Posts tagged "Product Strategy"

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Start with Product and Target for Effective Distribution, Not Channel

3 min read

Learn why smart product managers match channels to product and target, not trends, with a simple hospital software example.

When it comes to getting your product into the hands of customers, many new product managers start with the channel. They ask, “Should we sell through partners, go viral, or build a sales team?” Ben Horowitz puts it simply: “A properly designed sales channel is a function of the product that you have built and the target … that you wish to pursue.” In other words, the product and the target market come first. The...
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AI Risks to SaaS Companies

3 min read

Generative + Agentic AI is accelerating feature commoditization; read the room and adapt.

The press around AI putting pressure on well-established SaaS companies is gaining some momentum. Note: We are not discussing specific stocks and valuations. Our focus is on the impact of AI on software companies. Analyst Ratings Published 08/11/2025… "Melius Research downgraded Adobe… warns of ongoing multiple compression for software-as-a-service companies… ‘AI is eating software’ …” AI isn’t a shiny add-on anymore. It’s like a sneaky wave that’s pushing SaaS valuations lower. Investors see that and...
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The Power of an Anchor - Warby Parker's Pricing Strategy

3 min read

Warby Parker's playbook for product managers. Learn how the company uses pricing strategy, vertical integration, and innovation to grow.

From WSJ piece on Warby Parker: >Many things have gotten pricier in the past 15 years. Not Warby Parker's most affordable glasses, which have cost $95 since the brand’s inception in 2010. Warby Parker grew 14% last year. It did this while keeping its hero $95 price point. This shows that a focused value proposition can thrive even with inflation. The company used a few key strategies. It controlled its supply chain. It created a...
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When AI Becomes Your Medical Translator

8 min read

How AI LLMs are transforming healthcare by empowering patients with PhD-level medical knowledge and reshaping the entire industry ecosystem.

Picture this: You receive an email from your doctor with three different cancer diagnoses. Your heart stops. The medical jargon feels like it's written in a foreign language. But instead of spiraling into a Google rabbit hole of worst-case scenarios, you take a screenshot and upload it to ChatGPT. Within seconds, you have a clear, understandable explanation of what you're facing. This isn't a hypothetical scenario—it's exactly what happened to Carolina, one of the patients...
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The Winner's Curse: Rhyming History in the AI Era

3 min read

Why AI disruption differs from past paradigm shifts: faster cycles, probabilistic computing, and why today's tech winners face an accelerating curse.

Ben Thompson's latest piece hits on something crucial: when computing paradigms shift, yesterday's winners often become tomorrow's strugglers. >The risk both companies are taking is the implicit assumption that AI is not a paradigm shift like mobile was. In Apple’s case, they assume that users want an iPhone first, and will ultimately be satisfied with good-enough local AI; in AWS’s case, they assume that AI is just another primitive like compute or storage that enterprises...
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Modernizing the Product Requirements Process

8 min read

Process is a tool and not the master

The Product Requirements Document (PRD), once a cornerstone of software development, has experienced a rollercoaster journey. From its origins in rigid waterfall methodologies to its perceived irrelevance in the era of agile, the term itself often elicits strong reactions. However, instead of discarding the concept entirely, the shift should be towards modernizing the PRD, transforming it from a static, exhaustive blueprint crafted by an "Architect" into a dynamic, adaptable tool that supports a "Gardener's" approach...
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Mastering Objectives & Key Results (OKRs): The Performance Framework

7 min read

Goal setting

In the dynamic world of product development, Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) serve as a powerful framework to align teams, drive performance, and foster innovation. While crucial for shaping, shipping, and aligning products and teams, the effectiveness of OKRs hinges on understanding their core principles and avoiding common pitfalls. This framework moves beyond mere task completion, shifting focus to measurable outcomes and ensuring that efforts contribute meaningfully to customer needs and business value. What are...
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Strategic Decision Making for the Product Leaders

7 min read

Effective decision making is vital

In the dynamic world of product development, decisions are made constantly – some trivial, many highly consequential. Your effectiveness as a product leader, or indeed, in any responsible role, is directly determined by the quality and effectiveness of the decisions you make and execute. These decisions, particularly regarding product roadmaps, have far-reaching consequences on resource allocation, budget management, and go-to-market planning. Therefore, it is essential to continually refine the decision-making process within an organization. Understanding...
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Love the Problem, Solution will Follow

5 min read

Start with why and dig deeper

When you're building a product, it's incredibly easy to get excited about the "how." You might visualize the sleek design, the cutting-edge technology, or the impressive list of features. But here's a secret that many successful product builders swear by: don't fall in love with your solution; fall in love with the problem. It sounds simple, right? Yet, it’s a profound shift in mindset that can make all the difference between a product that truly...
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Beyond the Deliverable - The Strategic Product Mindset

6 min read

Start with why and dig deeper

"Strategic thinking." Sounds grand, doesn't it? The kind of thing we want our leaders to be, not just order-takers. But here’s the secret: it’s not some magical, inborn talent. It’s a skill, plain and simple, and skills can be mastered with appropriate focus. Like learning to ride a bike, or in our world, learning to truly ship something that matters. Think about it. We pour endless hours into planning, into "strategy". Yet we either fail...
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Jobs-to-be-Done - Demand Reducers and Systems Thinking

5 min read

Demand is make or break

Alright, let's pick up where we left off. In the first part of our discussion on Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD), we unpacked what JTBD truly means – that customers "hire" products to make progress in their lives, moving from one situation to a better one. We also explored the "demand generators": the Push from dissatisfaction with the status quo and the Pull from the new solution's perceived ability to transform their lives. Now, in this second and...
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Jobs-to-be-Done - Understanding the Product Demand

5 min read

Demand is make or break

Alright, let's dive into the core of truly understanding what makes products successful. This will be the first of two posts on Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD). In this part, we'll lay the groundwork for what JTBD is and explore the forces that generate demand for a product. In the second part, we'll delve into the forces that reduce demand, how to understand broader competition, and the critical role of systems thinking in applying JTBD effectively. --- Why...
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