When prioritising becomes hard, it is usually a strategy problem:<ul><li>Should I prioritize building a new feature or optimizing an existing flow?</li><li>Should I prioritize closing more deals or extending existing contracts?</li><li>Should I prioritize building this tool in-house or license a third party service for now?</li></ul>Difficulty prioritizing is often a strategy issue, not an execution issue. It is impossible to make rigorous prioritization decisions when the guidance on how to do so is missing, unclear or disconnected from what you are trying to do.Fixing the issue = fixing the strategy.

How to spot a Product Strategy problem?

"Strategy" should not be an amorphous, all-encompassing concept. Instead, we should think about it in distinct terms:<ol><li>Company Mission - The world your company sees & the change it wants to bring to that world</li><li>Company Strategy - The logical plan you have to bring your company’s mission into being</li><li>Product Strategy - The logical plan for how the product will drive its part of the company strategy</li><li>Product Roadmap - The sequence of features that implement the Product Strategy</li><li>Product Goals - The quarterly & day-to-day outcomes of the Product Roadmap that measure progress against the Product Strategy</li></ol>

Product Strategy Stack

The Product Strategy Stack is a system we can use for both planning and execution:Tops Down: Teams can work from the top of the stack down to 1) define the stack, 2) work at a progressively finer level to plan product execution, and 3) align the company to that execution plan.Bottoms-Up: In addition, teams can work bottoms-up to 1) communicate the status of execution and 2) track how well the product team's work is driving company-level objectives.

Tops Down = Definition, Bottoms Up = Evaluation

2 products that kinda have the same functionality. But very different:Different Missions: Slack is for work and Discord is for play. One about productive communication another about connectionDifferent Company Strategies: Slack's strategy focuses on improving workplace productivity while Discord focuses on building communities, with a focus on gaming.But, once we get into the product, things begin to look more similar. The user experience for both products is surprisingly alike. However even when both apps have a similar functionality, the reasoning is different. And subtle differences matter.

Slack vs. Discord: A Case Study

Many companies believe that teams should set goals first, then define the roadmap to meet those goals:As a company, we know what we want to accomplish and we'll empower our teams to figure out how to do it. This rarely works in practice. In the absence of any roadmap, teams are lost. This "goals first" approach incentivizes teams to do whatever it takes to achieve short-term goals, often at the expense of a focused features, UX etc.Instead, goals should flow from a product roadmap that has been designed to deliver value to users. Instead of "seeing what sticks" to customer-centric.

Roadmap before Goals

Some of the ideas about product and roadmapping from an the product lead at Meta, Tinder or Tripadvisor. 

In this new Reforge essay, Zainab Ghadiyali (ex-Airbnb and Facebook) and I describe "The Product Strategy Stack", a tool you can use to define clear strategy and assess your progress.

Discover the world of business and economics.

economics

Economics

marketingandsales

Marketing & Sales

strategy

Strategy

humanresources

Human Resources

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

The Product Strategy Stack

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22669010-a-curious-mind">A Curious Mind </a>is an homage to the power of asking questions, showing you how being curious can change your entire life, from the way you do business, to how you interact with your loved ones, or even shape your country.

A Curious Mind - Book 

"Life isn't about finding the answers, it's about asking the questions."-Brian Grazer

Author Quote

When I say <a href="http://www.grazeriscurious.com/">Brian Grazer </a>, does that ring a bell? It didn’t for me at first, I have to admit. Maybe the title of this book reminds you of something. A Curious Mind. No? A Beautiful Mind maybe? You know, the movie about the brilliance of economics Nobel prize winner John Nash, who invented the field of game theory, but suffered from severe schizophrenia? The one that won the Academy Award for Best Picture, and three others?

Yup, Brian Grazer produced that. He also produced movies like 8 Mile, Frost/Nixon, Apollo 13 and the world-famous TV show 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer. In 2015, Brian asked himself what the root of his success was. He determined that the answer was curiosity. To share how it’s shaped his life in ways he’d never imagined, and how it can potentially transform yours, he co-wrote <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22669010-a-curious-mind">A Curious Mind </a> with journalist Charles Fishman.

