Best vs. Rest Explained

Marty Cagan revisits The Lost Interview with Steve Jobs to answer a question he has struggled with: why do so many product companies remain weak when the best ones are the most valuable in the world? Rather than attributing it only to leaders never having seen good product work, he adopts Jobs's theory that once a company finds success, its focus shifts to sales and marketing, and salespeople rise to run it. Cagan notes this pattern is common when product-oriented founders are replaced by professional CEOs from sales, business development, or finance who show little interest in the machinery of consistent innovation. He suggests this natural selection leaves many firms vulnerable to disruption, while leaders willing to build new capabilities still have a chance. The argument matters because it reframes product decline as a cultural and leadership problem rather than a tactical one.

01Key takeaways

• Growth driven only by sales and marketing can quietly push product quality down the priority list.
• Recognition and promotion follow what a company rewards, so measure and reward innovation capability deliberately.
• Leaders from non-product backgrounds must invest in the machinery of consistent innovation to avoid decline.
• Engineers and designers in sales-led companies face a choice: accept a secondary role or move to an innovation-focused company.
• Companies that neglect product innovation become prime targets for disruption by product-led competitors.

02Key sections

The question of bad product companies

Cagan admits he has long lacked a good answer to why so many companies still produce poor products despite the rewards of doing it well. His earlier theory centered on leaders never having worked at strong product companies.

Jobs's theory of decline

Jobs argues that after establishing a business, companies start valuing great salespeople over product engineers and designers, so sales leaders end up running the company. Product quality gradually becomes less important.

Brand management and the sales-led model

Cagan notes the P&G brand-manager model fit this pattern well, since that role centered on pricing, packaging, positioning and promotion rather than product innovation.

Professional CEOs and lost product mojo

Many companies lost their product strength after replacing founders with CEOs from sales, marketing, business development, or finance. Cagan has seen that such leaders are often smart but show little real interest in sustained innovation.

Implications and the path forward

This dynamic leaves many companies ripe for disruption, especially alongside software eating the world. Leaders who get serious about building new innovation muscles may still be able to transform, though it is very difficult.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.