Ready for a game-changing perspective on product development? Rami Ibrahim brings a refreshingly practical approach to innovation. Armed with both engineering know-how and financial street smarts, he's helping companies slash development costs by $100K+ while getting to market faster. His secret? A validation-first mindset that's already helped over 60 companies transform great ideas into profitable reality. Get ready to rethink everything you thought you knew about building successful products!
Hi, Rami! Thanks for joining us today. Tell us about your business. Who do you serve, how do you serve them, and what's the impact that your business and work makes?
B2B product companies develop successful products faster, cheaper, and with less risk. Reducing the stress on the leadership who are tasked with balancing short-term profits and long-term growth through innovative product development, often struggling with unclear customer needs, inefficient processes, and high-risk product launches.
The process does not just address the technical needs of the customers but also develops a strong business case and clear ROI for the project. Our 12-week program helps you save $100K+ in development costs, cut time-to-market by 20%, and secure early paying customers before building your product.
The system has been used with over 60 companies and is so good, that if it doesn't work for you, you get a full refund. All of our clients who followed our playbook have had at least a 3x ROI within 12 weeks of working with us. But many times, the returns are even higher. For example, Scientifica saved $75K in just 6 weeks and Oxford Cryo saved $250k and reduced development time by over 8 months, all within 12 weeks of working with me. THT saved $200K and 6 months of development time while gaining a new revenue stream that was previously not on the radar. They all were able to do this by following a well-guided process that focuses on data-driven and validation-focused decision-making. The chairman of Scientifica was so happy with the results, he referred us to 2 other clients.
Tell us about the moment you finally felt like you went from wantrepreneur to entrepreneur.
I've always had the bug. I started my first business at 14 with my best friend washing cars. By the end of the second summer, we had a lot of kids working for us. At 22, I launched a business and made 53K in my first 3 weeks... I get a thrill from having a customer or a client use my product and then come back again. I think that's when you know you are on the right track.
Describe the moment or period in your life/career that motivated you to make the entrepreneurial leap.
In this last case, I've always wanted to build something bigger, and I was just at the point in my life where it's now or never.
Describe a tool, service, or software that has been a game-changer for your business. How does it contribute to your success?
There are several:
- The book "Start with why." It really just crystalized for me the concept of "people don't buy what you do, they buy why you do it". The why, and the impact on the customer are the most important things.
- Squarespace. The ability to have an idea with a client and in just a couple of hours have a super professional landing page to test with is incredible.
- Trello - I run a 1 person scrum - so Trello is key for me to stay on top of my sprints.
We know that success is very often a non-linear path. Tell us about a failure, pivot point, or lesson that changed your course or direction and helped to get you where you are today.
Early on in my career as an engineer, I was invited to sit on the company's board of advisors (it was made up of senior staff and other business people)and I quickly realized I did not know what was going on when it came to financial discussions. ROI, ROCE, IRR... all these terms being thrown around were like a foreign language.
So I quit my very prestigious engineering position and went to a private bank. Worked my way up to VP of Operations in a 4 year span. Learned a ton... but I was not happy. I was not building anything. I was just moving money around. Although the money was amazing, I decided to pivot back to my roots. Now armed with not just technical knowledge, but how all the financial pieces fit together. That really made a huge difference in my career.
What unconventional strategy did you employ that significantly impacted your business?
While it's not new, so few practice it. I sell first, then build what I sold. If it does not sell, I don't build it. This is especially important for me as a business owner. I don't want to waste time on things that won't sell, or services that don't resonate. So I practice what I preach with my clients. For example, I launched a workshop, but I did not plan it, I did not have a location... I did not even have more than an agenda for it. It did garner enough attention, so I pivoted.
What’s something you wish you knew sooner that you’d give as advice for aspiring or newer entrepreneurs?
The hard part is never building the product or service, no matter how complex we think it is. The hardest part is always selling. And this is coming from the engineer. Build whatever you want, but unless you have a solid way to sell it, it will be a cold winter. So my advice is this: Think of the sales as part of the product. However much time you plan on putting into building the product, dedicate 2x to building sales.
Want to dive deeper into Rami's work? Explore more details in the links below!
- Visit Impossible Innovation's website impossibleinnovation.com
- Connect with Rami on LinkedIn: Rami Ibrahim
