I disagree mildly all succesfull products are pure accidents. Especially in B2B and technical realm it is feasible to actually plan in every sense of the word

I disagree mildly all succesfull products are pure accidents. Especially in B2B and technical realm it is feasible to actually plan in every sense of the word "plan" a new product - business, tech, etc. Of course the plan must be malleable on the facts on ground. And probably is incorrect on a few places. But never the less, a plan that will get a business from place a (no product, but strong understanding of customer needs and business plus strong technical savvy) to place b (final product, customers, revenue etc). I've seen this many times, both in startups with a new product and new customers (automotive software) and established companies that just expand their existing portfolio (cad software). I'd say the "not an accident" is feasible if these facts are in place: - enough A-team players (tech,business,sales) - healthy culture (that facilitates long term growth and can focus on the product without too much politics) - understanding of customer business - identified an OBVIOUS need for the customer - strong engineering org (can be just a few coders that get things done or larger) So I agree, you can't train for these requirements like you can train airplane pilots. But I do claim you can have enough understanding that is the current org in possession of these qualities. And if it is, it's a very reasonable risky investment to try to create a product for the need.