<ol><li>In business, whoever is the most curious, wins. </li><li>Everyone loves being asked questions and that includes the people closest to you. </li><li>Sometimes you gotta know when to stop asking and start doing. </li> </ol>

Top 3 Lessons From The Book 

Most people will tell you that business is hard. That it’s competitive. That you have to get your elbows out, toughen up, and try to overtake whoever’s in front of you. But that’s not true. You can take a much more cooperative approach, one that’s <a href="http://fourminutebooks.com/first-things-first-summary/">based on collaboration, not competition </a>, and still win. In fact, Brian Grazer would probably say: Whoever’s the most curious, wins . Curiosity not only fosters cooperation, but also connection.

Lesson 1: A rule of business is that whoever’s the most curious

If you’re genuinely curious about your employees’ lives, you’ll ask them questions accordingly. This way, Brian leads mostly by asking questions, instead of giving orders. Vice versa, his employees are supposed to ask him many questions also! When you’re curious, people can explain and reflect on their work themselves. This kind of meaningful conversation leads to bigger and better breakthroughs than a mere “do this now” approach.

The same holds true for your customers. Who would you rather buy a car from? The dealer who just touts his latest offers and how great the cars are, or someone who asks you why you want to buy a car, what you need it for, where you’ll go with it, and what you’re looking for? The only way to satisfy your customer is to find out exactly what they want in each case and then serve them the best way you can – and you can’t do that without being curious.

I recently thought about how much I know about my parents’ childhoods. As it turns out, it’s not too much. Sure, I know where they went to school and a couple big milestones, but teenage life is long – there’s so much I still have to ask them! Think about someone you’ve known most or all of your life. How much do you really know about them? Chances are there’s still tons left to discover. By showing interest, you can improve your relationships even with the best of your friends and loved ones .

Lesson 2: Everyone loves being asked and answering questions

Most couples eventually fall into a rut. “Hey, how was your day?” “Good, good.” …and then TV takes over. Saving a deteriorating relationship from falling apart can be as simple as remembering one specific thing your partner told you and then asking them about it. “Hey, how’d the presentation go today? Were you nervous?” shows you remember and are curious about how their story evolves.

Similarly, questions make you much better at <a href="http://fourminutebooks.com/how-to-win-friends-and-influence-people-summary/">connecting with people </a>. Everyone loves being asked questions and to talk about themselves , so instead of rambling about yourself at the next party, start asking new people all about their story. Where did you grow up? What do you do for a living? How do you like it? As in business, so in life: curiosity connects.

Being curious is a great mode to be in 90% of the time. But sometimes, it’s time to flip the switch and become anti-curious for a while. For example, after Brian Grazer had the idea for the TV show 24 from one of his many curiosity conversations (weekly meetings with professionals from all kinds of fields), he had to switch and commit to now bringing the show to life.

Lesson 3: When it’s time to stop asking and start doing

Similarly, his expertise in the film industry now tells him when he’s found a movie that deserves to be made – even if it’s not going to be a mass hit. Frost/Nixon and Rush are great examples of such movies. They were well written, and the stories of the post-Watergate Nixon interviews and Niki Lauda and James Hunt’s Formula One rivalry in the 70s deserved to be told. So Brian went ahead and made them, ignoring what people told him.

He had to tone down his curiosity for a while, but in the end both movies got a lot of critical acclaim, in spite of not being commercial successes. The only way to create something of value is to ignore new ideas every now and then – it’s up to you to know when that is .

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22669010-a-curious-mind">A Curious Mind </a> is a wonderful angle at business and life, if you ask me. It’s predicated on fun, being open-minded and preserving your sense of childhood curiosity. Seems to me like a much more sustainable approach than “work is hard, life is hard, you gotta be tough.” Never stop answering questions. Great book!

