Product research generally involves determining whether an idea for a new product might be successful and how to best develop and sell that product. It’s a straightforward process, in theory, but the basic definition belies the barriers that can crop up. Research is often costly — software-as-a-service companies spend an estimated 23% of their revenue on R&D, for example — and there’s no guarantee that it’ll lead to a successful outcome. Forty-two percent of companies in a recent CB Insights poll cited “no market need” as the reason that one of their products failed to gain traction.
The risky nature of product research led Jonathan Widawski and Thomas Mary — software developers by trade — to launch Maze, a software product research platform that facilitates prototype tests and surveys. As opposed to some platforms on the market, Widawski and Mary emphasize that Maze was designed with entire product teams in mind — no …
