Building a "beautiful" product

This is again a "pivotal" stage for the company. We have built a certain product, persistently over years and is there for everyone to see. While early adopters take their time, we keep on the cycle of continuous improvement and people start recommending our product, there is bound to be a lull in strategy. Not being aware how long this phase will last, there must be an integrating theme to the phase.

This is a phase in which our progress will no longer be measured by the number of features we produce (we are already past that) or how much revenue we generate (we are still to get there).
The target for this phase should be - to build a "beautiful" product. To get a sense of progress, there must be a measurable. How do we measure this?

Lets break this up:

1. The product must be easy to understand - headings, labels, actions and exit must be clearly marked
2. The product must be consistent - similar paradigms to be used throughout
3. The product must look familiar in terms of other applications that the users might be using
4. The product must be stable
5. Messages must be clear and suggestions must be given if there are stoppages
6. There must be "sign-posts" (suggestions) for users to reach a particular target. We can put in "scenarios" for users to understand the product.

This gives us nice targets! Lets see how well we progress on this...

Starting a new blog

Usually I write on our company website but I am starting to write here so that our friends in Google can index better! Will write on technology and startups.
As Steve Blank rightly puts it, a startup is a search for a business model. Hence the tendency by startup entrepreneurs to think a lot about their strategy and business model. So I hope this blogs helps others as much as it will help me in straightening out my thoughts!