Writer of Lenny's Newsletter and host of Lenny's Podcast.
Lenny answers a reader who lacks a technical background and struggles to follow engineers and make trade-off decisions. He lays out a three-step path: learn core concepts like how software systems, APIs, and databases…
“Q: I’m looking for ways to increase the conversion rate of our core flow. I’ve already read your post on conversion, and it was great, but do you have any other suggestions? I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to do with your question when I first got it. But then, while catching up with my buddy Kristen Berman, I found my answer. Kristen co-founded a company called Irrational Labs, which helps companies and nonprofits understand and…”
Brian Rothenberg argues that a surprising number of billion-dollar companies, including Airbnb, Uber, Square and Eventbrite, share a little-understood growth loop in which demand-side users convert into supply-side…
Lenny Rachitsky surveys founders and growth leads from Grubhub, OpenTable, Caviar, Instacart, Snackpass and Peerspace on how marketplaces expanded into new cities. The core argument is that expansion should follow once…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader's request for real-world 1-Pagers and PRDs, explaining why good examples are scarce and listing traits of effective documents: problem focus, clear success criteria, just-enough…
Lenny Rachitsky analyzes how 30 fast-growing B2B SaaS companies chose their go-to-market motions, covering product-led versus sales-led approaches, top-down versus bottom-up targeting, and which market segments they…
This is a curated index of Lenny Rachitsky's best newsletter posts from his first two and a half years, organized into nine topics such as growth strategy, product management work and career, product-market fit…
Lenny Rachitsky lists five habits that make product managers annoying to their teams and suggests how to avoid them. The core argument is that great PMs add much value, but rigid process worship, impulsive…
The post argues that marketplaces succeed by choosing one of three routes: delivering far more convenience, offering a significantly lower price, or unlocking desirable supply that customers want. It also explains what…
Lenny argues that most teams should skip elaborate prioritization frameworks and use a simple impact-versus-cost sort of T-shirt-sized ideas, then refine it with team input. He stresses that the roadmap must follow a…
Lenny Rachitsky examines whether a startup needs a strong 'why now'—a clear reason the product is only possible at this moment. He argues it improves odds by enabling a 10x better product or a new untapped market, but…
Lenny Rachitsky examines whether startups need a strong 'why now' to win over investors and build large businesses. He argues a clear answer helps, since it can enable a much better product or open an untapped market…
Lenny Rachitsky examines how labor marketplaces find and grow their supply side, drawing on interviews with founders and early team members of roughly a dozen fast-growing companies. Because these platforms connect…
The post answers a founder's question about hiring difficulty by synthesizing advice from several early-stage founders who consistently attract strong talent. It argues that hiring success comes from a compelling…
Lenny answers a new PM's question about how to judge day-to-day performance by proposing three priority-ordered checks: whether the team delivers business impact, whether the individual contributes to strategy and team…
The post argues that distribution, not product alone, separates startups that succeed from those that fail, and that a unique distribution advantage is needed to reach audiences more cheaply than competitors. It lays…
This is a short announcement newsletter pointing readers to a guest post Lenny Rachitsky wrote for a16z's Future site on choosing a North Star Metric. The guide draws on a survey of current and former employees at more…
Lenny Rachitsky shares his favorite interview questions for product managers, one per core PM responsibility, with notes on what strong answers look like and which red flags to watch for. He also includes a set of…
Shivani Berry, a former PM turned leadership coach, argues that buy-in comes from showing teammates how your idea advances their goals. She explains three common failure modes: assuming others think like you, feeling…
Lenny Rachitsky argues that people learn about new products through seven distinct channels, split by whether they encounter the product online, out in the world, or at home, and whether the exposure is organic or paid…
The post asks how long marketplace startups take to reach product-market fit and answers by collecting founder accounts from companies like Lyft, DoorDash, Uber, and Airbnb. The core argument is that marketplaces take…
Lenny Rachitsky analyzes more than twenty public PM career ladders to identify the core skills companies value in product managers. He outlines ten recurring PM competencies, the shifts that separate junior from senior…
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…
A reader question about business model types prompts this issue, which the author notes was hard to find summarized anywhere. It lays out eight core ways businesses make money, such as selling a thing, renting, taking a…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader's question about what makes product managers great by sharing 14 habits he has observed and refined over years. The core argument is that effective PMs build habits around clear…
A guest post by DJ DiDonna of the Sabbatical Project that debunks three common manager objections to sabbatical programs: that everyone will leave, that the company will collapse without the leader, and that people…
Lenny's newsletter opens with his own sabbatical experience and then hands the floor to DJ DiDonna, founder of The Sabbatical Project, who has interviewed over 250 people about extended time off. DJ argues that…
Lenny Rachitsky explains why marketplaces fail, drawing on dozens of failed examples. He argues the core causes mirror any startup: lacking product-market fit on demand or supply, poor liquidity, weak unit economics…
Lenny Rachitsky explains how marketplace and platform builders should choose a take rate, the fee charged on each transaction. He introduces a simple formula combining convenience and demand minus competition, walks…
Lenny explains the Minto Pyramid Principle (lead with the answer, then support it with arguments and data) and the Situation-Complication-Resolution (SCR) framework for structuring business narratives. He shows how…