Product Habits - Things to avoid as your startup scales

Things To Avoid as Your Startup Scales

Jack Altman shared a good list of things to avoid as your startup scales. A few that resonated with me: Don't fall into the trap of hiring to answer every problem and avoid the need for consensus on decisions among large groups. No matter how big your startup gets, keep the mindset your team had in the early days. 

The Secret to Effective Remote Onboarding

With over 500 employees, Zapier is one of the fastest-growing fully remote companies in the world. I thought this was a great interview with Founder & CEO Wade Foster about the company's onboarding process and the strategies he recommends for companies going remote. Check out the whole conversation here. 

Prove Your Business Value in a Week

This article emphasizes the importance of going to market quickly to validate ideas. It's not a new concept, but the specific suggestions will help you figure out how to put it into practice. One of the most helpful things you can do is look for projects or code snippets you or others have already created and can re-use to save time. 

The Web3 Debate

If "The Great Resignation" was the buzzword in 2021, this year, it'll be Web3. I'm always up for a good debate, and this growing one between Scott Galloway and Packy McCormick does not disappoint. If you don't wholly understand Web3, reading this will help.

Product Discovery: Going From Zero to One

I agree with Ravi Mehta—there isn't a lot written about the very earliest days of a startup, so I appreciate his share about the five product-market fit lessons he's learned in the first handful of months building Scale. One of the most important: A conversation is worth 1,000 data points. Especially early on, make sure you're regularly talking to current and potential customers. 

Marketing Is Everything

At the start of a new year, there seems to be a never-ending stream of articles featuring predictions for the year ahead. But sometimes, it helps to take a look back in time instead. I stumbled upon this archived article from 1991 about how the 1990s would belong to the customer and both technology and marketing would transform the business world as we knew it. It's fun reading this now, knowing how things have unfolded over the past 30 years. 

Build in Public or Market in Public?

This is an interesting take on build-in-public content. The author makes the case that most of the posts that get traction are market-in-public pieces featuring revenue numbers and marketing flows. I agree with the main takeaway: You can build your startup in stealth mode, but it's important to start marketing efforts before your product launch. 

Top Trello Power-Ups From 2021

There are countless kanban product options, but I'm continually impressed by Trello's comprehensive list of power-ups. This is a helpful list of the top ten from last year, as well as some of the fastest-growing third-party apps. If you're a Trello user, you'll appreciate this. 

Structural Lessons in Engineering Management

Software engineers tend to be attracted more than most to algorithms, formulas, and structures. That natural gravitation often transfers over to a certain kind of systematized thinking. But when it comes to managing and leading teams, structural thinking comes with its share of limitations. This must-read will help you expand your capabilities as an engineering manager.