The hottest Product Development Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

Are you a platform?

Developer GTM – by Calyx Consulting • 99 implied HN points • 14 Jun 23
💼 Business Platforms Ecosystems API Consultancy Product Development
  1. Platforms come in various forms, not just through APIs, and successful platforms connect different parts of the value chain.
  2. Organic growth is crucial for platforms to succeed, and the relationship between platform and ecosystem is interdependent.
  3. Building a platform requires internal buy-in from leadership and alignment with company goals to ensure long-term success.
Get a weekly roundup of the best Substack posts, by hacker news affinity:

The Power of Skunkworks Projects (a conversation with ChatGPT)

An Innovator's Sketchbook • 98 implied HN points • 02 Apr 23
💼 Business Innovation Organizational Culture Product Development Corporate strategy
  1. Large companies must grow through expanding market penetration or entering new markets, either by inventing new products or acquiring other companies.
  2. Challenges of creating successful new products in large companies include bureaucracy, risk aversion, resource competition, resistance to change, and short-term focus.
  3. Skunkworks projects are effective for innovation in large companies, requiring careful planning, autonomy, cross-functional teams, open communication, agile processes, and customer-centricity.

Listen More

Build To Scale • 59 implied HN points • 15 Aug 23
💼 Business Leadership Customer Feedback Product Development
  1. Executives, especially founders and CEOs, need to prioritize listening to customers over talking to ensure they understand market needs and priorities.
  2. Encouraging a culture of customer-centricity within a company can lead to product success and advantages in the marketplace.
  3. Listening to customers can help reorient engineering efforts towards solving the problems that truly matter to customers, preventing product failures.

6 Reasons You Can’t Make Money Online Despite Your Hard Work

Content Strategy, Development, & Marketing Insights • 78 implied HN points • 06 Mar 23
💼 Business Online business Entrepreneurship Digital marketing Product Development
  1. Online business is not a get-rich-quick scheme; it requires hard work and commitment.
  2. Ensure your products or services add value to solve problems and make lives easier for clients.
  3. Build a mailing list, engage with clients, and collaborate with others to grow your online business effectively.

"Sell me this Pen"

Achee Alpha • 6 implied HN points • 16 Feb 24
💼 Business Sales Marketing Startups Books Product Development
  1. Stop selling and start helping when it comes to sales. Position yourself as an experienced guide to the buyer to win them over.
  2. Understand the buyer's problems, pains, and other solutions they have considered before making your case for your product or service.
  3. Don't just assume buyers know how to make the right decision. Teach them how to buy by presenting your solution as the best choice among their options.

Finding Product-Market Fit

Build To Scale • 39 implied HN points • 19 Aug 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Product Development Market research Customer Feedback
  1. Being honest about product-market fit is crucial for startups. Make sure people care about what you're building.
  2. Spend time understanding customer pain points early on. Don't assume you know what they need before talking to them.
  3. Listen actively to customers, uncover their real problems, and focus on solutions that address their urgent needs.

How to Get From Zero to Prototype in 5 Days

CodeLink’s Substack • 58 implied HN points • 25 May 23
🕹 Technology Design Prototyping Collaboration Product Development
  1. Learn how to go from zero to prototype in just five days using an async design sprint.
  2. Key elements of a design sprint team include Facilitator, Timekeeper, Bus Driver, Decider, and Interviewer.
  3. Daily schedule for a design sprint includes warm-up sessions, group collaboration, individual work periods, and sync-up meetings to stay on track.

Why Your 'Disruptive' Product Isn't Getting Traction

Superfluid • 39 implied HN points • 02 Aug 23
💼 Business Startups Marketing Sales Product Development Market Analysis
  1. Changing consumer behavior is hard for startups, and it takes more than just a good product to do it.
  2. Before building a product, understand the market deeply, including the barriers to change and existing strategies.
  3. To succeed, focus on what you're really selling, craft a smart GTM strategy, and work progressively to change the market.

Government as a Service

Engineering Open Societies • 58 implied HN points • 19 Mar 23
🕹 Technology Government Software Development Data Access Product Development API
  1. Governments struggle to build good software for citizens, with outdated technology and convoluted processes.
  2. Governments lack good product and software development practices, often using outdated methods and facing bureaucratic challenges.
  3. Governments have inadequate API and data access, causing issues for engineers and entrepreneurs trying to integrate with government systems.

Shreyas Doshi on Product Thinking

Practical Product Discovery • 58 implied HN points • 23 Mar 23
💼 Business Product Management Product Development User Experience Innovation
  1. Product thinking involves understanding motivations and conceiving solutions based on effects you want to create.
  2. Avoid relying solely on project thinking, which focuses on plans and resources rather than user needs and creativity.
  3. To learn product thinking, prioritize real goals over deliverables, understand user needs, generate options, simulate outcomes, and study examples in the wild.

From no research to continuous research: a how to guide

UX Psychology • 138 implied HN points • 03 May 22
🕹 Technology UX Research User Insights UX Design Product Development
  1. Continuous research involves conducting fast-rhythm, open-ended user research sessions without a specific project focus, helping to uncover user pain points and opportunity areas.
  2. Creating a user research panel and semi-automating the process can help enable regular interactions with users, making it easier to schedule and conduct interviews.
  3. Continuous research can bring the 'voice of the user' to the company, but traditional UX research methods are still needed for specific personas or segments. Automating parts of the research process is crucial to establishing a continuous research habit.

Prompt to product

Step-by-step Product • 39 implied HN points • 31 Mar 23
🕹 Technology AI Product Development Coding Tools Artificial General Intelligence
  1. The future of product development may involve AI tools like 'Prompt to Product' for rapid prototyping and testing.
  2. Product people may need coding skills now, but advancements in technology are making product creation more accessible for non-coders.
  3. To stay ahead in the AI wave, product people should refresh coding skills, understand LLMs, and improve prompt design skills.

How I Built This In Public: Joshua Xu

Build In Public Newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 05 May 23
💼 Business Startups Entrepreneurship Product Development Marketing Innovation
  1. Starting a 'build in public' journey can inspire other founders and attract valuable feedback
  2. Building in public fosters trust in the brand by showing transparency and commitment to enhancing the product experience
  3. Embracing a growth mindset and focusing on the advantages of building in public can help overcome challenges like intellectual property theft concerns

Week 50 - 🙇‍♂️Unpacking the Power of Product Thinking: A Deep Dive

The Product Channel By Sid Saladi • 23 implied HN points • 30 Jul 23
🕹 Technology Product Development User Experience Innovation User engagement Frameworks
  1. Product thinking focuses on understanding user needs and crafting solutions that enrich lives.
  2. Product thinking drives innovation by questioning the status quo and creating user engagement through tailored solutions.
  3. Key principles of product thinking include deeply understanding user needs, challenging assumptions, envisioning future states, and promoting user engagement through great experiences.

How to Sell Products and Retain Customers

Sarah's Newsletter • 119 implied HN points • 12 Apr 22
💼 Business Marketing Customer Retention Product Development User Experience Data Analysis
  1. Understand your audience and solve their real problems to attract and retain customers.
  2. Provide a smooth onboarding experience to help users transition from inefficient processes to using your product.
  3. Customers who find your product valuable will be forgiving of small bugs, but focus on seamless integration within their ecosystem.