A Curious Mind - Book Review

The 16 year old who has his own Youtube show, but sometimes runs out of new ideas, the 47 year old wife, who feels like her marriage is stuck in a rut, and anyone who loves watching great movies.

Who would I recommend the A Curious Mind to?

This A Curious Mind summary shows why whoever's most curious wins in business, how questions improve your relationships & when it's time to be anti-curious.

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

creativity

Creativity

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Science & Nature

A Curious Mind Summary

<ul><li>What do you want your audience to know (instead of what you want to say)?</li><li>What level of knowledge does the audience already have about the subject?</li><li>What's the audience's attitude about us and the topic?</li><li>What are the potential points of resistance or hesitation?</li></ul>

Know your audience

<ul><li>Information: what do you want them to know?</li><li>Emotion: how do you want them to feel?</li><li>Action: what do you want them to do?</li></ul> Having a clear goal also helps to measure how successfully you communicated your point.

Have a clear goal

<ul><li>What?: Your idea, offering, service, product</li><li>So what?: Why is it important?</li><li>Now what?: What comes next? What questions do they have?</li></ul>

Structure the message: what?, so what?, now what?

<ul><li>It's a great way to signal you have been listening</li><li>It's a lower-order cognitive skill - it can be used to buy yourself time to think about an answer</li><li class="ql-indent-1">It can be used to move the conversation forward: paraphrase what's been said and link it to the next topic</li></ul>

Leverage paraphrasing

To celebrate our 75th episode, we hosted a live "Ask Me Anything" event with Matt. In this global gathering, listeners called in with questions ranging from making a first impression and giving negative feedback to presenting virtually and the worst communication advice Matt's ever received. In addition to audience questions, Matt also shares a short lecture to outline his top three guiding principles when it comes to being a confidence speaker and leader. Show Notes: [2:00] Know Your Audience: First and foremost is their knowledge level relative to the topic that we're discussing. Do they know a lot or do they know just a little?Three guiding principles for Successful Communication[3:51] Principle 1. Set Your Communication Goal: A goal has three major parts: information, emotion, and action. The best metric of success is: Is your audience leaving knowing what you want them to know? Feeling how you want them to feel? And doing what you want them to do?[5:08] Principle 2. Structure your message. Using: What, So What, Now What. [7:10] Principle 3. The Art of the Paraphrase.[9:14] Using Paraphrasing to move a conversation forward[11:01] Ask me anything:[11:24] Question 1: What is the worst communication advice that you have ever given or received?[13:11] Question 2: How can you try to understand the expectations or knowledge or background of your audience in order to make your presentation effective?[16:05] Question 3: How do I communicate negative feedback to a colleague, especially when there's an action step involved?[18:30] Question 4: How would you make your first impression?[22:00] Question 5: How has virtual communication changed the way we communicate?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

career

Career

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Corporate Culture

teamwork

Teamwork

Join Matt Abrahams, a lecturer of Strategic Communication at Stanford Graduate School of Business, as he sits down with experts in the field to discuss real-world challenges.How do I send my message clearly when put on the spot? How do I write emails to get my point across? How can I easily convey complex information? How do I manage my reputation? Whether you’re giving a toast or presenting in a meeting, communication is critical to success in business and in life.Think Fast, Talk Smart provides the tools, techniques, and best practices to help you communicate more effectively.

Think Fast, Talk Smart: Communication Techniques

Three Guiding Principles for Successful Communication

Developing your personal brand as a freelancer is critical to attracting clients and building a successful business. Your brand is more than just your logo and business card, it encompasses everything from your values, personality, and the work you produce.

Understanding who your ideal client is will help you tailor your branding to their needs and interests. Consider what they are looking for in a freelancer and what sets you apart from your competitors.

Know your target audience 

What do you stand for? What sets you apart from other freelancers? Consider what makes you unique and what you bring to the table. Your values and personality should be reflected in your brand, from your logo to your website and social media presence.

