iRobot Consultant
In my product management class, my team (composed for five other Stanford students) and I were partnered with iRobot and acted as consultants on a 10 week project. iRobot, traditionally following a B2C model, tasked us with exploring a new B2B2C market for the company through partnership with track home builders. The idea: track home builders would buy iRobot products and integrate them into their home designs, thus providing providing revenue for iRobot through a B2B2C channel.
Our Project
Over the 10 weeks, my team and I interviewed dozens of experts related to the project area ranging from general contractors to track home builders to architects to users of iRobot products or competitor products. After extensive research and conversations, we found that home builders were reticent about partnering with iRobot. In response to these findings, we pivoted away from the idea of partnering with track home builders and focused on a different market: luxury apartments. What if luxury apartments bought Roombas and iRobot air purifiers for their tenants and included them in their amenity packages? We entered into conversations with luxury apartments and found excitement about the idea. For more information about the project, see the product opportunity assessment (POA) and minimum viable product (MVP) that we created.
What I learned
How to conduct thorough competitive analysis
Best practices when conducting A/B testing
How to give effect project pitches and defend decisions with data
How to analyze a business model
How to conduct market analysis
What I contributed
Scheduled and conducted interviews with various stakeholders
Interview analysis
Creation of materials for A/B testing
Analysis of results from A/B testing
SWOT analysis