Anders Ivarsson

Jason Fried and the 37signals folks always deliver on showing us alternate ways to win. Don’t dismiss this recent post as radical and out of reach for your organization. Jason states, “Nearly all new product work is done by teams of three people. A team of three is usually composed of two programmers and one designer.” You might be thinking, but my cross-functional, two-pizza-eating Scrum teams are bigger than that. And Marty Cagan just wrote, “Many companies...have too many small product teams...[We suggest] adjusting to a smaller number of larger-scope teams.” Transformed (p211) These seemingly orthogonal concepts can coexist. Imagine a larger-scope product team with: 🔸 A Product Manager providing context on value and viability, connecting solutions to vision and strategy, and generally doing broad-stokes PMey things. 🔸 Engineers and Designers organized as triples around a release/epic/story. 🔸 Other roles minimally supporting as needed (e.g., Quality Engineers, Scrum Master, SMEs). Might be cool. Unfortunately, in most teams I’ve worked with, the engineer-to-designer ratio wouldn’t support this model. We need more strong product designers. What do you think?

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There’s one element missing from Simon Sinek’s innovation equation. In software product development, there is: ▪️ Always a sense of urgency. ▪️ Always more work than people available to do it. So, innovation comes down to attitude? I wish. I've been on teams that pulled off amazing things with very little. But, it wasn’t just the optimism of the team. The teams also had the support and backing of leadership to get scrappy, break some things, and blaze a new trail. There has to be a desire for innovation. That comes from leadership. I believe most senior leaders would say they are innovative and want innovation, but they: 🔸 Prescribe solutions instead of empowering teams to solve problems. 🔸 Measure predictability and velocity. 🔸 Punish “failed” experiments. I’d rewrite the formula: Lack of Time + Lack of Resources + Team Optimism + Organizational Will = Innovation What do you think? Share what you’ve seen drive innovation. ‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾‾ 🔔 Let's chat if you're looking for fractional or consulting expertise on product development. I’m available in Q4. I'd love to explore options to help founders and heads of product management, design, and engineering.

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You’ve heard from me a few times about various playful activities with LEGO bricks and the various benefits they bring to life and work. But can we actually use LEGO bricks for work-related purposes? This was a question I was asked during a recent Play Agent training session. The answer is a resounding YEA. But how? Here’s one example: Imagine a team, a project, and a kick-off meeting. You need everyone on board, ensuring they understand the project’s purpose and envision what success looks like upon completion. You could simply ask them, but there’s a more engaging way. Invite them to build their vision of success using LEGO bricks. Then, have each person introduce and share their build with the group. I did this recently and discovered that, despite initial agreement and nodding, the LEGO builds revealed additional questions, differences, and surprises that would have otherwise remained hidden. The follow-up discussion and the process of integrating individual builds fostered a deeper understanding, alignment, and real team spirit. Have you tried using playful methods like LEGO in your work? #LEGObricks #playfulwork

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Just a reminder about key leadership skills you need to progress your career We at No blah blah leadership surveyed 107 product leaders from startups and scale-ups across Europe. From varying backgrounds and levels of seniority, these experts weighed in on what really drives success - for themselves, their teams, and their products. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝟯 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲: ⚡ Setting clear goals and providing direction ⚡ Growing and coaching team members effectively ⚡ Building effective relationships with stakeholders, top management and investors ➡️ 𝗙𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 - https://lnkd.in/eViXdewB Do you agree with the results? Which key skill would you put first?

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Dirk Lässig - this is a great post and is worth reposting. Thanks you. Just to add, LeSS was never 'in the market of scaling frameworks, and perhaps for the following reasons: -LeSS never had an ambition for big marketing and wide sales -LeSS was never expected (nor is it is now) to become widespread -LeSS was never taught as a 'scaling' framework. Rather, as a 'descaling' one. Lastly, separating itself from the saturated world of frameworks and emphasizing that LeSS is not a framework but a system, is NOT a way to try to make LeSS unique/different/special. It is, actually, consistent with a very strong emphasis that LeSS makes on system modelling and thinking. In LeSS, we talk about the system, we model the system, we build the system - organizational design system that is consistent with large-scale, multi-site, adaptive product development. So, really, no tricks there. Craig Larman (LeSS co-creator) can tell you more, in person, in July: https://lnkd.in/efZdj-2N (two seats left). Bastiaan van Hamersveld Frans Meuwissen

