Research gives us the problem, not the answer

How To Break Through the Ceiling in Product-Led Growth

This one particular line struck me in Sarah Guo's recent post about breaking through the product-led growth ceiling: "Without designing their company for buying, many self-serve SaaS companies hit a growth ceiling as they saturate their early adopter audience." It serves as a good reminder that a PLG strategy should not be confused with a "build-it-and-they-will-come" approach. As important as product is, make sure your company goals are rooted in a bigger go-to-market strategy. 

Investing in Your Co-Founder Relationship To Weather the Storm

It made me pause when I read the following statistic: "More than 65% of startup failures are due to co-founder issues." Why does this happen—and what can be done to improve the likelihood that a partnership will remain healthy? Steve Schlafman, a startup investor and coach, shares some of the common issues and red flags he's observed between co-founders over the past decade. If you want to avoid becoming part of the statistic above, read this. 

Iteration Is Where the Magic Is

Rosie Sherry makes a great point: Don't listen to people who say you need to fail dozens of times to find your one big "success." Failure is a matter of perspective—what seems like a failure to one person is a learning process to another. Iteration is where all of the growth—and thus, magic—happens. Changing your language may just change your experience of how magic finds you in your own life. 

Get Better Research Results By Using Multiple UX Methods

One of the reasons it's easy to pass on doing important user research is that it's hard to validate small-sample qualitative studies or assign appropriate meaning to purely quantitative data. One solution: use multiple research methods to get at the answer to the same question. When you triangulate, the limitations of one method are mitigated by data from another one. Here are some examples of triangulation in UX, and how you can apply them to your user research. 

Research Gives Us the Problem, Not the Answer

This short and sweet read is a good reminder about how important it is to shape project scopes sufficiently from the outset. I think these four questions are a good starting point when thinking through what projects need to happen, and how they should be conducted and prioritized. It's a straightforward thought exercise, but will likely save you a lot of time and money if you think it through upfront. 

How To Get Your Marketing Stack To Play Nice

This is one of those statistics that sounds mindblowing but isn't surprising: More than 60% of marketers use over 20 marketing tools regularly. But, only a fraction of those tools connect to and integrate with one another. I suspect one of the major shifts we'll see in the next few years is more thoughtful integration—and perhaps even a growing preference for pre-packaged product suites. How do you think tech should address this growing integration challenge?

What Makes for an Outrageously Successful Facebook Ad?

Ads are becoming not only an expected part of the social media experience but an anticipated one. It's easy to feel overwhelmed when you're diving in for the first time. It helps to know what works as far as ad creatives, copywriting, and CTAs. This list of best practices is a good starting point if you're looking to try out advertising on Facebook or Instagram in the near future.

How Five Cloud CEOs Drive Exponential Growth

Tapping into the power of product is critical if you want to drive exponential growth. These five lessons from top cloud product leaders are worth reading. In my experience, this is one that ends up being particularly important over the long run: Identify when to integrate and when to outsource in product architecture. Check out the full list here.