Define your values and personality 

Your portfolio is a reflection of your brand and is often the first thing clients see. Make sure your portfolio showcases your best work and demonstrates your skills and expertise. Use high-quality images and include detailed descriptions of each project to help clients understand your process and the results you deliver.

Create a strong portfolio

Your website is the hub of your brand and should be professional, user-friendly, and easy to navigate. Make sure your website showcases your portfolio, lists your services, and includes information about your background, experience, and expertise.

Build a professional website 

Social media is a great way to promote your brand and reach potential clients. Choose platforms that are relevant to your target audience and use them to showcase your portfolio, share industry news and insights, and engage with your followers.

Utilize social media

Building relationships with other freelancers and industry professionals can help you build your brand and attract new clients. Attend industry events, participate in online forums, and seek out opportunities to collaborate with others in your field.

   Network and collaborate 

Consistency is key to building a strong brand. Make sure your messaging, visual identity, and overall aesthetic are consistent across all platforms. This will help you build recognition and establish trust with potential clients.

Be consistent 

entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

business

Business

Follow these 7 steps to build your personal Brand as a freelancer

IntroductionA good content must be relevant, creates a relationship with its readers, builds trust and credibility, and is high-quality which then turns to income. Because of the emergence of digital publications, many corporate leaders found this a popular way to promote, share and present their business. This is where the role of a content writer takes place as they have to make sure to help improve and show the image of the brand.

How to become a content writer with no experience?

<ul><li> A content writer showcases a brand through creating or writing relatable and relevant pieces of information to engage with its audience. </li><li>They are accountable for writing information in one's blog, social media account, newsletter, whitepaper, e-book or even brochure.</li><li>Content writers contribute in marketing teams in which they come up with creative and compelling stories.</li></ul>

Defining a Content Writer.

"Your blog is more than just a place to showcase your work, it is also a way to market yourself as a writer."

<ol><li>Dive in Learning</li><li>Identify your Niche</li><li>Maximize Online Presence</li><li>Build a Portfolio </li><li>Start Pitching</li></ol>

5 Steps to become a Content Writer

<ul><li>Start practicing writing daily for at least an hour build a habit.</li><li>Do research, craft a story, proofread it.</li><li>You may enroll in free classes in Hubspot Academy, LinkedIn Learning or Skillshare.</li><li> Use websites such as Grammarly or Thesaurus to help you find the right words. </li></ul>

1. Dive in Learning

<ul><li>Start with a topic you are passionate about.</li><li>You can also focus on case studies, blog posts or whitepapers. </li><li>Joining writing communities.</li><li>Keep your eyes open for opportunities that match your interests.</li></ul>

2. Identify your Niche

<ul><li>You can start publishing your work in platforms such as Medium or LinkedIn.</li><li>Publish your work to allow people to see what you can do, how well you do it and what are your areas of expertise.</li><li>Starting a blog is another way to establish yourself as an expert.</li><li>Write at least one article per week and actively share.</li></ul>

3. Maximize Online Presence

<ul><li>Having a strong portfolio allows you to have more chances to earn a gig.</li><li>May include articles, social media captions and so on.</li></ul>	- Tip: Employers seek content writers who don't just write well, but can also create compelling stories.<ul><li>Within this career progression, you could become an editor, UX (User Experience) Writer, SEO Content writer or even a copywriter.</li></ul>

4. Build a Portfolio

<ul><li>Start with making a list of websites that may be potentially interested in a topic you cover.</li><li>Contact the editor and pitch your idea and explain why the audience would be interested.</li><li>Focus on building connections and receiving positive reviews.</li><li>Guest posting on blogs and websites with an established audience is another way to get exposure and build trust with potential clients.</li><li>For a beginner, this is a chance to show your skills and learn from someone more experience.</li></ul>

5. Start Pitching

<ul><li>To get audiences to take chance on a specific product.</li><li>Create a purpose and value around the product or brand.</li><li>Plays a critical role in turning curious visitors to loyal customers by pushing out first-rate content.</li><li>They create, manage, distribute content </li><li>Ensures that this content is optimized for search engines in order to drive traffic to the site.</li><li>Must know to identify a customer's problem and resolve with a solution.</li></ul>

Goals of a Content Writer

In this generation where knowledge is in our fingerprints, behind every blog, information or brand marketing, is a content writer. Perhaps content writing is a freelancing job for you?

