By Lenny Rachitsky · lennysnewsletter.com · @lennysan on X · YouTube · LinkedIn
This edition of Lenny Rachitsky's Q&A newsletter answers three reader questions about early-stage product and team building. It lays out five tactics for solving the marketplace cold-start problem, mostly centered on seeding supply first. It then distinguishes project, product, and program management roles to help resolve overlap between a new PM and a long-tenured technical program manager. Finally, it points to resources and principles for building a growth team, emphasizing that growth is everyone's responsibility. The advice is practical and grounded in examples from well-known companies.
01Key takeaways
- Early on, seed the supply side of a marketplace first, since that is usually the scarce resource that buyers need.
- Consider single-player modes or paying early participants to make the product useful before network effects exist.
- Pick one market or niche to reach critical mass before expanding, making the cold-start problem manageable.
- When roles overlap, talk to the peer one-on-one first, then bring in managers if it doesn't resolve, focusing on ideal rather than historical roles.
- Don't wait for perfect role clarity; agree on the biggest fixes and act, since organic resolution rarely happens.
- Growth belongs to everyone in a company, but early effort should target large multiplicative gains rather than small conversion tweaks.
02Key sections
- Solving the cold-start problem
- Five common tactics for bootstrapping a two-sided marketplace are described, including single-player mode, paying one or both sides, employees as early supply, and focusing on one market or niche. Because supply is usually the constraint, most tactics aim to grow it first.
- Defining project, product, and program roles
- Project, product, and program managers are distinguished by what they are responsible for, with product work centered on building and program work centered on operating existing products. Clear role definitions help reduce friction when responsibilities overlap.
- Resolving overlap with a peer
- The advice moves from a direct conversation with the peer, to involving managers, to rethinking ideal roles rather than historical ones. It stresses acting on the biggest issues without waiting for perfect clarity, and considering title or team changes.
- Building a growth team
- Growth is presented as a company-wide responsibility, with a dedicated team still valuable. Early focus should go to 2x-10x opportunities, and once retention is healthy, investment should shift toward the top of the funnel.
03From the post
“Welcome to the third edition of the Q&A series! Thank you for all of the feedback and kind words so far. It means a lot. 💛 Keep the questions coming! Anything you’re struggling with at work around business growth, personal growth, building product, people issues, management, org design, or communication is game. If I don’t have anything insightful to say on a topic, I’ll find someone amazing to help answer your question. New addition this week: A bit of inspiration for your week ahead at the end of each newsletter. If you’re finding value in this newsletter, please share it with a friend and click the little gray heart above. The bigger this community gets, the more we all learn. On to this week’s questions… Q: When creating a new product, what are some strategies and tactics for minimizing the cold start problem — making the product useful with zero users and data? I’ll assume your product involves a marketplace, since that’s where “cold start” (a.k.a. chicken-and-egg) problems are most common. Based on many conversations with folks at about a…”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.