It was during a workshop I conducted on “Lean Startup Methodology” that a discussion around thinking ‘customer first’ arose and a realization struck me: A project is only as good as the number of fully functional features it has. The more functional features it has, the better the project and the higher chances of it achieving a good grade or whatever the academic marker for success is. A product, on the other hand, is something that the customers need. It is a clear solution to a specific problem they are experiencing. Consequently, this product may only have one of those fully functional features, but it’s the one feature that the customer needs, meaning there is a clear market for it.

A project is the number functional features it has. A product is something that the customers need.

This interpretation has a lot to do with one’s mindset while working on a startup idea. I have always advocated for creating entrepreneurial mindsets in every innovation space I’ve been associated with. Core to this mindset is the focus on the potential customer. If you keep the customer at the forefront of your mind, empathy and understanding of their problems will grow, which will allow you to effectively devise solutions to help them. It is essentially like starting with the problem rather than the solution. This thought process is key to spurring innovation and creating products for a market that already exists.

Why would you want to develop a product and then invest loads of capital in developing a market for it? Create a product that your customers already need. When a company moves from projects to products, they shift the focus of every person in the organization from the short-term thinking of "let's get this project done and move on to the next" to one that fosters a long-term ownership perspective.

Implementing this in an academic setting is challenging because the project mindset is so deeply rooted, and rightly so. There is a strong aspiration to write research papers for submission to good impact factor journals but, at the same time, the key to tangible development is applied research. This is especially true in a country like Pakistan, where the journey to a sellable product is short and can solve many core issues impacting society. This is why it has become my mission to empower and educate researchers, students, and faculty members on the benefits of embracing a commercial angle while they conduct applied research.

All articles by Uzair in our Experts in the Field series:

• Setting up an innovation program in the public sector
• Incubators in an Academic Environment
• Innovation Scouting in the Incubator
• Teaching a mindset change from project to product

Other articles and series written by Uzair:

• A Deep Dive into Innovation Scouting