The hottest Product Strategy Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Technology Topics

I don’t know anyone using InVision Studio, and that’s too bad

Better After a Nap • 19 implied HN points • 11 Jan 24
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. An MVP needs to offer a key differentiator or a promise of one soon to make an impact in a competitive market.
  2. Meet the specific needs of your core user base swiftly and effectively to stay ahead of the competition.
  3. Maintain a laser focus on your core business, listen to user feedback, and avoid overhyping your product to build trust and loyalty.

Is Competition Still for Losers?

Superfluid • 13 implied HN points • 17 Jul 25
💼 Business Product Strategy
  1. The competitive landscape is shifting, making it harder to win by just competing. Instead, it's now about innovating and creating new categories.
  2. Startups must focus on counter-positioning and building unique processes to stand out. Being different is key when everyone is trying to do the same thing.
  3. Traditional advantages, like speed, are less effective now because big companies can quickly catch up. Founders need to rethink their strategies to avoid getting lost in the competition.

The Long Game 169: AI Investment Thesis, Peter Attia, Earth AI, Science-Based Lifting

The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi • 3 implied HN points • 19 Nov 25
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. Longevity works best when you focus on basics—build muscle, move often, eat and sleep reasonably well—and avoid turning health into constant self-surveillance that makes you feel fragile.
  2. The AI app market is unstable because foundational model providers can rapidly absorb app features, so most startups either need to generate quick cash, aim to be acquired, or specialize in niches with unique atom-level data, hardware, or heavy enterprise integration.
  3. Real competitive advantage comes from controlling the full loop: huge, cleaned datasets, continent-scale multimodal models, and cheap execution that ties AI to real-world testing, and founders should build from conviction rather than chasing what’s currently fundable.

The Long Game 170: Genomics, Embryo Selection, Expectations, Taking Yourself Seriously

The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi • 2 implied HN points • 04 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. Embryo selection is extremely high-stakes, so companies must have honest marketing and solid science. If you see fake reviews, copied research, or basic methodological errors, be very skeptical and don't trust them with decisions about future children.
  2. Set deliberately low expectations so small improvements feel like wins and bad news feels normal. Controlling your expectations reduces unnecessary suffering and helps you appreciate progress.
  3. Stop waiting for life to happen and take yourself seriously by choosing a direction and acting on it. Real progress comes from responsibility, risk, and doing more than what feels safe.
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Everybody Wants to Have an API Product

The API Changelog • 1 implied HN point • 07 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. Treat API-as-a-Product as a journey, not a final destination. Most teams start with quick, use-case APIs and need deliberate practices to evolve toward reusable, product-grade APIs.
  2. Keep gateways limited to simple infrastructure tasks like protocol or format transformations. Avoid encoding business authorization or core decision logic in the gateway; those belong in identity providers or backend services.
  3. Use a framework like the Data Interface Quadrants to classify APIs as raw data, composed, BFFs, or reusable data products. Classifying APIs makes their purpose measurable and guides what you must change to make them reusable and consumable by others.

Cyber Fantasy Versus Reality

The Security Industry • 31 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. In the cybersecurity industry, a company's success often comes from acquiring and integrating other successful cybersecurity companies that offer products in different areas like network, endpoint, data, identity, or GRC.
  2. Professional management is essential for growth through acquisitions in the cybersecurity field. It's crucial to make wise choices, integrate acquired teams effectively, and stay focused on customer service.
  3. Cybersecurity companies need to deliver good products at good prices to succeed, rather than solely relying on complex platformization strategies for sales growth.

To build trust in complexity, offer small choices and fast feedback

amivora • 4 implied HN points • 09 Jul 25
💼 Business Product Strategy
  1. Giving users small choices helps them feel in control during complex processes. When people can make little decisions, they feel less overwhelmed.
  2. Fast feedback is important. When users get immediate responses to their choices, it makes them feel more at ease and engaged in the process.
  3. Building trust takes time, so it's good to guide users step by step. This way, they understand what’s happening and can feel more secure with new tools or services.

Fullstory's Enterprise Transformation

Good Better Best • 4 implied HN points • 13 Jun 25
💼 Business Product Strategy
  1. When a company wants to sell to bigger businesses, it needs to change its products to meet different needs. Just scaling existing features isn't enough.
  2. Adding professional services can help customers get more value from a product. These extra services can make a big difference in how well customers use the product.
  3. A company's pricing strategy should fit how larger organizations buy. Sometimes that means moving from easy self-service pricing to more custom and guided deal structures.

Delight a Minimum Viable Audience

A Bit Gamey • 6 implied HN points • 22 Dec 24
💼 Business Product Strategy
  1. Focus on a small audience that really needs your product. It helps you understand them better and create something special.
  2. Build trust by being authentic. When you connect genuinely with a smaller group, they will support you more.
  3. You don't need millions of fans to succeed. Even a few passionate supporters can help you grow and thrive.

Maybe you don't need PLG after all. These start-ups are completely sales-led.

CommandBlogue • 0 implied HN points • 14 Aug 24
💼 Business Product Strategy
  1. Some start-ups are finding success with a sales-led approach instead of product-led growth (PLG). They focus on talking to customers and learning about their needs, which helps improve their offerings.
  2. Removing a free tier in product trials can create urgency and lead to higher conversion rates. When customers have to engage with sales first, it can mean better discussions and larger deals.
  3. PLG might not be suitable for every business, especially for early-stage companies or complex products. It's important to focus on what works best for your unique situation.

🐿️ Danger of Death - The Insanely Profitable Tech Newsletter

Squirrel Squadron Substack • 0 implied HN points • 09 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. When software can cause physical harm, use multiple layers of automated and human checks and avoid risky release practices.
  2. Many teams apply safety-critical processes to low-risk products and end up polishing for months, which wastes time and yields diminishing returns.
  3. Focus your engineers on finding and building what users actually need and will pay for, rather than protecting against unlikely catastrophic scenarios.

AI Is Both a Product and a Feature

Kartick’s Blog • 0 implied HN points • 23 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. AI works both as a standalone product (like ChatGPT or IDEs) and as a feature embedded into other apps, and both forms matter for users.
  2. Google uniquely offers AI both as a product and as integrated features across its services, giving it a structural distribution advantage.
  3. Distribution — how users access AI — is the decisive factor, and it matters more than whether the technology is in-house, licensed, open-source, or closed.

🐿️ The Why Game - The IPT Newsletter

Squirrel Squadron Substack • 0 implied HN points • 26 Feb 26
🕹 Technology Product Strategy
  1. Keep asking 'Why' until you reach root causes so you can be sure work actually serves the outcomes you care about, like profitability.
  2. Playing the 'Why Game' with engineers is a quick way to check whether daily tasks map to strategic goals and to expose gaps between the kanban board and real business value.
  3. Relentless 'Why' creates double-loop learning that turns failures into systemic fixes by revealing cultural problems, but it should be asked thoughtfully to avoid defensiveness.