Content writing has become one of the top trends of the digital era. Though straightforward on the surface, it is not a job to be taken lightly.

writing

Reading & Writing

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Startups

How to become an awesome content writer (beginner’s guide)

<ul><li>Improve information diet. You can add intentionality to your information consumption by asking yourself, "Can this be included in my newsletter?"</li><li>Build a habit of creating. Committing to a regular publishing schedule forces you to create on a consistent basis.</li><li>Collect your ideas in one place. Your newsletter becomes home to your ideas.</li><li>Repurpose content for social media. E.g. You can turn the main points in your newsletter into Twitter threads.</li><li>Find like-minded people. Sharing your thoughts online generates conversation and connections with people who resonate with your ideas.</li></ul>

Why write a newsletter?

<ul><li>Lower the stakes. If an email newsletter is scary, write a thread on Twitter every week. Prove to yourself that you can produce a collection of ideas and notes in under an hour.</li><li>Start writing to become more creative. Our best ideas come to us when writing. </li><li>Realize that playing small doesn't benefit anyone. Your readers benefit the most if they can learn from your ideas.</li><li>Connect with your "why". Why did you start writing in the first place?</li></ul>

How to overcome limiting beliefs

<ul><li>Increase consistency. Life circumstances and motivation vary every week. A system helps you be consistent despite these variations.</li><li>Increase efficiency. With practice, your system will help you create your newsletter in less than a few hours.</li><li>Avoid creator panic. You'll always know where your next idea is coming from.</li></ul>

Why you need a content creation system

Like a restaurant, the system has 4 components:<ul><li>Menus (topics)</li><li>Ingredients (ideas)</li><li>Staff (distribution system)</li><li>Reviews (audience feedback)</li></ul>

John Nicholas' Content Creation System

This is where you set up your menu:<ul><li>What topics resonate with you?</li><li>What do you want to serve your readers?</li></ul> You can pick several topics and organize them into "modules" or sections of your newsletter. With modules, you:<ul><li>Create awareness for capturing information. If you don’t know what meal you are cooking, you won't know which ingredients to collect.</li><li>Create consistency. Your readers know what to expect from you each week. There is room for experimentation, but stick to your broad niche. Nobody likes a mixed kitchen (burgers, pasta, fish).</li></ul>

1. What do you want to write about?

For example, James Clear's 3-2-1 Thursdays has 3 modules:<ul><li>3 ideas from him</li><li>2 thoughts from others</li><li>1 question for the reader</li></ul> Tip: Limit yourself to 3 - 5 modules.<ul><li>Save yourself time each week</li><li>Prevents audience overwhelm</li></ul>

Ideas & Tips for Deciding on Newsletter Modules

As you consume information, look out for ideas that <ol><li>resonate with you, or</li><li>can go into your newsletter</li></ol> When capturing ideas, write a brief description of:<ul><li>why this idea resonated with you, or </li><li>why it could help someone</li></ul>This helps you pull yourself back into the frame of mind you had during the idea capture. The note can also slot straight into your newsletter when you share the idea.

