Marty Cagan argues that when companies grow, boards often push founders to hand over leadership to professional managers, but the stronger path is to coach founders into strong product leaders. He contrasts two failure…
Lenny Rachitsky surveys about two dozen venture investors on what growth rates count as good or great at each stage of a business. The post argues that early-stage investors weigh time-to-$1M ARR, retention, and…
“Listen to this episode on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts What does it take to reinvent a 14-year-old company—not once, but twice? In this episode of Just Now Possible, Teresa Torres talks with Sam Eitzen (Co-founder & CEO), Joe Eitzen (Co-founder & CPO), and Patrick Ellis (CTO) of Snapbar”
Lenny Rachitsky collected over a thousand reader stories about personal tools they built through vibe coding, then curated 50+ examples spanning health, parenting, work, music and fun. His core argument is that…
Teresa Torres interviews the co-founders of Earmark, a productivity suite that runs multiple AI agents during live meetings to produce finished artifacts such as specs, tickets, and prototypes rather than passive…
Teresa Torres argues that many startups treat product management as little more than turning feedback into a feature list, and that the discipline remains underdeveloped. She notes that teams know valuable research…
Marty Cagan argues that enterprise software companies sometimes need to become consumer or small-business companies, whether because enterprise markets are saturated, investors demand bigger markets, or leaders tire of…
Marty Cagan argues that the word "pivot" is overused in product teams and that teams too often abandon their product vision far too early. He separates two kinds of pivots: vision pivots, which change the underlying…
This post, part three of a marketplace series, lays out ten strategies that leaders at large marketplaces such as Airbnb, Uber, DoorDash, Etsy and Lyft use to protect service quality as they scale. The most common…
Teresa Torres argues that the rapid user decline of BranchOut, a Facebook-based social recruiting app, was predictable because its core assumption failed. Her team had built a similar product and, through interviews…
Marty Cagan argues that a product proving it works and is usable is not the same as a product people will actually choose to buy and use. He calls the smallest functional, usable version a 'Minimal Product' and reserves…
Lenny Rachitsky's paid newsletter, the second part of a series, recommends 24 long-standing books for product builders, grouped by the jobs they help with, such as design, taste, influence, starting a company, career…
Cagan distinguishes two lightweight planning tools that are often confused: the Business Model or Lean Canvas and the Opportunity Assessment. The Canvas suits new businesses or entirely new product lines, where many…
Jason Fried argues that owning an independent company is a rare privilege, one that frees leaders to experiment in ways that public companies and businesses forced to justify every move cannot. He encourages owners not…
Lenny Rachitsky profiles Saturn, a calendar-centered social app for high school students that became a top App Store performer. The post draws five lessons from its founders on building viral consumer social products…
This essay traces Medium's history from its 2012 launch by Evan Williams through its 2018 monetization struggles. It argues Medium's minimal design and long-form focus reinvigorated interest in in-depth writing and…
Lenny Rachitsky argues that good PMs make product teams better, and that the core PM jobs (shaping, shipping, and synchronizing) must be covered by someone regardless of hiring. He outlines three signs it's time to hire…
Marty Cagan argues that Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs)—technical product creators who embed with customers to deeply understand their problems—are a powerful practice that applies well beyond the hard, high-stakes…
Carole Robin, co-creator of Stanford's 'Touchy Feely' course, answers a reader whose co-founder relationship is deteriorating while the business still needs it to work. She argues that co-founder friction, like marriage…
Jason Fried responds to the recurring criticism that Basecamp makes 'yet another' to-do list, chat, or messaging product. He admits the pull toward grander missions in tech is real, but argues it looks odd when applied…
Lenny answers a reader's question about growth levers beyond his consumer growth series. He recaps the Racecar Growth Framework (kickstarts, growth engines, lubricants, turbo boosts), then introduces two mid-stage…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader who just sold their startup and is moving into a product manager role without formal PM training. Drawing on his own experience after Localmind was acquired by Airbnb, he admits he was a…
Melissa Perri argues that product leaders should deliberately invest in "the product of you" and plan their career path toward product leadership. Beyond building core skills, aspiring leaders need to decide what kind…
This guest-written issue, drawn from Ali Abouelatta's First 1000 research, catalogs 60 examples of 'Turbo Boosts,' one-off events that temporarily accelerate growth. It frames them as the fuel-like components of a…