Obo, a startup that makes ‘product decision software’ to prevent product designers from making useless features, came out of stealth at the end of the week with an $8.2m funding round.As an increasing number of consumer product designers move fast and fail faster, Obo’s modeling software is designed to help product creators get things right the first time.
We’ve all seen trendy smart products that no one needs: From overhyped $400 juicers to smart egg cartons, many products miss the mark by failing to consider what consumers actually want.To solve the problem, Obo’s software models ‘what if’ scenarios to gauge how consumers would respond to certain releases and also conducts market research to validate assumptions.Obo claims its platform can help businesses determine of their existing product plans are trash in less than an hour.
Plenty of consumer products go to market without the necessary planning and market research: According to a recent Harvard study, 95% of the 30k consumer products that hit the market each year end in failure. But Obo’s not alone: The market for decision-making tools is growing rapidly. Companies such as InVision, Aera, Marvel and others offer tools for decision-making and prototyping.