The hottest Value Creation Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics
Optima & Outliers β€’ 179 implied HN points β€’ 24 Jun 24
  1. Working at big companies can teach you specialized skills, but they often don't show you how your work contributes to the bigger picture. You might learn things that are valuable in a small circle but not necessarily important for real-world impact.
  2. Starting your career at a startup can be more beneficial for developing broader skills. You'll see the direct results of your work, and it pushes you to understand what really delivers value to customers.
  3. If you want a career where you can make a real impact and create valuable products, it's worth considering spending some time outside of large corporations to gain that experience.
Category Pirates β€’ 707 implied HN points β€’ 09 Oct 23
  1. As Category Designers, we get paid for outcomes, not for doing a 'good job.'
  2. Understand the power of the outcomes you have delivered in your career to realize your unique Category Superpower.
  3. Leverage outcomes for personal and professional agency to communicate your value effectively and be paid what you're worth.
High ROI Data Science β€’ 297 implied HN points β€’ 10 Jan 24
  1. Understanding the long-chain in marketing is crucial for connecting business outcomes with data and metrics.
  2. Data engineering and knowledge management are essential for transforming data into valuable assets that can be monetized by the business.
  3. Long-chain marketing involves seeing marketing efforts as part of a longer sequence of actions that lead to business outcomes, rather than standalone events.
Untrapping Product Teams β€’ 334 implied HN points β€’ 19 Jul 23
  1. Product delivery is about creating value steadily, not just following a plan.
  2. Key aspects of product delivery include organizing the product backlog, refining tasks, aligning goals, and delivering value consistently.
  3. Be mindful of common traps like treating the product backlog as a wishlist, separating discovery from delivery, and focusing only on output instead of outcomes.
General Robots β€’ 383 implied HN points β€’ 11 Feb 25
  1. Being correct means having a product that works as intendedβ€”it's stable, bug-free, and meets specifications. However, it can be very costly to reach near-perfect correctness.
  2. Being good is about providing value and meeting customer needs. There's no limit to how good a product can become, and making something better is always beneficial.
  3. To improve a product, it's essential to iterate quickly based on real customer feedback. This helps in learning what features work best and keeps development moving efficiently.
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A Letter a Day β€’ 216 implied HN points β€’ 04 Jul 23
  1. The private equity industry has evolved over the past three decades, facing challenges due to its success.
  2. Private equity firms need to start adding value to their investments from day one, not just in year two.
  3. Success in private equity today requires skilled people, disciplined approach to managing operations, and global opportunities.
Ageling on Agile β€’ 139 implied HN points β€’ 17 Jan 24
  1. Different organizational structures can create value in different ways.
  2. Stability is essential but not always guaranteed in organizations.
  3. Adapting organizational structure quickly is crucial for responding to changing circumstances.
Connecting Dots β€’ 2 HN points β€’ 02 Sep 24
  1. Appreciation is hard to come by in our work and lives. Many people feel unrecognized for their efforts, especially in the workplace.
  2. Creating value for others is important but can be challenging. It often requires understanding their needs and finding ways to meet them.
  3. We should think of appreciation as a long-term goal, like charging a battery. By focusing on the positives we've achieved and building supportive communities, we can keep ourselves motivated.
Ageling on Agile β€’ 59 implied HN points β€’ 04 Feb 24
  1. Ivory towers in organizations can create conflict and hinder collaboration between teams with different objectives.
  2. To foster value creation, it's essential for individuals in leadership positions to step down from ivory towers and actively collaborate with all stakeholders.
  3. Blocking the learning loop by maintaining ivory towers can lead to wasted time, effort, and money, hindering the organization's ability to adapt in a fast-changing world.
burkhardstubert β€’ 159 implied HN points β€’ 01 Jun 23
  1. Going solo as a consultant can be a great decision, leading to better income, work-life balance, and personal fulfillment. It allows for more freedom and opportunities to enjoy life outside of work.
  2. Positioning your services based on expertise rather than price is essential. It helps attract the right clients and reduces competition by showcasing what makes you unique.
  3. Listening to client needs is crucial for success. Asking open-ended questions about their future goals helps identify how you can provide the most value.
