Monday 11 January 2010
Choosing an Outsourced Product Development Partner
There are many make or break decisions in the life of an early stage company.
One of the key decisions is choosing suppliers when you are developing a new product. Clearly you would want an organisation with proven development capabilities, you would want roles/responsibilities, and outcomes clear, you would make sure you owned any IP resulting from the the project, and you'd want a supply contract with clear commercial terms.
The recent dramas in the US with the TechCrunch.Com CrunchPad tablet PC is a great case study of what can happen if you don't do these things. There are always three sides to every disagreement. The two parties, and the truth. We may never know what the truth is, but it's certainly an example of what not to do.
The TechCrunch version: http://techcrunch.com/2009/11/30/crunchpad-end/
The development partner's version: http://www.gizmodo.com.au/2009/12/fusion-garages-crunchpad-unveiling-liveblog/
The truth is probably somewhere in between.
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