Wednesday, January 30, 2008

choices: how do you talk about futures

Hypothetical situation here. Let's say you have a new product you want to release. Let's say you've just raised a few million dollars to get this product to market. Now let's say you've decided to put a short description of this product in the press release announcing the funding round you've just completed. This will be the first time you've mentioned this product to the market in writing.

Would you describe it like this:

The funds are being used to launch a new product line with multi-tier capabilities that will help IT managers directly and confidently address an ever-accelerating rate of change and complexity while controlling costs and ensuring that applications and databases perform as expected.

Or like this:

The funds are being used to launch a revolutionary new "first in class" product that will extend the company's portfolio of application performance management solutions.

The question here is do you go detailed, or do you go vague? Does less equal more? Or are you expected to detail what you're going to spend the cash on (other than "operating expenses")?

How to talk about futures in public is a hard topic for all of us. My personal guidance is to put nothing in writing without an NDA, but that's just me.

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