Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 45
Oct 5, 2021 · 16 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyLenny Rachitsky shares a curated directory of roughly 200 favorite reads, listens, and watches on growth, startups, writing, angel investing, product management, leadership, and frameworks, cleaned up and expanded for…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 97
Nov 14, 2023 · 16 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyLenny 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…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 39
May 5, 2020 · 10 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyA Q&A post offering advice for someone becoming a startup's first product manager. Drawing on interviews with people who held that role at well-known companies, it covers when to make the first PM hire and what the job…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 13
Nov 12, 2019 · 9 min
“Hello and welcome to my humble newsletter, where I attempt to answer your questions and offer candid advice about building product, driving growth, working with other humans, and anything else that’s stressing you out at the office 🤝 If you’re returning from last week, thank you! If you’re new, nice to have you! Help spread the word by telling your friends 🙏 New this week:Special guest contributor Hunter Walk 🔥🤩🤯 answering one of…”
Lenny’s Podcast98 min
Nikhyl Singhal · Jun 11, 2023
Key learnings- Think about your career as a product: work backward from the end state you want, and plan several steps ahead rather than…
- Pursue a diverse set of experiences across pre-product-market-fit, scaling, inside-the-building and outside-the-building…
- Early in your career, pick a lane of expertise (domain, crafting, market, organizational, growth) and build a story of what you…
Lenny’s Podcast74 min
Cam Adams · Jun 2, 2024
Key learnings- Cameron says Canva replaces traditional managers with specialty coaches, roughly 800 to 1,000 internal people who help colleagues…
- Cameron argues that scaling requires 'giving away your Lego': hand off tasks you personally own, like writing every email, so you…
- Cameron advises founders to build something they are truly passionate about, since passion sustains them through the dark…
Lenny’s Podcast73 min
Marc Benioff · Dec 22, 2024
Key learnings- Test many tactics at once when launching, then double down on whichever one proves to be the winning strategy.
- Cultivate a beginner's mind so you keep seeing possibilities instead of assuming you already know what will work.
- Treat your company as a startup even at scale; the journey, not the stock price, should be the reward.
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 151
Nov 22, 2019 · 5 min
This second installment of a marketplace growth series tackles the chicken-and-egg problem: once a marketplace is constrained by geography or category, founders must decide whether to concentrate resources on supply or…
SVPG · Marty CaganOct 13, 2011
Oct 13, 2011 · 5 min
Marty Cagan reviews Eric Ries's book "The Lean Startup" and argues it is one of the best product books in years, relevant to both new and experienced product people and not only early-stage startups. He notes Ries…
Lenny’s Podcast80 min
Camille Hearst · Aug 20, 2023
Key learnings- Creators often undervalue their work and avoid charging fans, but a fair value exchange is needed for creators to make a…
- Subscription revenue creates a 'hamster wheel' where creators feel locked into constant output, so platforms should consider…
- Early creators benefit from consistent, predictable publishing of quality work over time, which Camille has seen as a top success…
Lenny’s Podcast71 min
Julia Schottenstein · Jul 13, 2023
Key learnings- Evaluate early-stage companies on four dimensions: people, market, product, and distribution, and recognize that no company will…
- Look for signs of product spark, such as users who can't stop talking about the product and want to share it with teammates and…
- Build a strong standalone offense so you have a viable alternative in every M&A conversation rather than needing to sell.
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 130
May 14, 2024 · 31 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyPart 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’s Podcast134 min
Claire Butler · Sep 7, 2023
Key learnings- Focus go-to-market on the individual contributors who use your product daily; their love and advocacy spread the product into…
- Keep the free tier generous, such as unlimited collaborators on a starter team, so teams can adopt and build confidence before…
- Early on, treat metrics as weak signal; look for a few users who love the product and are excited to play with it, rather than…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 96
Oct 26, 2021 · 12 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyLenny Rachitsky explains what a 'wedge' strategy is, namely entering a large market through a narrow, sharp initial product and segment. He covers when a wedge is most needed (entrenched or crowded markets), why it…
producthabits.com · Hiten ShahNov 5, 2018
Nov 5, 2018 · 27 min
Hiten Shah traces how Square went from a 2009 idea born of a lost glassblowing sale to a company valued in the billions, by solving the costly problem of card acceptance for small businesses. He highlights the simple…
Lenny’s Podcast69 min
Ayo Omojola · May 14, 2023
Key learnings- Differentiation must be both different and better in a way end users actually care about; being merely different or merely…
- Find a sharp, memorable point of difference you can state in one line; for Cash App it was instant access to money when…
- Keep a startup-within-a-company small and tightly knit with senior people who trust each other, and fight for each headcount…
SVPG · Marty CaganJul 11, 2010
Jul 11, 2010 · 3 min
Marty Cagan argues that product innovation is no longer confined to Silicon Valley and that talent in developing markets is moving through a clear progression. The industry began with outsourcing, moved to US companies…
Lenny’s Podcast74 min
Paul Millerd · Nov 19, 2023
Key learnings- Notice whether you're consciously choosing your default path or simply inheriting it, including implicit contracts like working…
- Take a three-hour block during a workday, go for an aimless walk or revisit a childhood activity, and notice what emerges and…
- Ask yourself why you work beyond money, and examine the cultural scripts behind your answer about being a good person.
SVPG · Marty CaganAug 31, 2010
Aug 31, 2010 · 3 min
Marty Cagan argues that in many startups the CEO is the most effective head of product, especially in consumer companies, because the CEO best understands the market, customer and company and is fully committed. He…
Lenny’s Newsletter♥ 96
Jul 19, 2022 · 11 min
Subscriber post — summary onlyPart three of Lenny Rachitsky's consumer-business series argues that busy audiences ignore ordinary products, so founders need a remarkable 'hook.' It offers four strategies for finding one: spotlighting what's unique…
Lenny’s Podcast58 min
Seth Godin · Dec 8, 2024
Key learnings- Define quality as meeting spec, and relentlessly improve the spec in service of the people you serve rather than polishing…
- Treat good taste as anticipating what people want just before they do, and build it by working alongside people with high…
- Treat brand as a promise: decide what you stand for, what you don't do, and what you'd be missed for, then make a difficult…
producthabits.com · Hiten ShahApr 21, 2019
Apr 21, 2019 · 12 min
Hiten Shah recounts how his analytics startup KISSmetrics went from a near-breakthrough to a stalled company. After two failed products, the team did customer research and found a strong market, building features that…
Lenny’s Newsletter · Free post♥ 20
Mar 31, 2020 · 15 min
Lenny Rachitsky answers a reader question about growth and retention during the 2020 coronavirus downturn by compiling advice from growth operators, investors, and HBR. The core argument is that founders should first…
Product Talk · Teresa TorresJan 17, 2024
Jan 17, 2024 · 8 min
This Product in Practice case study follows Kranthi Kiran, founder of ThoughtFlow, a collaboration tool combining visual mind mapping with data modeling. It opens by framing the risk founders face when they start from…