I join no cults.
I believe in no religion.
I seek no idols.
I believe in science, math and logic.
All else, is false.
I can only dream of this kind of structured data and experimentation capability as a B2B PM. Incredibly, though, we do the same motions, just in a totally different way.
svpg.com/product-model-at-sp…
NathCres retweeted
Lots of Americans vacationing in Europe say the same thing:
- I didn’t eat healthy (they normally eat healthy in USA)
- I ate a lot.
- I walked normal amounts.
And yet:
- they lose weight
- feel better (less full, less achy).
Any data on why?
And What about your experience? Did you notice this too when you moved from Europe to America or Vice versus?
NathCres retweeted
10 concepts that explain the modern world
1. Parkinson’s Law: Companies become bigger and worse over time. Clerks manufacture work for each other as overall capacity dips. When British Navy ships went down from 68 to 20, officials increased by 78%.
2. Chesterton Fence: If you don’t know what an old custom does, don’t touch it. It may be holding back problems you’re completely unaware of. You’ve not seen the wolves yet because of the very fence you’re about to demolish.
3. The Medici Effect: Sculptors, painters, and architects converged in Florence as the Medicis were funding the artists. Their proximity led to a fertile dialogue which, in turn, led to the Renaissance. The internet will amplify this cross-pollination of ideas.
4. The Centipede's Dilemma: Ask a centipede which one of its hundred legs moves the fastest and it forgets how to move. Reflecting on what we normally do without thought ironically worsens performance. A culture of endless self-reflection, therapy, and navel gazing is eroding important life skills.
5. Tyranny of small decisions: Individuals make small decisions to maximize convenience but this leads to massive social failure. We nod along to contagious ideas like “gender is fluid” because resisting them is too much work - till kids start getting transgender surgery. The slippery slope is not a fallacy but a fundamental reality.
6. The Zebra Effect explains why people don’t want to stand out. Zebras are hard to individually study as it's nearly impossible to track one of them for long (lost in the striped chaos). So scientists once put a big red dot on one zebra so he could be tracked & studied. Lions zeroed in on him and hunted him with ease. Getting lost among others is a survival mechanism. Hence the human desire to conform.
7. Why the ruler can’t rule: The executive head can’t implement his ideas on ground because the bureaucrats are closer to it, and have an agenda of their own. The Tzar of Russia had to deal with the Deep State too. Nicholas II: “I never ruled Russia. 10,000 clerks ruled Russia.”
8. Gall's law: A complex system that works is invariably found to have evolved from a simple system that worked. Only fools and modern technocrats try to create complex systems from scratch.
9. Minimal Self Hypothesis: Narcissism is a “strategic retreat” into the safety of one’s own self. When the future looks random, inexplicable, and informationally overwhelming, people enter survival mode. The self becomes “minimal” to reduce its surface area to pain. People today are giving up on commitment of all sorts to conserve energy for vague and upcoming disasters.
10. Tetris Syndrome: The world will eventually start looking like Tetris blocks if you play the game too much. What we do most often becomes the metaphor through which we look at the world. Takeaway: Most people today are addicted to their 2D phones - and this will hurt the general aptitude for dealing with the 3D world.
I use native and it’s great!
Ever heard of Native deodorant?
Their story's wild:
• Exited for $100M
• Within 2.5 years
What's even crazier:
• They ONLY raised $500k total
It's the kind of biz that inspires you to just *start* something... Here's the story:
Moiz Ali got the idea for Native after reading the back of an Axe can.
He had no idea what the majority of ingredients actually were.
At the time, Moiz knew that 'natural' products were on the rise (natural deodorant was the number 1 product on Etsy in 2015).
And so...
He decided to start a natural deodorant company.
Bear in mind - at this point, Moiz knows NOTHING about deodorant.
His reaction is one of the reasons I love this story – it shows how important mindset is in business:
“I know nothing, and in six months, I’m going to become one of the world’s leading experts on deodorant. I’m just going to spend my time learning, and I’m going to figure it out.”
So - how did Moiz make the first bar of Native?
He went on Etsy, found the best makers of natural deodorant & asked them to white label their product.
This was smart because on Etsy, Minimum Order Quantities (MOQs) are ~100 (rather than 1000s with manufacturers).
And as is often the case, it took dozens of no's before one woman agreed to make their product.
At this point, Moiz launched on Product Hunt. With no deodorant in-hand, he sold his first 60 virtual units.
That's when he ACTUALLY put in the first order.
This is a theme in business success stories: lowering risk by testing the market before committing.
The worst possible case?
He's in the hole a couple hundred $.
FAR better than taking out a huge loan, ordering 5,000 units from a manufacturer & then realizing no one wants to buy them.
Another thing Moiz did right?
Hyper-focus on customers.
Despite early traction, he quickly realized the first product wasn't great.
So he spent the first year fine-tuning the product – by sending out free samples & iterating on feedback.
The results?
Native went from a 4-star rating & 25% repeat order rate to a 4.7 rating & 50% repeat order rate.
We know repeat orders are king in D2C. Coupled with killer A/B testing on FB ads, Moiz scaled the biz from $50k revenue in Jan 2016 to $1M in Nov of the same year.
Other ways they grew so fast:
• Launching subscription plans
• Asking for video customer testimonials & using these as ads
• Sending humanized, fun emails & cards with purchases (i.e. upgrading customer experience)
In 2017, Native had hit between $25-35M in revenue – with ONLY 8 fulltime employees (5 in customer service, 1 in ops, 1 in marketing & 1 working closely with Moiz).
They were acquired by P&G for $100M.
This was the first purchase P&G had made in 10 years.
Moiz says there were 4 main reasons he went with P&G:
• Value alignment during negotiation (no over-the-top diligence requests & respecting Moiz's vision)
• The dedication that P&Gers showed toward their work
• Alignment on brand & creative
• Resources for future growth
I love this founding story – I'm inspired by:
• Moiz knowing nothing about deodorant but picking a simple biz model
• His obsession with customers
• How insanely fast they grew
• The care behind the exit
It's one of those stories that makes you think... "I could make it if I just took the leap."
Is anyone else sick of people's "personal ai note takers" joining every single Zoom/Teams call? Literally in a large meeting 4-5 attendees are AI note takers!
This is amazing.
Testing out @HeyGen_Official translation on French and German. I don’t speak either language so let me know if it sounds natural if you do.
I hope if you pay you can turn off the color correction.
It didn’t work on my phone so I had to upload on my pc.
app.heygen.com/guest/templat…
Product is fundamentally many questions with very few answers (to the extent that would satisfy higher ups)
Just remember that okay?
There are so many easy answers the worst thing you can to do is jump to the most facile conclusion.
Product managers exist because there is no book you can learn to solve problems in Product.
You need to be thoughtful, considered and weigh many considerations.
Do the work.
It takes a minimum of six months for a new Product Manager to find their product voice. I have found this to be true at every role I have ever had.
You know I think at some level, all Product Managers are self-conscious that they are no longer supposed to be "technical".
Which is why when I do have technical expertise in a topic, I get very excited.
I've always found it somewhat ironic that much is made of how dynamic the American economy is, flexible, capitalist oriented etc.
But that does not extend to employees and jobs imho.
For many reasons, here you have to hang onto a job for dear life.