SVPG · Marty CaganOct 18, 2023
Oct 18, 2023 · 12 min
Marty Cagan and Joakim Sundén argue that Spotify's enduring success comes from the product operating model rather than the popular idea of 'The Spotify Model' (squads, tribes, and similar org labels). They walk through…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 18, 2023
Oct 18, 2023 · 19 min
Teresa Torres argues that product teams should regularly test the underlying assumptions behind their ideas rather than whole solutions, so they can compare options quickly and drop weak ones early. She explains that an…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 162
Oct 17, 2023 · 17 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyApril Dunford argues that B2B buyers often choose "no decision" because purchases feel high-stakes and confusing, making indecision the real competitor. She proposes a two-part sales pitch: a setup that teaches the…
Lenny’s Podcast113 min
Katie Dill · Oct 15, 2023
Key learnings- Beauty and functionality are not opposites; beauty enhances usability, approachability and trust, and users read attention to…
- When joining a team, come in listening and build trust first; Katie's early team intervention taught her that people won't follow…
- Quality is a group effort: align engineering, product and design on shared standards, and use an editor or architect to ensure…
Lenny’s Podcast132 min
Jason Feifer · Oct 12, 2023
Key learnings- Before pursuing press, define what you need it for, such as awareness, investor credibility, or a new customer segment, the same…
- Choose outlets whose readers can actually buy or use your product; a local business gains little from a national outlet, so…
- Study how a publication covers your category and competitors, then identify the specific writer or editor, since the…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 11, 2023
Oct 11, 2023 · 9 min
Teresa Torres argues that good continuous discovery depends on first surfacing the hidden assumptions behind each idea, since teams can't test beliefs they haven't named. She proposes five assumption categories…
Lenny’s Podcast118 min
Karri Saarinen · Oct 8, 2023
Key learnings- Ship features early to a small set of users or internal teammates and polish only at general release, rather than perfecting…
- Co-create early features with one or a few large customers to clarify how complex workflows should actually work.
- Give project teams ownership of their features; craft often emerges when engineers and designers discover better interaction…
SVPG · Marty CaganOct 5, 2023
Oct 5, 2023 · 5 min
Marty Cagan argues that most digital transformations fail, and draws on two decades of hands-on work helping companies adopt the product operating model to name the root causes. He lists ten recurring mistakes, ranging…
Lenny’s Podcast104 min
Brian Balfour · Oct 5, 2023
Key learnings- Building a great product is necessary but not sufficient; durable winners separate themselves by building strong distribution…
- New distribution platforms tend to follow a cycle: competitive consensus, identifying a moat, opening a third-party ecosystem…
- Being early to a new platform matters because late adopters face shrinking windows, since platform cycles appear to be getting…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresOct 4, 2023
Oct 4, 2023 · 6 min
Teresa Torres argues that product teams should not commit to specific features by specific dates, because product work is inherently unpredictable and date-based roadmaps tend to create chaos, broken trust, and wasted…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 195
Oct 3, 2023 · 33 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyPart six of Lenny Rachitsky's B2B startup series covers hiring an early team, organized around four questions: who to hire first, where to find people, how to persuade them to join, and when to bring on a salesperson…
Lenny’s Podcast104 min
Lane Shackleton · Oct 1, 2023
Key learnings- Treat the core job of product work as turning ambiguity into clarity, and build repeatable systems rather than chasing one-off…
- Build default-on customer contact systems, such as a standing weekly slot with customers, instead of quarterly OKRs to talk to…
- Ask career questions about how many 'oh shit' moments someone has had recently, a sharper signal of growth than asking whether…
Lenny’s Podcast101 min
Maya Prohovnik · Sep 28, 2023
Key learnings- Dogfood your product by creating content with it yourself, since building creator tools without living the creator experience…
- Ensure the team experiences the product's pain directly, for example by having engineers and PMs make their own podcasts, to…
- Balance data and gut instinct by treating your intuition as a legitimate data point, explaining its reasoning with evidence…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 336
Sep 26, 2023 · 15 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyLenny Rachitsky profiles how Linear, the project-management tool, builds its product, based on an interview with CEO Karri Saarinen. The post's core argument is that a small, craft-focused setup works well: no dedicated…
Lenny’s Podcast95 min
Nilan Peiris · Sep 24, 2023
Key learnings- Measure word of mouth by simply asking new customers how they heard about you and overlaying that on attribution and…
- Use NPS as a proxy for viral potential: moving promoters up the scale roughly doubles how many people each customer refers, so…
- Read the verbatim NPS comments company-wide; Wise found customers repeatedly asked for lower prices, faster transfers, and easier…
