thoughts on building great products

The effects of products scale, especially products we use daily or weekly. Peter Drucker is credited with one of the most important quotes in business and product development: “What’s measured improves.” Mr. Drucker is unquestionably correct—I’ve seen this play out both in my personal life and in business initiatives. It’s why OKRs work, and why…

or, why distribution doesn’t matter anymore. There’s a popular idea buzzing around the world of SaaS entrepreneurs: kickstart your product by building a landing page first and seeing if people sign up for the launch. I’ll be honest with you, I fell for this at first. It seemed like a no-brainer: nail your marketing before you…

I want to share with you a simple, yet profound mantra: There is no should For me, this mantra encourages a sense of flow. Here’s why: Consider the pressures creative people often face when building something new. You may hear that you should focus on a niche, buuuuut creativity often thrives on the convergence of seemingly…

By now we all know failure is a part of success. “Fail more” and “fail better” are common mantras among silicon valley types. I remember when I first learned about this trend, I thought it was kind of funny – I had been ‘failing’ all this time. If other people weren’t, what the hell were…

One of the most common pitfalls of product development is too many ideas. Some investors are dead set on how it will look. Some builders fall in love with a product philosophy. Some want to build exactly what the customer is asking for. And still others think they already know exactly what the result will…

In our interactions, we’re not always equals. Parents aren’t equal to their children, company owners aren’t equal to their employees, and students are not equal to their teachers. There is nothing wrong with these relationships despite unequal authority and faculties. In fact, these can be some of the most helpful and rewarding relationships of our…

It’s a bold statement, silly almost. Anything is possible. Some may even think I am a pie-in-the-sky idealist. I am. Anything is possible because we don’t understand how things are possible. We don’t know for sure why or how we exist. We don’t even know why gravity works. We live and die in the midst…

Leo Tolstoy wrote a short book called What is Art? defining art as a cultural form of communication. He believed that communication only worked with it’s appropriate audience. Only Italians can judge Italian opera. Only contemporary PBS viewers can judge Bob Ross. Only hip hop fans can criticize Kanye West’s music. He opposed those who…