Marty Cagan examines what business incubators, from independent startup accelerators to corporate labs like HP Labs and Yahoo's Brickhouse, teach about turning product ideas into successful companies or products. He…
““Everyone's always looking for the hack - what's the channel that will unlock something big? But every time we looked for a reason we weren't growing, it always came back to the basics –– selection, delivery quality, pricing. That's it. Always come back to first principles. Whenever we made a mistake, we forgot this.” – Micah Moreau (DoorDash, VP of Growth) (This is a special edition of my newsletter — the first in a series of posts…”
Lenny Rachitsky investigates how fast-growing B2B companies won their first ten customers, drawing on interviews and stories from firms like Figma, Stripe, Slack, Shopify and Airtable. He finds that nearly every company…
Lenny draws on interviews with founders and product leaders at Noom, Duolingo, Grammarly, Calm, Spotify, Future, Flo and others to explain what helps consumer subscription apps last. The core argument is that winners…
Teresa Torres argues that great product management means thinking from the whole business's perspective: a product must not only please customers but also earn money from them, which is the hardest part. She recommends…
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…
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…
Teresa Torres argues that continuous discovery habits apply to early-stage startups, not just mature products, even before a product or customers exist. She illustrates the ideal path with fictional founders who set a…
Teresa Torres argues that most product ideas are born from fleeting thoughts, but only some should become businesses. She offers a set of questions to test an idea's viability before investing heavily. Her approach…
Hiten Shah revisits his 2015 observation of "infectious enthusiasm" in founders and argues its source is not charisma but a prior, settled decision to pursue the work regardless of outcome. He contends that investors…
Julie Zhuo's paid essay reflects on the path into founding a company, framing it as a hero's journey shaped by conviction. Based on the excerpt provided, the piece looks back on the starting point and suggests founders…
Teresa Torres shares a short, personal reflection prompted by a quote from Brett Martin about his decision to step away from his startup Sonar. Her core point is that founders sometimes must concede a battle to win the…
Marty Cagan argues that great products are necessary but not sufficient for a great company, because a company known for strong products attracts predatory investors and executives who strip value for quick financial…
Lenny Rachitsky answers a SaaS founder's question about when a small startup should raise money and start hiring. His core guideline is to wait until product/market fit is found, since hiring before then slows a company…
Lenny Rachitsky's weekly Q&A newsletter tackles three practical questions: how a startup founder can tell they are approaching product/market fit, what matters most when interviewing for a Director of PM role, and…
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…
Part three of Lenny Rachitsky's B2B series argues that founders should define their ideal customer profile early, alongside the problem itself. Drawing on interviews with dozens of startup leaders, it outlines a list of…
Lenny Rachitsky shares tactics from angel investor and founder Sam Corcos on getting real value from investors. The post argues founders often fail to activate their networks because they don't ask well, and covers…
This third installment of a marketplace growth series examines how leading marketplaces bootstrapped their initial supply, which is the side that most marketplaces remain constrained on. Drawing on interviews with…
A recap of a conversation with Y Combinator Group Partner Gustaf Alströmer, drawing on his work with more than 600 startups and his Airbnb experience. The core argument is that most startups fail because they don't talk…
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…
A data-driven deep dive into Y Combinator's roughly 4,900 companies, examining survival, exits, unicorn rates, funding, geography, and founder traits. The core argument is that YC's edge lies in picking strong founders…
Marty Cagan introduces four thought leaders whose blogs he finds valuable for product people, many of whom were relatively new voices in 2010. He profiles Ben Horowitz, Eric Ries, Steve Blank, and Fred Wilson…
Marty Cagan argues that a startup's central goal is reaching Product-Market Fit, the point where a product has proven demand and justifies investing in sales, marketing and scale. He standardizes on Marc Andreessen's…