Product Development

Get 1:1 advice from professional product experts and mentors. Learn how to build world-class product.

Praful Mathur

Praful Mathur

Founder & CEO – Sarama, Y Combinator Alum
Sarama
Y Combinator

Praful Mathur is the founder and CEO of Sarama, a deeptech startup that uses AI to determine intent from barks i.e. crude translation. He was previously the co-founder and CEO of Shotput, a Y Combinator-backed startup that built APIs for instant logistics. He raised capital from Nexus Ven...read more

$225 / 30 mins

Available on Friday

Omer Gotlieb

Omer Gotlieb

Co-founder – Totango, Enterprise SaaS Expert
Totango
Salespeak

Omer Gotlieb is the co-founder of Totango, a customer success software company that assists businesses in monitoring, tracking, and optimizing every stage of the customer journey. He is an experienced software R&D leader with a track record of leading the development of complex enterprise ...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available on Friday

Amit Garg

Amit Garg

Partner – Tau Ventures, Venture Capitalist
Tau Ventures
Google

Amit Garg's career in technology spans over 20+ years in Silicon Valley. As a venture capitalist he has focused on seed-stage applied AI investments in digital health, automation and enterprises. Some of his key successes are nuTonomy (seed, sold for $450M) at Samsung NEXT Ventures and Mis...read more

$300 / 30 mins

Available on October 13

T Zhu

T Zhu

Co-founder & CEO – Tellus, Fintech & Proptech Expert
Tellus
Zazzle

T Zhu is the co-founder of Tellus, a smart savings platform powered by real estate backed by Andreessen Horowitz, Alumni Ventures and Decent Capital. He previously founded and scaled a number of companies, including Sodacan, a social consumer mobile app startup that released Sip, an anonym...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Jason Meltzer

Jason Meltzer

Head of Operations - Mentorcam, Co-founder of Wag!
Mentorcam
Wag!

Jason Meltzer is an accomplished entrepreneur, board member, and investor known for his expertise in building and scaling successful businesses. As the founder and former CEO of Wag!, he was instrumental in transforming the startup into the world's largest pet care company and a leading pl...read more

$250 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Benjamin Balazs

Benjamin Balazs

Co-founder & CTO – Mentorcam, Y Combinator Alum
Mentorcam
Y Combinator

Benjamin Balazs is the CTO of Mentorcam. Prior to co-founding Mentorcam, Benjamin held various product engineering and designing roles. He's built apps and websites for companies like Lamborghini, Maserati, Visa, and Emirates. Since teaching himself how to code at the age of 15, Benjamin h...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available on Thursday

Erik Shani

Erik Shani

Co-founder & CPO - Fyllo, Growth & GTM Expert
Fyllo
Amobee

Erik Shani is the Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Fyllo. He's a 25 year veteran in the tech startup ecosystem with experience in multiple verticals (telecom, adtech, insurtech, and cannabis to name a few), across multiple regions (North America, EMEA, APAC), and business models. He...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available on Thursday

Tim Specht

Tim Specht

Co-founder & CTO – Dubsmash, Consumer & Social Expert
Dubsmash
Reddit

Tim Specht is the Director of Engineering at Reddit and the Co-founder and CTO of Dubsmash, a TikTok competitor that he successfully started, grew, and sold with over 250M installs and 160M users. Specht has spent over a decade working with startups across the US & Europe, helping them exe...read more

$175 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Robin Daniels

Robin Daniels

CMO - WeWork, Matterport, Growth and GTM Expert
WeWork
Matterport

Robin is a three-time CMO with more than 20 years of experience in marketing and growth leadership roles at companies like Salesforce, Box, LinkedIn, Matterport, and WeWork. He's done 3 IPOs, several acquisitions, and led companies through hyper-growth to become household names. Robin now ...read more

$425 / 30 mins

Available on Thursday

Charlie Depman

Charlie Depman

Co-founder & CTO – RidePanda, Mobility Expert
Ride Panda
General Catalyst

Charlie Depman is the co-founder and CTO of Ridepanda, a climate-tech mobility benefits platform that helps employers like Amazon reduce Scope 3 CO2 emissions, meet clean air mandates, offer their employees flexible commute options, reduce costs, and retain talent. He has over 8 years of e...read more

$100 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Sascha Eder

Sascha Eder

Founder & CEO – NewtonX, Ex-McKinsey Consultant
NewtonX
McKinsey & Company

Sascha Eder is the founder and CEO of NewtonX, a B2B enterprise research startup that has raised $40M+ in venture capital. Prior to NewtonX, Sascha was a management consultant spending time at both McKinsey & Co. and the Boston Consulting Group, as well as as a financial analyst at P&G. He...read more

