Writer of Lenny's Newsletter and host of Lenny's Podcast.
Lenny Rachitsky shares how he learned to say no to the constant flow of requests as a solopreneur, arguing that protecting focus on the few things that made you successful is essential. He offers a decision framework…
Part two of Lenny's pivot series argues that pivoting is fundamentally about opportunity cost and distinguishes early ideation pivots from hard pivots on live products. It draws on founder-reported data to suggest…
Lenny Rachitsky introduces a two-part series on startup pivots, drawing on research into 30+ successful pivots. The post points to a companion spreadsheet covering why each company pivoted, how long it took, how the new…
Lenny Rachitsky interviews Johnny Ho, co-founder and head of product at Perplexity, about how a fast-growing AI search company builds product with a very small team. Perplexity uses AI to answer its own operational…
A guest post by Kyle Poyar compiling 25 low-effort, high-impact quick wins that operators at well-known tech companies used in their first months in a role. The ideas span funnel friction, pricing tweaks, workflow…
Ken Rudin introduces ARIA, a repeatable framework for growing a product by increasing engagement with features it already has rather than launching new ones. He argues that most growth comes from incremental…
Lenny Rachitsky argues that AI will hit the high-level strategic parts of product management, such as strategy, vision, and goal-setting, harder than the people-centric work. He contends that soft skills like…
Duolingo's VP of Engineering Sean Colombo shares five growth lessons from scaling daily active users from 5 million to nearly 30 million. The core argument is that urgency and fast experiment rollout compound growth…
Lenny Rachitsky, with instructor Colin Matthews, offers a practical primer for product managers who want stronger technical fluency. It walks through application architecture (client, server, database), how APIs work…
“Q: What’s in your podcast stack? I’m approaching two years of podcasting (and just crossed 10M downloads and 3M YouTube views!), so now feels like a good time to reflect on how I got here. I was incredibly hesitant to start a podcast. There are a trillion podcasts, they’re a lot of work, and it’s so dorky to tell people you have a podcast 🤦. But thanks to a nudge from Harry Stebbings, and having a newsletter platform to help kickstart…”
The post argues that a Product Hunt launch is worth the heavy time investment only for the right product and goals, and outlines seven tactics for a strong launch alongside five common myths. It frames…
Lenny Rachitsky compiles 25 high-signal interview questions gathered from roughly 150 podcast guests, grouped by theme: handling hard situations, how candidates think, how they build and drive impact, who they are as…
Lenny Rachitsky argues that product and business teams should start experimenting with custom GPTs now, since AI tools are often dismissed as a fad or too complex. He explains what GPTs are, how to build one by…
Kristen Berman walks through the four main quantitative willingness-to-pay methods (Van Westendorp, Becker-DeGroot-Marschak, multiple price list, and discrete choice), comparing their strengths and biases. She argues…
Lenny Rachitsky compiles several lightweight decision-making frameworks, ordered from most to least structured, and explains when each fits best. He stresses that frameworks suit only high-stakes, one-way-door choices…
Lenny Rachitsky compiles practices from six companies known for work trials (Linear, Automattic, 37signals, Gumroad, Auth0, PostHog) into a guide covering what work trials are, why they help, example projects, time and…
An interview with Gong's chief product officer on how the company builds product. It covers two-tier annual and quarterly planning, autonomous multi-skill pods organized around problem areas, the decision to skip OKRs…
Lenny Rachitsky and Dan Hockenmaier argue that every business can be reduced to a simple equation, and that you don't fully understand your business until you can write one. Building the equation forces teams to name…
A founder whose product isn't gaining traction gets seven concrete options: talk to more users, narrow the target audience, rework positioning, try growth 'kickstarts', pivot to whatever shows pull, allow more time, or…
Lenny Rachitsky compiles favorite life mottos shared by podcast guests, asking them for a motto they return to often. The post is a collection of short inspirational sayings and the reflections behind them, intended as…
Lenny explains first-principles thinking as a beginner's-mind method: question assumptions, dig to the source, and rebuild problems from fundamental truths instead of copying analogies. He illustrates it with examples…
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…
Bobby Pinero, CEO of Equals, recounts how adding a freemium plan and removing onboarding friction initially spiked user counts but then stalled engagement, retention, and revenue. The team reversed course by…
Lenny Rachitsky surveys about 30 companies on when they hired their first product manager, finding the typical wait was two to three years, often before product-market fit. The post shows that someone always does PM…
The post introduces DRICE, a two-stage prioritization method for product and growth teams. It starts with RICE scoring (Reach, Impact, Confidence, Effort) to build a shortlist, then applies a deeper 30-minute DRICE…
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…
Lenny Rachitsky closes his seven-part B2B series by answering how long reaching $1M ARR typically takes, which growth channels scale B2B companies, and when and how much to charge. He draws on interviews with founders…
April 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…
Part 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 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…