How to Build a Product Roadmap for Your Startup: 5 Simple Steps

What will happen if you don't use a product roadmap as a startup?

Let me tell you - because it happened to us: You'll waste time and money building features that sound great to you, but in the end you won't get any customers. And your startup will fail.

Let me show you step-by-step how you can create a product roadmap that not only attracts customers, but also builds a solid foundation for your startup. By the end, you'll know how to prioritize the right features, avoid costly mistakes, and set your startup up for success.

Building a product roadmap is easier than you think - especially if you follow these five steps. The only question is: What strategies do successful startups and billion-dollar companies use to build their product roadmaps?

Let's find out.

→ How to build a solid product roadmap that brings you customers.
→ How to prioritize the right features to avoid wasting time and money.
→ The costly mistakes to avoid when building your product roadmap.

A product roadmap is one of the most important elements of a successful startup. It helps you focus on what's important and gives you clear steps on what to do next.

I remember when I joined my first startup 8 years ago, we had no roadmap at all. We built every feature we thought was cool, had no clear focus, wasted a lot of time and money and still had no customers.

Don't make the same mistake.

I want to make this super actionable. I want you to get out a pen and a piece of paper. You don't need any fancy tools to create your roadmap. It's perfectly fine to write it down on a piece of paper first.

Let's start with the first step.

We start with the foundation of any great product roadmap:
Your vision and goals.

If you don't know where you're going, you can't prioritize your next steps. So your vision should answer these 2 questions:
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• What is the ultimate purpose of your product?
• What do you want to achieve and what does success look like for you?
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This is your guiding light. It will help you stay on track and focus on the big picture. As a startup founder, I know that without a clear vision, it's easy to get distracted by ideas that seem exciting but don't really have any impact.

You need to avoid this.

One startup I worked with had a brilliant product idea but no clear goals. They built feature after feature hoping that one would stick. They couldn't attract customers or investors - because they didn't have that focused vision for their product. But once they clarified their goals, everything changed - they knew what to prioritize, and they got their first customers.

✅ So think about your product and write down your vision in one or two sentences below the first bubble.

This is your first and most important step to success.

Now that you know where you want to go, it's time to understand the market and your target audience.

If you don't understand what problem you're solving and who your customers are, you can't build a successful startup. So here's what you need to do in this part of the roadmap:
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✅ First, think about what problem you are solving and who your customers are. What are their biggest pain points? What solution would actually solve their problems?
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✅ Second, I recommend that you look at your competitors. What are they doing well and, more importantly, what are they missing?

You might be able to fill that gap.

I recommend you do two things here:

First define your target audience and then talk to some customers or potential customers about their needs. Get some feedback. It's the best way to find out what people are looking for.
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Now that you know what your customers need, let's talk about how to prioritize the most important features.

It's tempting to add every cool idea to your list, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do that back in the day. But here's what I've learned:

Not all features are created equal. You need to focus on the features that deliver the most value to your customers and align with your goals - otherwise you are wasting your time and money.
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One of the best frameworks to find out which features are a must and have a real impact on your startup's success is the KANO Model.

I won't go into detail here because I've made a separate video about it because it's so important, but basically it works like this.:

1. You make a list of feature ideas.
2. You ask potential customers and ask them which features are a must.
3. Based on their answers, you prioritize your feature ideas.

So never let your personal biases drive your decisions - let customer feedback guide you.

✅ Write down all your feature ideas.

Don't overthink it - just get it down on paper. It doesn't matter if you're starting from scratch, or if you already have a product and are brainstorming features for your next release.

Once you have your list, go to your customers and ask them what features they really value. You can watch my video about the KANO Model to learn how to do it.

Once you've prioritized your features, it's time to organize them into a clear, actionable plan.

All right, you know what features your customers find valuable. Let's talk about phases and timelines. This is where your roadmap becomes actionable.

Now, you can't launch everything at once - you need to focus.
So I like to divide this part of the roadmap into 3 sections:

You basically focus on building the essential features that people are already willing to pay for. Remember: Keep it simple - no extras, just what's needed.

Once your MVP is live and you have your first paying customers, gather feedback on new feature ideas and improve your product.

In this phase you start to add those nice-to-have features and explore new possibilities, such as integration with other apps and services.

With the Kano model, it's clear which features from your feature list go into which section.
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And once you have put your ideas into each section, you set a realistic timeline for each section. It's really important to have a clear deadline because it keeps you and your team accountable.
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✅ So take your feature ideas and group them into these 3 phases. And think about what you can realistically launch in the next 3 months, 6 months and next year.

Your product roadmap isn't set in stone - and that's what I love about it. You can adapt it along the way. And that's what you need to build a successful startup.

So the last part of the product roadmap is about getting feedback and tracking. Here is how you do it:

My pro tip: Avoid vanity metrics - metrics that look good but have no business impact, such as website traffic or social media likes.

Track real metrics like conversion rates, churn rates and customer acquisition cost. These will tell you if your product is on the right track.

As an early stage startup, I recommend you get feedback every 1 to 2 months because you are really looking for that market fit.

Go back to this product roadmap regularly and fill in the customer feedback and improve your product.

These are the 5 steps to a successful product roadmap. What I like to do is put this roadmap on a big piece of paper on my wall and work on it as I go.
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That's the key to success - keep iterating and improving your product.
But building a solid product roadmap is only one step towards your startup's success.

But hey, I've got something for you!

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