#55 - Are you sure you're building something people want to buy?
I am not going to lie, the most humbling thing ever is thinking because you have been in a game a year, 3 years or even 10 that you have some magic formula because you can do something better than what is already out there. This is ridiculously naive, because it forgets to factor in that switching costs is ridiculously high and if you’re proposition isn’t ten times better than the alternative people won’t switch.
All the data in the world is just about measure what has happened, being data-informed so you know what to work with less resources. I know that the people that read my email don’t have the privilege in the first place to squander so its even more important that we value what we have.
In
Confirmation Bias: A hell of a drug
Let's Build Great Products
Why small teams win – UX Collective
Great products are made by people who care
This article uses a pencil analogy to talk about how larger teams make a mess of what’s simple. Do you know how much specialism and modularisation goes into pencils?
It also goes into human behaviour and how we put more effort into things we own rather than share.
Parting Note: Small teams are notorious for outperforming larger teams because of their ability to coordinate swiftly and effectively.
Sunday Reads
Fat Lama Rebrand
Fat Lama believes in the power of sharing and want to make it easy to access items you can’t buy right now.
I have shared Fat Lama with many of my friends who are into photography and edit videos. A cool way to test out new kit without the upfront cost.
Gimlet Media Season 7: Arlan Hamilton
When I listened to this, I really started to understand Arlan’s backstory. I listen to selected podcasts, but this one is like watching a movie (except you’re hearing it). Everything from the beginning, middle to the end is done at such a high quality.
Good listen if you want to find out why Silicon Valley is leaving money on the table and missing the opportunity for underestinated founders.
Why Startups are getting addicted to paid marketing whilst fooling themselves on CAC
By Growth Guru - Andrew Chen
A familiar story: New product launches. Nice spike, but it dies down. The product is low freq – gotta spend to grow. Marketing spend increases, it’s profitable! More is spent, more money is raised via VCs. OMG this is working! Party!
Suddenly top line hits a ceiling.
Helpful Tool(s)
How Might We Framework
This has come from the school of Design Thinking.
Every problem is an opportunity for design. By framing your challenge as a How Might We question, you’ll set yourself up for an innovative solution.