Dell EMC fmr Product VP on Blue Ocean Product Strategy

Dell EMC former Product VP, David Noy, talked in great detail about blue ocean product strategy and even defined what a blue ocean is during his webinar. We suggest watching the entire video above, but you can read the highlights below.

On where blue ocean strategies come into play.

Noy had a C-level executive tell him to find a multi-billion-dollar TAM that nobody has figured out or exploited yet. Here, Noy explains why that isn’t really an option, but what you can do instead with a blue ocean strategy.

“A TAM (Total Addressable Market) is usually measured by analysts in terms of billions or millions spent per year on specific vendor products. Here’s the interesting paradox. It cannot be a multi-billion dollar TAM if nobody’s ever heard of it. That money has to be flowing somewhere. There have to be recipients on the back-end and people buying products. If there were people buying products, you would know about it multibillion-dollar TAMs that have not been heard of do not exist. 

So, you’re either creating a new market or you’re entering an existing market. And if you’re entering an existing market, this is where blue market or blue ocean strategy can really help you to go and unseat incumbents.”

On Noy’s success with blue ocean product strategy.

When executed properly by a great product manager, this strategy can have a massive impact.

“To give you just kind of the magnitude of how powerful this can be. I left a company to join a competitor that was roughly about 10% the size of the company I left. And within four to five years, we cut the market share of that other company that I left, which was the number one in the market, in half. We have become equal, become pairs. So four or five years, about four and a half years, to cut the market share in half.”

What to look for to identify blue oceans

Here are some key things Noy suggests you look for in pursuit of a blue ocean product strategy:

• Juggernauts clashing in large markets that are slowly declining
• Companies not staffed to make the transition (how can you help)
• Unserved markets
• New market opportunities – best if you have deep pockets
• Solutions that simplify complex problems
• “A product that is easy and simple to use, despite having less features will always beat a product that is extremely sophisticated but overly complex and burdensome.” – David Noy