Why 12 Products in 12 Months

Why I had to leave my job and how i'm shaping my routine to best fit with what I'm good at

Put yourself in my shoes:

1. I've always enjoyed learning how things are made and how they work;
   background in Design, a whiff of Engineering and more recently, Product

2. It's becoming increasingly easier for creative people to create and launch their projects;
   no-code, AI tools, youtube et friends, content distribution platforms

3. My profile is generalist, but particularly adept to the early stages of a business. developing new products, initial processes, applied creativity and hypothesis testing

It looks inevitable to launch the 12 Products in 12 Months, right? These arguments explain the general idea, but not the timing or the approach.

Why now?

Observation

For almost 4 years I've been working as a Product Manager in fintech. I've learnt a lot, met amazing people and made friends for life. However, during this process (especially in the last months) I felt I was having little opportunity to work in things that fit my interests (and strengths).

Here lies a problem: if I'm not managing to use my strengths in a job, I'll never stand out. I'll just be an average guy and in a few years, probably angry at myself.

On December 14th I turned 36 and on the 19th I gave my 4 weeks notice. (could have been shorter, but I didn't want to disrupt things too much)

Hypothesis

If I look back to the moments when I felt more fulfilled, I can realize that there's always (always) a component of creativity, sprinting to deliver something, learning a new topic. In other words, a vibe much closer to project-based work.

I studied Design, worked in advertising and consultancy. Project is a very familiar place for me.

The most complex part of working by project is managing the workload pipeline: there are times when the person is super busy and other times when there's nothing to do. To have a healthy pipeline is important to facilitate the arrival of new projects: be known for something that has value. Since my strengths relate to creativity and development of new products, if I show to the market that I have those skills, more opportunities will come my way.

Experiment (you're here)

I'm going to launch several different products, in a relatively short time frame. There are some criteria for these products, but I'll talk about that in another post. There's a whole universe about types of experiments, characteristics of a good experiment, etc

One of the most mentioned points is how to know if an experiment was successful.

For example:

If at the end of 12 months, I have had an additional project, where a company calls me to work in the development of a new product, does that prove my hypothesis?

I would say no. because currently I'm already being called for some projects, even without having a history of 12 Products in 12 Months. If at the end of all this effort, the result is the same, the effort will not have been worth it.

I left the corporate life because I did not want to spend most of my productive time dealing with planning, setting and tracking goals, etc. It's OBVIOUS that at least for now, I'm not going to replicate this in my personal project.

All this is a complicated way of saying: I still don't know what would be the "success definition" of my experiment. I know that this would help me make prioritization decisions, but at this moment I don't know. It is likely that this will evolve over time and at some point I will know what measurable goal I will use as success definition. But not today, Satan.

Summing up:

1. I have a creative profile that I need to respect and leverage

2. Today there are many tools that facilitate the execution of creative ideas

3. Where I shine is at the beginning of a project

4. I will do several different projects, to show the market that I have a knack for it.

5. I still don't know what would be a quantifiable definition of success

I know that these more self-reflective texts can be a bit less effective for newsletter growth than other more practical guides like "do this and that", but especially now, at the beginning of the venture, I think they are a good portrait of what can go through the head of someone thinking something similar.

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