Lenny’s Podcast88 min
Itamar Gilad · Sep 21, 2023
Key learnings- Build product from evidence rather than opinion; a leader's conviction should be tested with customer data, interviews, and…
- Define clear, user-facing goals first, and map them with a metrics tree linking a North Star metric (value created for users) to…
- Use ICE (impact, confidence, ease) to score ideas, and be honest about confidence using the confidence meter: opinions and themes…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 20, 2023
Sep 20, 2023 · 13 min
Teresa Torres surveys how product teams build and maintain opportunity solution trees, the visual map linking a desired outcome to opportunities and candidate solutions. She interviewed six practitioners about the tools…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 402
Sep 19, 2023 · 22 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyA guest post by former Amazon executive Ethan Evans introducing the Magic Loop, a five-step cycle for growing your career by doing your current job well, offering help to your manager, and asking for work tied to your…
Lenny’s Podcast110 min
Christopher Lochhead · Sep 17, 2023
Key learnings- Most businesses unknowingly choose to compete for a slice of an existing category; Lochhead argues category leaders capture about…
- Focus obsessively on the customer's problem, not just your solution, as Gojo did when it reframed hand washing without water to…
- Use new language (languaging) to change how people think about a problem, so they can perceive new value and be open to a new…
Lenny’s Podcast88 min
Oji Udezue · Sep 14, 2023
Key learnings- Map B2B SaaS opportunities on two axes: how many departments a workflow touches and how frequently it runs; high-frequency niche…
- Confirm a problem is sharp by drawing customer workflows before and after your product and measuring how much shorter they…
- Products must be noticeably better than the status quo, roughly three times faster or more capable, before customers will switch…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 13, 2023
Sep 13, 2023 · 8 min
This Product in Practice piece profiles how Hemnet, Sweden's largest property portal, adopted continuous discovery through a grassroots start. A User Research Director and a Chief Product Officer describe how one…
SVPG · Marty CaganSep 12, 2023
Sep 12, 2023
Marty Cagan addresses a common objection from non-tech companies: that the product operating model doesn't apply to them. He argues that being a 'tech company' is about how a business chooses to power its offering with…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 327
Sep 12, 2023 · 35 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyPart five of a B2B startup series argues there is no formula for product-market fit, but founders' stories reveal a pattern. It proposes a five-step progression from one loving customer, to a paying customer, to…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 1,607
Sep 11, 2023 · 11 min
Lenny Rachitsky marks his newsletter reaching 500,000 subscribers by sharing ten lessons from building it. His core argument is that quality and consistency matter far more than design, branding, or growth tactics. He…
Lenny’s Podcast86 min
Andy Johns · Sep 10, 2023
Key learnings- Treat persistent disruption to sleep, relationships, physical health, and daily routines as a clear signal that something needs…
- Recognize that many high achievers tie self-worth to achievement; identify those adaptations that once helped you but may now be…
- Start with a therapist or counselor, and choose based on feeling safe and comfortable, ideally with someone intellectually at…
Lenny’s Podcast134 min
Claire Butler · Sep 7, 2023
Key learnings- Focus go-to-market on the individual contributors who use your product daily; their love and advocacy spread the product into…
- Keep the free tier generous, such as unlimited collaborators on a starter team, so teams can adopt and build confidence before…
- Early on, treat metrics as weak signal; look for a few users who love the product and are excited to play with it, rather than…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresSep 6, 2023
Sep 6, 2023 · 35 min
In a fireside chat at the Product at Heart Leadership Forum, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille discuss how product leaders can help teams adopt continuous discovery. Torres frames discovery as the work of deciding what to…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 223
Sep 5, 2023 · 29 min
Lenny Rachitsky's fourth installment in his B2B startup series argues that finding your first ten customers starts with trust and hand-to-hand effort, not scalable channels. Drawing on interviews with founders of…
Lenny’s Podcast90 min
Tim Holley · Sep 3, 2023
Key learnings- Make one north-star KPI, such as gross merchandise sales, the drumbeat of every meeting and the yardstick for judging launches.
- Repeat the company narrative relentlessly; Tim suggests people need to hear it several more times than you'd expect before they…
- Benchmark against the broader set of places buyers spend money, not just direct marketplace competitors, to ground prioritization…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 294
Aug 29, 2023 · 29 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyPart three of Lenny Rachitsky's B2B series argues that founders should define their ideal customer profile early, alongside the problem itself. Drawing on interviews with dozens of startup leaders, it outlines a list of…