“From time to time we get criticized for making "yet another to-do list" product. Or a chat product. Or a messaging product. Or something we've kinda sorta already made before, just in a different form, combination, or approach. "How about something else? How about something bigger? How about something completely different?" David even reflected on it personally in his recent…”
Marty Cagan argues against setting a fixed percentage split between new product development and improving existing products. Instead, every investment, whether new or improvement, should be treated as a product…
Marty Cagan argues that product companies can learn a great deal from venture capital firms, which are also in the business of making product investments and maximizing returns. He contrasts VC practices with typical…
Teresa Torres and Petra Wille argue that innovation is a means rather than a goal: it matters only when it serves customers better. Using the history of the login flow, from passwords to single sign-on, Slack's magic…
Marty Cagan argues that a product team's primary scorecard metric should change depending on the stage the product is in. He describes three stages: MVP, where the only goal is winning several happy, referenceable…
Marty Cagan argues that 'product' is unclear in Internet companies, where software is intangible and large sites are split into many smaller products largely for internal organizational reasons. He proposes defining…
Marty Cagan extends Marc Andreessen's 'software is eating the world' thesis beyond software itself, arguing that modern product techniques are disrupting entrenched industries such as automotive, animation, and…
Jorge Mazal, former CPO of Duolingo, recounts how the company reversed a slide in daily active user growth and eventually grew DAU about 4.5x over four years. The journey began with failed attempts: a…
Marty Cagan argues that in many startups the CEO is the most effective head of product, especially in consumer companies, because the CEO best understands the market, customer and company and is fully committed. He…
Lenny Rachitsky argues that product differentiation is essential, drawing on Michael Porter's view that winners either operate better or perform differently from rivals. The post lays out seven practical differentiators…
Teresa Torres and Petra Wille use search-and-rescue research on how lost people behave as a metaphor for product teams that have lost their way. They describe five recurring moves: freezing, chasing shortcuts, following…
Lenny Rachitsky's annual year-end roundup revisits his past newsletter posts and podcast episodes and reorganizes the best of them by reader job-to-be-done, such as sharpening product skills, growing a product, scaling…
Teresa Torres describes a common product dilemma: a few at-risk customers request a feature that doesn't fit the product's strategy and may have more perceived than actual value. She argues that the hardest part is not…
Marty Cagan argues that web products spread worldwide quickly, but making them work well in other countries requires a different product approach than simply localizing a US product. Early companies that handed off US…
Jake Fuentes, co-founder of Cascade, reflects on the lessons from shutting down his B2B data-visualization startup after four years. He argues that failure rarely gets studied carefully, and that several decisions which…
Cagan argues that the next big product is usually not a wholly new market but a new version of something existing that does the job far better, faster, or cheaper, thereby redefining its category. He illustrates this…
Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp, answers a common question: why build something brand new instead of adding it to an existing product? He argues that a fresh start gives teams the freedom to explore new technology…
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…
Cagan and Fredell argue that most M&A deals fail to deliver expected results, and that the usual due diligence misses what matters most: whether the acquired organization can keep building successful products under the…
Marty Cagan follows up his earlier talk on why product teams fail by describing ten attributes of strong product teams operating under a Continuous Discovery and Delivery model. He argues that empowered, durable…
Marty Cagan addresses a recurring question: how Agile relates to the Product Operating Model. He argues Agile is only one of three dimensions of the product model, covering how software is built, tested, and deployed…
Cagan argues that many companies lack a clear way to tell whether product managers' work actually aligns with business strategy, and that teams drift into chasing feature ideas. He proposes a 'Product Scorecard': a…
In the season opener of this podcast, hosts Teresa Torres and Petra Wille reflect on the 2025 Product at Heart conference theme of curation. They argue that curation, choosing what to build, prioritize, and serve, is…
In this interview from Melissa Perri's CPO Accelerator series, Abbie Moore, CPO of the non-profit Adopt-A-Pet, explains that product leadership at a non-profit shares most fundamentals with for-profit work: customer…