In this episode, Christian & Meghan review a new app called Postdates. You read that right: It’s like Postmates, the food delivery app, but with the twist of gathering all the stuff you left with your ex. That’s a huge difference between the products—but the brands are nearly identical.

We’re calling this phenomenon of new products trailing existing brands “brand skitching,” named after the skateboard maneuver made famous in Back to the Future. Listen now to hear Christian & Meghan’s take on what a world of pop-up tech could look like, what happens when you take an idea too far, and how Newton’s law creates interesting product opportunities.

Takeaways:

• Newton’s Law (every action has an equal and opposite reaction) can lead to interesting product ideas.
• Seemingly silly ideas can become useful products.
• Consider creating products up and down a given value chain.
• Brand skitching can help get creative products into the market more quickly.
• Enough with “painkillers and vitamins” – think about where you can create “psychedelics” in the product world.

Things to Listen For:

• [00:20] Introduction to Slack Conversations episodes
• [00:35] How Postdates works
• [02:00] Could Postdates be a “pop-up” product?
• [03:20] Will we see other apps as an opposite reaction to existing apps?
• [06:00] Apps with an “end state” could lead to other product opportunities
• [09:00] Examples of brand skitching and how to do it successfully
• [13:45] Postdates is reviving creativity in the tech world
• [14:40] How Postdates approached a unique problem with a typical product mindset
• [17:00] Enough with “painkillers and vitamins” – where are the “psychedelics” in the product world?
• [18:30] Seemingly silly ideas can lead to successful products
• [19:15] Break out from what you think your problem space is
• [19:40] Brand skitching can help get creative products into the market more quickly