2. Find ideas for your newsletter

Set constraints to make your newsletter enjoyable for your readers and yourself. For example:<ul><li>Length: Your readers are busy, so keep your newsletter under a certain word count. This also means you don't have to write too much.</li><li>Cadence: Stick to a publishing schedule that's sustainable and non-spammy. From this schedule, backsolve when you want a first draft done.</li><li>"Table of Contents" section: Allows readers to choose which modules they want to engage with each week. Also acts as an outline that you can easily fill in.</li></ul>

3. Write the newsletter

<ul><li>Email your subscribers. They've already opted into receiving your content.</li><li>Post on social media. Repurpose your newsletter content for easy consumption on other platforms (LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.)</li></ul>

4. Distribute the newsletter

<ul><li>Always encourage your subscribers to reply to you</li><li>Your subscribers and followers will point out what resonated with them and what didn’t (silence is also a form of feedback)</li><li>Use replies and comments to generate new ideas</li></ul> For example, when people ask you questions about your process e.g. how you script a YouTube video, the answer you give them can become another newsletter issue.

5. Get and act on feedback

A nice analogy for creating your content flywheel.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

education

Learning & Education

Run Your Newsletter Like a Restaurant

Starting a business as an academic content writer can be a fulfilling and lucrative career path for those who have a passion for writing and a strong understanding of academic subjects. In this article, we'll provide you with some tips on how to start your business as an academic content writer, including how to build your portfolio, find clients, and produce quality content.

Before you start your business, you need to have a strong portfolio that showcases your writing skills and demonstrates your expertise in academic subjects. You can create a portfolio by writing sample articles, blog posts, and research papers on topics that you are knowledgeable about. Make sure to proofread your work thoroughly and have someone else review it for errors and feedback.

Step 1: Build Your Portfolio

Once you have a strong portfolio, you can start looking for clients. You can find clients through a variety of channels including

Step 2: Find Clients

When working with clients, it's essential to produce quality content that meets their expectations and exceeds their standards. To do this, you should:Research thoroughly: Before writing, make sure you have a solid understanding of the topic and have collected all the relevant information.Follow the client's instructions: Make sure you understand the client's requirements and follow their instructions to the letter.

Step 3: Produce Quality Content

Unleash Your Entrepreneurial Potential: Start Your Own Academic Writing Business Today!

“Do Something you are very passionate about and don't try to chase what is kind of the hot passion of the day”

“If you don't love it, you're not having fun doing it ,you don't really love it, you're gonna give up.”

“So just go and do it, try, learn from it, you’ll fail at some things, that’s a learning experience that you need so that you can take that on to the next experience. And don’t let people tell you it can’t be done. Because often they will tell you it can’t be done and it’s just because they don’t have the courage to try it.”

“I think people that look for great ideas to make money aren’t nearly as successful as those who say, “Okay, what do I really love to do? What am I excited about? What I know something about? What’s interesting and compelling?”

“It’s very rewarding when you work on something you think is going to make a very big difference and yes, it’s a little bit harder, but I think the passion that one might bring with it brings so much more energy to that, that you’re more likely to succeed.”

“You have to have an emotional investment in what you’re doing. If you don’t love what you’re doing, failure is pretty much guaranteed. Success is not guaranteed by any means, but failure is much more likely, if you don’t love what you’re doing.”

“If you know exactly what you want to be, you need to spend as much time with people that are actually that already.”

“And so, when we’re coming up with ideas, we always ask ourselves, “What kind of new market is this creating?” and then also, “What part of my day and what problem is it solving?” And so I’ve gone as far as taking an entire catalogue of my day from the moment I open my eyes and writing down every single thing I do and then asking myself, “Is there something here?”

“If you’re not coming up with 10 ideas a day… that’s why I have this thing, if I’m not coming up, if I’m not filling up this page every single day, then my idea muscle will atrophy. And I started this in 2001 and I still do it every single day. You have to come up with ideas every single day or the idea muscle atrophies. The good news is, after about six months of doing that you’re like a machine, people get surprised at how many ideas you could just have anywhere.”

“Understand that naturally nobody is interested in your idea, the world couldn’t care less and you have to persuade them and you have to show that you’re the one person out there that can do it.”

“When it comes to changing the world, what I’ve learned from Steve Jobs is if you believe in a Macintosh, if you believe in iPhone, iPod, iPad, if you believe enough, then you will see it. So you need to foster the belief in what you are dreaming so that it becomes a reality, which is very different than saying, “I don’t expect anybody to believe it until I see it.” You need people to believe it before they can see it.”

