Strategic Announcements and the Concept of Vaporware in Tech

Is it ever a good time for a company to announce vaporware? Let’s discuss the pros and cons of pre-announcements, vaporware, and the strategy of products that may or may not ever exist.  

SHOW: 928

SHOW TRANSCRIPT: The Cloudcast #928 Transcript

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SHOW NOTES:

• The McGuffin “Challenge” - Software Defined Talk (May 30, 2025)
• McGuffin (Wikipedia)

IS IT EVER A GOOD TIME TO PRE-ANNOUNCE SOMETHING? OR VAPORWARE ON PURPOSE?

• Russ Hanneman (Silicon Valley) - “No Revenue”
• Set a big ambition for the company
• Distract the market from current company challenges
• Distract your competitors to chase something where they don’t have strengths
• Probe the market for ideas - sort of like a “leak”
• Get the market to pump your valuation, so you can take other actions
• Stall your customers from potentially buying a competitive offer

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