Product Habits - startup = growth

The 10x Advantage of Starting a Company Right Now

One of the first things I thought back in the spring when the pandemic hit the U.S. hard was, "Some of the best companies of this century will be born during this downturn." NFX's General Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss explains why in this piece. In a nutshell: All of the advantages that startups have are magnified, while incumbents' assets tend to become liabilities. This is a fantastic field guide to successfully launching a startup in the middle of this pandemic. 

9 Tricks to Experiment With Your Pricing Strategy

Figuring out how to price your product correctly is often a process of trial and error. These nine simple pricing and packaging strategies may help you get to a good place faster. I think these in particular are worth trying: offering different products for different audiences, optimizing your payment flow, and utilizing early adopter discounts. Which strategy is your favorite? 

A Converging Category Creates Opportunity

Here's an interesting question to ask when you're trying to reinvent your business: "If we were to do the exact opposite of what our competitors are doing right now, what would it look like?" Reinvention is never easy, but pondering this question may open you up to some ideas about how to serve your existing and future customers better. This is how the Reforge team found a market opportunity by answering that question.

Why You Should Focus on Bottom of the Funnel First to Drive Signups

Most marketers assume you have to start at the top of the funnel and slowly nurture your way to conversion. But what if you could start at the bottom of the funnel instead? This is a detailed read about how you can identify, target, and capture your "bottom funnel" leads without spending much energy on lower value top-of-funnel marketing and sales initiatives. Anyone building a startup (especially a SaaS company) should read this. 

Marketing for Beginners: The Best Articles and Expert Resources

Marketing has changed so much over the past several years. Whether you're a seasoned marketer or just starting out, you'll find this distillation of resources useful. It covers just about everything—from the 41 different types of marketing to some of the most iconic marketing case studies. Where else would you find the Kardashians and Coca Cola polar bears in the same article? 

Startup = Growth

This is an oldie but a goodie from Paul Graham, and the advice is worth remembering especially now, when so many startups are trying to figure out their best next move. In simple terms, growth should be the compass you use to inform and guide almost every decision you make. If you want to understand startups, begin by understanding growth first. 

How We Reached the Magical First 1,000 Customers

Getting your first 1,000 paying customers is a revered milestone for startups. In order to get there, the most important thing you have to do is solve a big and/or painful enough problem for people. Once you've figured out what problem you want to solve, here's a list of very specific things you can focus on to reach the goal of 1,000 paying customers. 

How to Be an Introverted Leader

I've had countless conversations with introverted leaders about how to lead well when their natural disposition isn't to speak often or inspire trust through charisma. From now on, I'll direct them to this article. Some of the best leaders I know are introverts—and they all do at least one thing on this list. Which one would it benefit you to implement into your role as a leader?