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The “Field of Dreams” Trap in Tech
- Brian Carroll
- Mar 28
- 4 min read
Why Product Marketing is Your Insurance Against Costly Missteps
"If you build it, they will come." It’s an iconic line from Field of Dreams, a great movie—but a terrible product strategy.
Yet, many tech companies fall into this exact trap. They invest millions in product development, confident that their solution is so innovative, so groundbreaking, that the market will naturally embrace it. They don’t validate the problem thoroughly. They don’t test pricing, messaging, or positioning. Instead, they assume that sheer product brilliance will drive adoption.
Spoiler alert: It rarely does.
Companies that install Product Marketing correctly avoid this “Field of Dreams” mentality, sidestepping expensive missteps and unvalidated assumptions. Here’s why PMM is your safeguard against building a beautiful, unused ballpark in the middle of nowhere.
Many tech companies build products in a vacuum, based on internal enthusiasm rather than market reality. They:
Ignore Market Signals: They don’t conduct voice-of-customer (VoC) research or competitive analysis to validate demand.
Assume Features = Adoption: They believe the right features alone will drive customer interest.
Launch Without Market Fit: They roll out products without ensuring they meet a real, urgent customer need.
This leads to slow adoption, wasted resources, and an expensive course correction—or worse, a complete market failure.
Example: Google Glass – Despite cutting-edge technology, Google failed to validate whether mainstream consumers wanted to wear face-mounted cameras. Lack of clear positioning and messaging led to its rapid demise.
Achieving Product-Market Fit Through Market Intelligence
For a product to succeed, it must align with both market demand and customer needs—a process that begins with comprehensive market intelligence. This inverted funnel represents the structured approach to transitioning from broad market analysis to a customer-centric focus, ensuring that product development and go-to-market strategies are based on validated insights rather than assumptions.
By assessing Total Addressable Market (TAM), analyzing competitors, and identifying growth trends, organizations can pinpoint where real opportunities exist. Defining Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), developing buyer personas, and mapping the buyer’s journey further refines this understanding, ensuring that product positioning, messaging, and sales enablement efforts are aligned with actual buyer behaviors and pain points.
Without this disciplined approach, companies risk falling into the Field of Dreams trap—building a product in the hope that customers will come, rather than ensuring the market is ready and eager to adopt it.
How Product Marketing Prevents the “Field of Dreams” Mistake
When Product Marketing is installed correctly, it prevents gut-driven decision-making by injecting market intelligence and strategic rigor into the product development process.
1. PMM Ensures Product-Market Fit—Before You Build
A skilled PMM team ensures that every product decision aligns with actual customer needs, using:
✔ Voice of Customer (VoC) Insights – Direct interviews and data to validate pain points.
✔ Competitive Analysis – Understanding where your product fits in the landscape.
✔ Persona Development – Identifying real users, buyers, and decision-makers.
Without this groundwork, you’re guessing—not strategizing.
2. PMM Aligns Stakeholders and GTM Teams
Product Marketing isn’t just about messaging—it’s about alignment. PMM ensures:
✔ Product Teams Build What the Market Needs – No more feature creep based on internal preferences.
✔ Sales Teams Get a Compelling Narrative – Clear differentiation and value propositions.
✔ Marketing Targets the Right Buyers – Campaigns that resonate with decision-makers, not just end users.
Without this alignment, products enter the market with confusing messaging, unclear differentiation, and unprepared sales teams—leading to a sluggish (or failed) launch.
Example: Salesforce – Early on, Salesforce used strategic positioning and clear messaging to establish itself as the leading cloud-based CRM, rather than just another software tool.
3. PMM De-Risks Pricing, Packaging & Positioning
Many companies guess at pricing or assume a model that “feels right.” PMM tests, validates, and refines pricing strategies to ensure:
✔ Your Pricing Matches Customer Willingness to Pay
✔ Your Packaging is Competitive & Clear
✔ Your Value Proposition is Compelling & Differentiated
Avoiding the Trap: How to “Install” Product Marketing Correctly
If you want to avoid the “Field of Dreams” mistake, your Product Marketing team needs a seat at the table early—before product decisions are finalized.
The Right PMM Installation Includes:
✅ Early involvement in product strategy (not just post-launch support)
✅ Dedicated PMM professionals (not lumping it under demand gen or sales enablement)
✅ Access to customer research, win/loss data, and pricing insights
✅ Alignment with Product, Sales, and Marketing
Without this, PMM becomes reactive, scrambling to explain a product that was never positioned for success to begin with.
Conclusion: PMM is the Antidote to “If You Build It, They Will Come” Thinking
Tech companies that treat PMM as an afterthought often end up fixing positioning and messaging post-launch, rather than getting it right beforehand.
But those that install PMM correctly?
✔ They validate before they build.
✔ They align teams around a unified GTM strategy.
✔ They de-risk their pricing, messaging, and positioning.
If you want growth, install PMM early—before you’ve built an empty stadium.
🚀 Ready to Escape the “Field of Dreams” Trap and unsure where your go-to-market strategy stands?
Take the free Go-To-Market Scorecard to quickly assess your strengths and uncover gaps in your positioning, launch readiness, customer insight, and sales enablement. You’ll get instant, personalized recommendations to help you focus your efforts and grow with confidence.
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