- 2
Negotiate the concept against it
Use the draft to ask whether it's good enough, whether it will really resonate, and whether it's the outcome you're trying to get.
Watch out Without this, product ships many disconnected features and hands marketing an unthemed 'bag of doorknobs' no one wants to buy.
In the wild
Dietrich describes product working hard on many features with no unifying theme, then handing it to marketing to 'make marketable'; her mentor called it a bag of doorknobs, since no one wants to buy doorknobs, they want the door and the concept.
→ Writing the press release first surfaces whether there's a coherent, resonant concept before the build, avoiding an unmarketable output.
Common mistakes
Building features then asking marketing to make it marketable
When product ships disconnected features and hands them off for messaging afterward, marketing receives a themeless 'bag of doorknobs' that can't be sold as a coherent story.
Skipping the resonance negotiation
Writing the press release but not honestly interrogating whether it will resonate wastes the exercise and lets a weak concept proceed to build.
Is it for you?
Best for
Product and marketing teams that repeatedly ship features lacking a clear go-to-market theme
Not ideal for
Tiny teams shipping obvious single-purpose features where the overhead outweighs the clarity gained
From the transcript
“writing the press release at the beginning of a product ideation”
“it's a bag of doorknobs quick what do I do with this bag of doorknobs no one wants to buy a bag of doorknobs”
“it starts with the end in mind and then negotiate like is this good enough”
From the episode
How to achieve hypergrowth in your business and career
Carilu Dietrich (Atlassian, Miro, Segment, 1Password)