“Don’t necessarily think that you have to have the homerun and the huge Apple computer on your first start. I’ve spent a long time in my life with skills, just building little devices for fun, for fun is one of the key things. Because that drives you to think and think and think and make it better and better and better than you ever would if you were doing it for a company. Build things first for yourself, that you would want.”

“Because when you’re trying to differentiate, when you’re trying to do something different, there’s going to be that gut moment, that gut sense, “Is this right? Is this not right?” If you’re not having doubt, you’re not pushing the boundaries far enough.”

“Don’t think about, “How do I get big fast?” That will happen if you actually build something super meaningful and super important. So don’t think about what is the quickest way to success, think about what is the best way to building something important, that the world really needs.”

“This little idea explains why some organizations and some leaders are able to inspire where others aren’t. Every single person, every single organization on the planet knows what they do, 100%. But very, very few people or organizations know why they do what they do. And by why I don’t mean to make a profit, that’s a result, it’s always a result. By why I mean what’s your purpose, what’s your cause, what’s your belief? Why does your organization exist?”

“So when we see a kid with a lemonade stand it’s different than when we see a vending machine selling lemonade, even if it’s exactly the same product. Because the story around it is what people are paying for.”

“ A classic entrepreneurial impulse to hold the idea close to you and not go tell people, because oh, the idea is so special. That’s almost always a mistake, because your actual, real competitive advantage is not that you have this idea that you have locked away in your closet, which may or may not be accurate and you have no idea which it is. Your actual competitive advantage is if you’re assembling the intelligence around “Does this idea work? What is the right team? What is the right learning?” and we’re essentially in motion.”

“The hardest thing to do is start. You have all these ideas and everyone has an idea, but it’s really about executing the idea and building the idea and attracting other people to help you work on the idea. That is the biggest challenge. But the way to begin is to get the idea out of your head, draw it out, talk about it, program it if you’re a programmer or make it if you’re building something.”

“You don’t have to be the best, but you have to be dangerous. You have to learn just enough to be dangerous to build an idea, concept it and show it to the world and then it turns out there are lots of other people, including all 170 employees that work at Instagram, who are much better at doing all that stuff than I am. But you need to find people who can be drawn to the idea that you build and then they end up taking it and making it even better.”

”One way to conceptualize what makes a good product, good engineering is part of it, good design is part of it, but really it’s, one way I think about at least, is maximizing the probability that someone shows up at the front door of your store, your website or whatever it is and ends up with a solved problem.”

“I think when you are starting a new business, you don’t want to go after giant markets, you want to go after small markets and you want to take over those markets quickly.”

‘Constantly seek criticism. A well thought out critique of whatever you’re doing is as viable as gold and you should seek that from everyone you can, but particularly your friends.”

“If you’re not utilizing an online community, then you’re at a disadvantage to those who are. You can be asking online communities what they think about your ideas or if they have any advice with what you’re working on. Not only will you hear from people who are passionate about the subject, but you’ll be hearing from people all around the world, each with their own experiences and stories that can help you.”

“There are a lot of people from whom we can learn a lot and I think the one piece of advice, don’t underestimate anyone you come across, whether they are a blue collar worker waiting for the bus or they’re the server or bar tender at a restaurant or they’re a lower ranking employee. The smartest leaders that I have ever seen have always gone around the room and asked for everybody’s opinion.”

“Most start-ups that fail do it ultimately because they did not make something that people wanted. They made something that they thought people would want, but they were either in denial about it, about whether it was actually any good, or somebody else came along and made something that people wanted even more.”

“That’s how we really got to where we are, we saw things that we wanted to build and we just went out and built them. And it turns out when you build stuff that you like to use, there’s a good chance that there are thousands of other people that want to use it too.”

