How Segment grew into a billion dollar business

What To Remember About Being a Leader

This tweet thread is filled with great advice from a dad to a daughter on how to lead a team well. Liz Beechinor's father led an organization of over 300,000 people. When she took on her biggest marketing and events team to date (35 employees), this is the advice he gave her. Here's one I wish I knew at the start of my career: "You will have to make decisions that are unfair and you will have to communicate decisions you disagree with. Guaranteed. The sooner you accept that and expect it, the better you'll deal with it when the time comes."

Business Software Faces Pressure To Update Its User Experience

Last year, Citigroup sent almost $900 million to lenders in error. It set off a legal battle for the money but also unintentionally highlighted another issue: the clunky experience of using business software. The people who choose business software for their companies pick products with the most features or lowest costs but often don't factor in end users. The Citi error is a prime (and expensive) example of why companies should think more about user experience. 

A Brief History of the Hedge Fund

Though this past year has been difficult for billions of people across the globe, hedge funds have prospered. In 2020, the top fifteen hedge fund managers earned an estimated $23.2 billion. It begs the question: How did hedge funds get their start? This brief history is illuminating. 

How HubSpot Built a CRM That Customers Love

From the beginning, HubSpot has always done things a bit differently. I thought this article was a great recap of how they make decisions with customer experience in mind. One of the many unique things they do: When they want to deliver a new product to customers, they don't buy it—they build it. Here are three unique ways the company continuously offers value in the crowded CRM market. 

Product Development As Iterated Taste

When launching a new product at Amazon, the team uses something called the PR/FAQ Method. New ideas are presented in the form of documents that are no longer than six pages and follow a very specific structure. It starts with a press release and then moves on to an FAQ that addresses both internal and external issues (like per-unit economics, total addressable market, and technical feasibility). What would this product development method look like if you implemented it at your company? 

More Than 60% of Google Searches End Without a Click

I was blown away by this statistic: 64.8% of all Google searches (desktop and mobile combined) in 2020 ended without a click. The data hints at growing trends that are important for startups to understand. It's worth considering how this impacts your SEO and advertising efforts in the future. 

11 Marketing Channels That Consistently Work for Founders

If you're looking for a goldmine of startup information, check out the founder interviews on Indie Hackers. There are close to 500 on the site, and many of them cover the marketing channels that consistently work for founders. Of all the channels mentioned, this is a list of the 11 most effective ones. The most effective? SEO—but only after succeeding with another acquisition channel. Do any of these surprise you? 

5 SaaS Renewal Best Practices

So many companies make it intentionally difficult for users to cancel subscriptions and services. While it may be tempting for your startup to follow suit, it's much better to focus on improving the customer lifecycle and focusing on customers who actually want to renew. This in-depth guide highlights the main reasons people unsubscribe, and what you can do to mitigate each one.