$250 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Mahsa Rostami

Mahsa Rostami

Founder & CEO – Revero, AI Engineer
Revero
Andreessen Horowitz

Mahsa Rostami is the founder and CEO of Revero, a digital health startup backed by a16z and Goodwater Capital. Her personal health transformation inspired her to found Revero. Prior to founding Revero, Mahsa worked as an AI engineer in Silicon Valley, specializing in the development of AI ...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available on November 2

Panos Papadiamantis

Panos Papadiamantis

Co-founder & CPO – PNOĒ, Hardware & Medtech Expert
PNOE
Y Combinator

Panos Papadiamantis is the co-founder and Chief Product Officer of PNOĒ, a medical equipment manufacturing which enables health professionals to provide science-backed nutrition and training through breath analysis. PNOĒ has raised over $10M in venture capital from Y Combinator, Fifty Year...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Ryan McManus

Ryan McManus

CEO – SHARE Mobility, Mobility Expert
SHARE Mobility
NCT Ventures

Ryan McManus is the co-founder and CEO of SHARE Mobility, a transportation-as-a-service subscription for cities and businesses. Prior to founding SHARE Mobility, Ryan worked as the Marketing Director for Kern International, an enterprise-grade logistics and office equipment supplier with a...read more

$100 / 30 mins

Available on November 2

Bryan Wilcox

Bryan Wilcox

Co-founder & CTO – Tovala, Y Combinator Alum
Tovala
Y Combinator

Bryan Wilcox is a co-founder and the former CTO of Tovala, a food-tech company that saves people time with a smart oven and paired meal service. Tovala has raised $70M in venture funding from Y Combinator, Comcast Ventures, Interplay, Origin Ventures and Left Lane Capital. Prior to Tovala,...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

Alexandra Zatarain

Alexandra Zatarain

Co-founder – Eight Sleep, Y Combinator Alum
Eight Sleep
Y Combinator

Alexandra Zatarain is the Co-Founder and Vice President of Brand and Marketing at Eight Sleep, the world's first sleep fitness company. Eight Sleep solves sleep's most pressing issues through innovation and cutting-edge technology. The Pod, its best-selling product, has a cult-like followi...read more

$350 / 30 mins

Available on Friday

Nikhil Desai

Nikhil Desai

CTO – Mentorcam, Product Engineering
GoToMeeting
LendingClub

I have 17+ years of experience building software products and leading engineering teams in startups, mid-sized companies and large enterprises. I love building products that create value and have a positive impact on society. ...read more

$125 / 30 mins

Available tomorrow

What Is Product Development?

Every startup is based on an innovative idea for a new product or service. Product development encompasses the entire journey of designing and building these new products and services, from initial ideation to product launch. The new product development process can take many forms, including physical product development as well as digital product development for products like consumer apps or enterprise software systems.

To navigate the complex journey of product development in startups, founders often seek the guidance of product development mentors who can offer insight and feedback to steer them in the right direction. Product mentors use their expertise to help startup founders get the product development process right at each and every stage of the journey.

What Are the Stages of the Product Development Lifecycle?

The entire product development lifecycle can be mapped out in a sequence of steps. These established product development stages provide a convenient framework for startup founders to follow.

  1. Ideation - Co-founders collaborate on idea generation to identify potential opportunities, assess market demand, and brainstorm product ideas.
  2. Validation - Product development research is conducted and feedback from target users is gathered to establish product-market fit and learn more about the product’s odds of success in the market.
  3. Prototyping - A simple version of the product is built to test features and user experience, identify flaws, and secure investor buy-in.
  4. Marketing - A marketing strategy is planned and marketing materials are designed to create awareness and generate interest in the product. 
  5. Development - A market-ready version of the product is completed and able to be produced, sold, and supported at scale.
  6. Launch - The product is introduced to the market, and focus shifts toward generating sales and gaining traction.
  7. Improvement - Performance metrics are monitored and user feedback is collected, both of which are used to make iterative improvements to the product.

What Can a Product Development Mentor Do for You?

A mentor can act as an experienced product development consultant who offers their support and guidance throughout each stage of the product roadmap. Product mentors have years of experience creating and launching successful products, and their expertise can help you make better decisions and avoid common obstacles.

Specifically, a product development advisor can help you:

Product development teams at startups are often very small, and your startup may lack the in-house resources or skills to complete the entire product development lifecycle without help. A mentor can guide you as you explore outsourced product development options, ensuring you find the best partners to fill essential product development roles and help you turn your product idea into a reality.

A product development mentor from Mentorcam can play a major part in guiding your decisions throughout the product development process. Each of our product mentors comes from an impressive background in product design and development and brings years of practical experience to the table, so you can feel confident that there’s no one better to show you how to develop a product.

Related areas of interest: Edtech, B2B, eCommerce