Day One β€’ 858 implied HN points β€’ 07 Apr 20
  1. Fortune favors the brave - those who dare are often the ones who succeed.
  2. Action is key - starting and going through the process brings clarity and reveals unforeseen challenges.
  3. Value creation leads to wealth - anyone can become wealthy by monetizing skills and knowledge that solve problems.
The Future of Life β€’ 19 implied HN points β€’ 29 Feb 24
  1. CEOs are more than just financial managers; they serve as agents of the owners and have a broad range of responsibilities. Their main job is to implement the company's mission and make key value judgments that drive the business's success.
  2. AI may become very smart, but it can't replace the human ability to make complex value judgments. For example, deciding which products align with a company's values requires deep understanding and insight that AI doesn't have.
  3. Maximizing profits is not just about cutting costs; it's about pursuing a clear mission. Just like individuals find success by following their goals, businesses need a strong mission to guide their decisions.
Tom Thought β€’ 39 implied HN points β€’ 26 May 23
  1. Every good or service has a fair price, whether it's labor dependent on skill or a product based on cost of parts and labor.
  2. There is no definitive 'fair' price, only the market price determined by what people are willing to pay.
  3. Value of a product depends on consumer demand, not just on the labor or materials that went into it. Pay isn't determined solely by skill, but by usefulness and rarity of the skill in demand.
Venture Prose β€’ 259 implied HN points β€’ 04 Feb 21
  1. Demand can only be served if there is supply. Market issues arise when the supply can't meet the artificial demand.
  2. Venture capital-backed companies in the US needed around $3 trillion in capital to sustain growth, questioning the sustainability of valuations and cash requirements in the tech industry.
  3. The rapid growth of non-profitable tech companies raises concerns about whether the market can support the increasing cash requirements, potentially indicating an unsustainable pace.
Platform Papers β€’ 19 implied HN points β€’ 12 Oct 23
  1. Platform owners face challenges in managing product categories with direct network effects
  2. Maintaining a balance in product category concentration is crucial for platform success
  3. Using selective promotions like awards can help platform owners shape market structures in the presence of network effects
Platform Papers β€’ 19 implied HN points β€’ 09 Nov 22
  1. Brands are facing challenges in maintaining direct contact with consumers in the current platform era dominated by intermediaries like Amazon and Alibaba.
  2. To combat this, brands are creating their own platform offerings to establish intimate relationships with consumers and address their various needs associated with the core product.
  3. Managers transitioning to a flagship platform model must carefully plan their vision, strategic goals, and value creation processes to meet the diverse needs of consumers while relinquishing control in certain areas.
Afridigest β€’ 7 implied HN points β€’ 10 Feb 24
  1. Value creation is crucial for business success - make things that people want to create value.
  2. Many startups fail because they do not provide value to their customers, leading to issues like market need, product-market fit, and market adoption.
  3. Avoid the mistake of building something only based on what you think users want - ensure that your startup idea plausibly creates value.
world spirit sock stack β€’ 1 implied HN point β€’ 11 Mar 24
  1. Classic ways to earn social credit include doing favors, being consistent and nice, being impressive, doing things people like, and negotiating relationships with responsibilities.
  2. The concept of owing someone has been turned into a detailed, global quantitative system, leading to significant economic activities.
  3. Other forms of social credit are semi-formalized, such as social media likes and follows, but may not drive the same level of activity as the formalized financial system.
Musings on Markets β€’ 0 implied HN points β€’ 25 Jun 12
  1. Activist value investing is when investors actively work to change how a company is run in order to increase its value. This approach lets investors feel more in control of their investments.
  2. There are different types of value: market value, status quo value, and optimal value. Understanding these helps investors see how much more a poorly managed company could be worth if it's run better.
  3. If you can't be an activist investor, you can either invest in companies targeted by activists or look for poorly managed companies that might be targeted in the future.
PeopleStorming β€’ 0 implied HN points β€’ 15 Sep 21
  1. Product-oriented work requires creating space and time for innovation by understanding and modeling work mix within a team.
  2. Investing time in the innovation quadrant is crucial as it focuses on creating new value for customers, ensuring relevance and competitiveness.
  3. To prioritize product-oriented work, teams can progress by retro-ing emergencies, automating ops tasks, and streamlining housekeeping activities.