“It’s not just about doing focus groups, it’s not just about double checking your vision, it really is about integrating this concept of testing our ideas rigorously throughout the product development process, throughout the marketing process, even as we scale on.”

“What you really need to do is think about what is the smallest possible test that I can run for this idea, for this concept, for this theory, get it out there and get customers using it. Because your customers are going to be the ones to tell you if it’s really working or not.”

“There’s this expectation that you have to have in your mind, this sort of, “I’m going to change the world, make a dent in the universe” kind of ambition. But it’s actually okay early on to just kind of solve small problems in layers until you actually get to a point where you have the capacity to do that.”

“What this all comes down to is doing something exceptional for your users, whether it’s in community, whether it’s in connection or whether it’s in design. This is our big advantage as a startup, is that we can actually get away with doing this. We can make this the core part of why we’re doing business.”

“I think you should be spending your money on teaching and sharing, and so that might mean hiring a writer perhaps instead of a marketing person. And start writing and start getting people to listen to what you’re saying. You can’t talk about yourself all the time, because no one’s going to come back for that, but you have to talk about things that are relevant to your industry or ideas that you have and start to build that audience up.”

“You should find a great partner, no matter what it is that you’re doing, and you should look for someone who has very high intelligence, very high energy and very high integrity. And you need all three of those, you can’t compromise on any one of them,the worst case is you end up with a smart, hard working crook, who ends up working against your interests. And integrity is something that takes a lot of time to spend with someone to figure out.”

“The definition of values is they’re the behaviours or principles that you religiously adhere to within your company. And when I say religious I mean that no amount of data will sway you from those principles. And the degree to which you have the courage to maintain your conviction around those ideas is the degree to which you’re going to be successful over the long term.”

“A company is simply a group of people and as a leader of people you have to be a great listener, you have to be a great motivator, you have to be very good at praising and looking for the best in people. People are no different from flowers, if you water flowers, they flourish, if you praise people, they flourish. And that’s a critical attribute of a leader.”

“I half-jokingly with a lot of people said that my job is basically to be the assistant for the rest of the company. My job is to make sure that you have what you need, you have everything you need to kick ass, that’s my job. If you don’t have that, then let me know, because I’m not doing my job.”

“There are a lot of things that are outside of your control, a lot of external circumstances will determine the success of your idea, whether the market timing is right for this kind of service or whether the economy is right for your kind of service or whether we meet the right people who will finance our company. Many, many external circumstances are outside of your control and will affect the outcome and you have to be okay with that.”

“Another quality that I think is important is being flexible-minded or open minded. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have a vision for your idea or your product, but you need to be open for changes.”

“So many things go wrong when you’re starting a company and often I think people ask, “What mistakes should you avoid making?” And my answer to that question is, “Don’t even bother trying to avoid mistakes, because you’re going to make tons of mistakes and the important thing is actually learning quickly from whatever mistakes you make and not giving up.”

“Courage without genius might get you to where you need to go, but genius without courage almost certainly won’t.”

“You need to define all of the worst case scenarios in terms of financial loss, time loss, etc.., look at what you’ll learn if that happens and accept and come to terms with that before you ever start. If you don’t do that, then you go straight into battling the world, trying to conquer the world with rose coloured glasses on and the first time you hit a major hiccup you’re going to become really demoralised and you will quit.”

“If you don’t love it, you won’t make it through the long period of pain that is inevitable. So make sure that you take care of yourself during the process, make sure that you take care of your mental health, your physical health while you’re doing it, because it’s a long road.”

Golden 👑 nugget advices (maybe diamond 💎 nugget) ….

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The Product Strategy Stack

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Follow these 7 steps to build your personal Brand as a freelancer

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Run Your Newsletter Like a Restaurant

Unleash Your Entrepreneurial Potential: Start Your Own Academic Writing Business Today!

41 Entrepreneurs Share Some Golden Nuggets Advice….

How to create a content strategy for ANY brand

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It's time to Read like a Pro.

It's time to
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