Many concepts that sound good on paper are infeasible to implement, or simply don’t produce the expected results. It’s frustrating when that happens, of course, but the pace of experimentation and learning at a startup is unparalleled. I think this is an especially important form of rigor for theorycels like me. Building product forces a different ... See more

Amazon.com has a product development process they call Working Backwards. Rather than starting from an idea or a technology, you start by writing the press release for the product.

The target audience is the customer.

The press release is circulated internally.

If the press release isn't compelling, you don't have a strong product hypothesis. Iterate!... See more

Most PR/FAQs are rejected, and the ones that pass often generate further questions that need to be answered. This is a feature, not a bug. Spending time up front to think through all the details of a product preserves your company's resources to build products that will yield the highest impact for customers and the business.