The Hidden Trap of Single Product Success
- Prem Pradeep
- Jan 2
- 2 min read
Last week, I met a founder who'd built a $50M business around one amazing product. Yet instead of celebrating, he was terrified. "What if this is all we'll ever create?" he asked. His fear hit home because I'd been there myself.
The Golden Handcuffs of Success
Success can become a cage. You build something great, it takes off, and suddenly you're trapped - endlessly polishing and protecting your one golden egg while the world races ahead. I've watched brilliant entrepreneurs turn into product janitors, so focused on maintaining their hit that they miss the next big wave.
Breaking Free: From Product Manager to Portfolio Thinker
The shift from single-product focus to portfolio thinking isn't just strategy - it's survival. Here's what it means in practice:
Instead of obsessing over every feature of your flagship product, you:
- Allocate 70% of resources to core business
- Invest 20% in adjacent opportunities
- Reserve 10% for breakthrough innovation
The Real Challenge: Letting Go
The hardest part? It's not strategy - it's psychology. You need to:
- Trust others to maintain your quality standards
- Accept that not every new venture will match your first success
- Build teams that can run with their own ideas
When I first tried delegating product decisions, I almost sabotaged a promising new project by micromanaging. The turning point came when I forced myself to step back for a month. The team didn't just maintain standards - they exceeded them.
Portfolio Thinking in Action
Take Netflix. They could've remained a DVD-by-mail company. Instead, they:
1. Launched streaming while DVDs were still profitable
2. Moved into original content when streaming was booming
3. Expanded into gaming while dominating streaming
The Freedom of Multiple Bets
Portfolio thinking isn't about abandoning your first success - it's about ensuring you're not defined by it. It means having:
- Multiple growth vectors
- Distributed risk
- Constant innovation opportunities
- Freedom to experiment
The paradox? Your original product often performs better when you stop obsessing over it.
Today's breakthrough innovation is tomorrow's legacy product. Keep building, keep exploring, keep growing.
Fantastic. Well explained. Almost all companies are diversifying these days. Especially in the delivery space. I would add Fredom to Fail in the multiple bets section :)