Product Habits - How to play the long game

Playing Long-Term Games in Business

Hustle Fund's General Partner Elizabeth Yin nailed it on the head with this tweet thread about why it's important to play long-term games in the business world. Ultimately, it comes down to respecting people's time, resources, and humanity. It's about helping people feel as good as possible about their interactions with you, even if you're giving difficult news or saying no to an ask. Remember to build your relationships now with the long-term in mind—people will remember it for a long time to come. 

Playing the Long Game in Venture Capital

Speaking of playing the long game, Mark Suster just wrote this thought-provoking read about playing the long game in venture capital. His main point: Not selling early can have profound effects on returns. If you believe in the long-term viability of your business and can make the cash flow work, you won't regret holding off on a sale. Every investor should read this.  

The Human's Handbook to Computers That Think

It's hard to have a holistic conversation about tech these days without talking about AI. So much progress has been made, but AI is still far from perfectly mimicking general intelligence. I was fascinated by this timeline of the full arc of AI development over the past 70 years. Here are 14 industries that AI could reshape in the future. Which one do you think would benefit most? 

Building Products at Stripe

Stripe is one of the most valuable startups in the United States, having recently raised a round in March at a stunning $95 billion valuation. How does such a successful company think about building products? Michael Siliski, Stripe's Business Lead for Payment Experiences & Platforms, breaks down what the company's product culture is like, how new products are shaped, and how design plays a role in it all. Check out the full conversation here.

Uber's Crazy YOLO App Rewrite

Back in 2016, Uber decided to rewrite their entire app, with over 1M lines of code per platform and more than 200 iOS and Android engineers working on the project. The team's goal was to re-imagine the entire app—complete with new UX, workflows, screens, and behind-the-scenes architecture and language. One of the team members who had a front-row seat describes what the lead-up to the craziest launch of his career was like. 

Visual Hierarchy: A 2021 Optimization Guide for Marketers

Most marketers don't have a pre-planned strategy for visual hierarchy, but it's important enough to consider. If you know how to signal messaging dominance, it can meaningfully impact landing page performance. If you want to optimize your most important landing pages beyond CTA buttons, read this guide. 

How To Get Started With Agile Marketing

If this past year taught the tech world anything, it's that companies are rewarded for figuring out customers' changing needs and delivering them rapidly. But the ability to respond quickly can only happen if a team is able to handle abrupt change. Adopting an agile marketing approach now will help your team work faster down the road. Check out this tactical roadmap for implementing this strategic approach. 

How To Calculate and Implement Value-Based Pricing

Value-based pricing is becoming a beloved model in the SaaS world. While traditional pricing is based on production costs and the standard competitive markup, going the value-based path is about figuring out the maximum cost customers would be willing to pay for your product or service based on the perceived value. I found the specific examples of value-based pricing in this article to be illuminating.