SVPG · Marty CaganAug 13, 2006
Aug 13, 2006 · 3 min
Cagan argues that friction between product and marketing is common and usually stems from the two functions not collaborating well, even though their goals should align. He stresses that marketing is critical and that…
@hnshah · Hiten Shah on X♥ 24
AI makes bad product marketing look finished. That’s the part I don’t trust. A competitive brief can sound current while leaning on an old source. Positioning can sound sharp even when the logic underneath is a guess. A battlecard can look complete and still fail the rep who
HEY World · Jason FriedAug 28, 2025
Aug 28, 2025
“At its best, marketing is a transfer of enthusiasm. When you're truly pumped about what you're doing, when you're truly driven by the vision, when you absolutely must make something that you need and want, your enthusiasm leaves a mark. It's a brand. Not the noun, but the verb. At its worst, marketing is a transfer of everything else. Your…”
Medium · Hiten ShahNov 7, 2025
Nov 7, 2025 · 5 min
Hiten Shah argues that tech has long misunderstood marketing, treating it as decoration or a growth hack when it is really the translation between what a product does and what it means to customers. He notes that the…
Lenny’s Podcast124 min
Timothy Davis · Jul 28, 2024
Key learnings- Paid acquisition suits most businesses because paid search is user-driven, so start by checking where users already find you and…
- Run small signs-of-life tests first, starting with your own customer data for lookalike audiences at a 1% match, before…
- Don't copy winning creative across platforms; user mindset and behavior differ, so adapt messaging for each platform.
SVPG · Marty CaganFeb 14, 2022
Feb 14, 2022 · 4 min
Marty Cagan introduces Martina Lauchengco's book LOVED, which argues that product/market fit has two halves: a strong product and a strong market approach. Building on his earlier work on product discovery, he contends…
Lenny’s Podcast164 min
Grant Lee · Nov 13, 2025
Key learnings- Treat product-market fit as a real word-of-mouth engine: if over half of new signups come from organic sharing, the core growth…
- Make the first 30 seconds of the product magical, focusing on one clear 'egg' of value rather than many features, so new users…
- Practice founder-led marketing: write provocative but useful posts, share learnings regularly, and build credibility by giving…
Lenny’s Podcast132 min
Jason Feifer · Oct 12, 2023
Key learnings- Before pursuing press, define what you need it for, such as awareness, investor credibility, or a new customer segment, the same…
- Choose outlets whose readers can actually buy or use your product; a local business gains little from a national outlet, so…
- Study how a publication covers your category and competitors, then identify the specific writer or editor, since the…
SVPG · Marty CaganAug 15, 2009
Aug 15, 2009 · 3 min
The author, watching TV ads on a DVR, found that a Palm Pre commercial failed to convey what the phone actually did, while an iPhone ad made the product immediately clear and compelling. She argues that products only…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 286
Dec 3, 2019 · 22 min
This is Part 4 of Lenny Rachitsky's marketplace series, focused on driving initial demand after supply is underway. It argues that the timing of investing in demand depends on product-market fit, where growth comes…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 612
Aug 4, 2020 · 5 min
This edition of Lenny Rachitsky's newsletter answers a reader question by curating his favorite product management templates and frameworks in one place. The collection spans 1-pagers and PRDs, business and team…
Lenny’s Podcast110 min
Sahil Mansuri · Dec 4, 2022
Key learnings- Plan next year conservatively, but set short-term checkpoints (e.g., Q1 revenue targets) that unlock extra spend or trigger…
- Avoid founder optimism bias in forecasts; predetermine what decisions will follow from hitting or missing each milestone.
- Rethink sales comp so reps are rewarded for renewals, retention and customer quality, not just new bookings, since current plans…
@hnshah · Hiten Shah on X♥ 23
If you work on a B2B product, product marketing is probably already part of your job whether or not it’s in your title. It shows up when something you learn from the market changes how the product gets explained or sends the team back into the product. Friday at 10 AM PT I’m
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 389
Nov 11, 2025 · 15 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyThe post argues that as AI makes building and reaching customers easier for everyone, traditional B2B channels like search, outbound, events and lifecycle email are getting noisier and less effective. It makes the case…
Lenny’s Podcast110 min
Christopher Lochhead · Sep 17, 2023
Key learnings- Most businesses unknowingly choose to compete for a slice of an existing category; Lochhead argues category leaders capture about…
- Focus obsessively on the customer's problem, not just your solution, as Gojo did when it reframed hand washing without water to…
- Use new language (languaging) to change how people think about a problem, so they can perceive new value and be open to a new…
Medium · Hiten ShahDec 2, 2025
Dec 2, 2025 · 6 min
Hiten Shah argues that a company's external surface area has expanded dramatically, from a few channels decades ago to dozens of channels and hundreds of instances today. This growth fragments coordination, measurement…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 25
Jun 22, 2021 · 9 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyThe 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…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 129
Aug 16, 2022 · 24 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyStep six of Lenny Rachitsky's consumer-business series explains how products grow through a small set of engines: virality, SEO, and paid growth, plus sales and supply-driven demand for marketplaces. It argues founders…
@hnshah · Hiten Shah on X♥ 28
Founders are doing product marketing earlier than they think. The market starts teaching you how buyers see the product almost immediately. What they compare it to affects the story you tell. Objections and lost deals often expose something deeper about the product itself. That
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 18
Jul 28, 2020 · 21 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyThis post examines how fast-growing B2B startups converted their first users into paying customers, grouping them into three early sales motions: bottom-up self-service, bottom-up with inside sales, and outbound…
Lenny’s Podcast111 min
Bret Taylor · Jul 31, 2025
Key learnings- Don't just digitize what existed before; rebuild the experience natively for the new platform so customers have a reason to…
- Ask yourself what the most impactful thing is today, and reflect on whether you're choosing it out of comfort or because it's…
- Be skeptical of your own storytelling: customer reasons given to salespeople can mask deeper product problems, so seek…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 86
Sep 27, 2022 · 14 min
Emily Kramer, who led marketing at Asana, Carta and other companies, argues that much marketing work wastes time because teams lack alignment before work begins. She introduces GACCS (Goals, Audience, Creative…
Lenny’s Podcast94 min
Bob Moesta · Aug 24, 2023
Key learnings- Customers hire products to make progress in a context; understanding the context and desired outcome matters more than simply…
- Start from the struggling moment that causes demand, since a product alone does not create demand; use those moments to guide…
- Model switching as forces: push and pull drive change, while anxiety of the new and habit of the present hold people back, and…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 419
Mar 10, 2026 · 15 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyLenny's paid guest post by April Dunford, a positioning expert who has worked with 300+ B2B companies, covers four advanced roadblocks that derail positioning work. It argues that disagreement over competitors, product…