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🥳 It's Wednesday - so it's time for a new issue of my newsletter, The Confident Product Leader. Here is a highlight of my conversation with Berit Hoffmann as we explore one of the most important skills for product managers and product leaders - how to influence without authority. #productmanager #productleader #leadership #influence

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KPIs are a business tool, only for the 9-5 grind? I thought so, too. Today, I love how they can create focus, also in the personal space. You can even communicate dependencies of goals clearly. I’ll use how I got into running last year as an example. The obvious main KPI for the sport of running is to measure the distance each run and increase a bit each time. As a consequence, you will burn more calories and improve your fitness. Agreed, this sounds boring. When I started running, I chose 6 kilometers as my first goal distance. This was my thinking, put into a KPI: 🏃 KPI Attempt #1: 📈 Increase kilometers running per run from 6k to 10k over 3 months. It’s boring because it often doesn’t reflect reality. We’re not machines that can output a few hundred more meters each run. Treating ourselves like that won’t get us the results we want. It didn’t work at all. It was too much for my out-of-shape body, and I got severe headaches after each run. Instead of increasing my distance weekly, I found excuses not to start running. Instead of a trackable and empowering goal, I became demotivated. I changed my running approach. Instead of focusing on kilometers, I focused on consistency first. Here, leading and lagging KPIs come into play. They capture a connection between indicators. Progress on the leading one will eventually move the lagging one: 🏃 KPI Attempt #2: 🔁 Leading KPI: Run weekly for 20 minutes for the next 3 months. 📈 Lagging KPI: Run 6k per week. This became a better motivator. I felt good about running each week, even though the distances were short. It started to be fun! A bit later, I had enough energy to increase the distance. After a year of running, I’ve made it a habit. I’m no longer tracking consistency because I want to run each week anyways. I am finally back at my initial KPI of increasing the distance. After all, our body is a bit like a machine, just a more complicated one… Here’s what I learned: 💡 Start with one simple KPI. Treat it as a starting point and evolve it. 💡 KPIs need to work for you, too! Otherwise, they become a demotivator. 💡 If you can’t see progress on a KPI, consider adding a leading KPI.

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My # 1 collaboration tip for product managers working with product designers: Clearly define areas of ownership. Few talk about the product manager <> product designer overlap. But this is a CONSTANT source of conflict (my teams and I have experienced this on more than one occasion). PMs and PDs are the dynamic duo behind every great product experience. Their roles have significant overlap, and with their collaboration comes potential friction. It's inevitable - just like in any other relationship! What product designers should own: - Customer impact / value - Crafting top-notch user experiences - Visual & interaction design - Building prototypes - Running usability testing - Developing personas & journey mapping What product managers should own: - Business impact / value - Leading strategy & prioritization - Setting context, team goals & project scope - Defining success criteria - Leading data analysis Note: This does 𝗻𝗼𝘁 mean that PMs should not help in (significantly) shaping customer outcomes - on the contrary, creating impactful products for customers is THE most direct path to capturing business value. Where the two roles overlap and share responsibilities (this is a GOOD thing): - User research - User scenarios & use cases - Low-fi sketching & flows - Team workshops & whiteboarding This redundancy is intentional. It's healthy to have multiple people thinking big picture, but blurry roles can lead to power struggles. The solution? Collaboration & clarity around who leads what. Also important? Leaning on Each Other: - Product Designers: Use your PM to clarify scope, use cases, and project goals. Collaborate with engineers for technical insights. - Product Managers: Use your designer's creativity to refine scope. Get them involved in early ideation, and tap into their research expertise when needed. The Bottom Line: Who's accountable for the overlapping parts? Whoever owns the final result holds the decision-making power. It's about disagreeing and committing after discussions, even if you don't fully agree. Embrace the overlap; it's a strength, not a flaw. Thank you for attending my TED talk. ------- 
 🔔 Follow me, Kunal Punjabi and hit the bell for more insights
 ♻️ repost to share with your network PS. Credit to Jeff Zych for the visual (and inspiration behind this post). Give him a follow! PPS. I hope this is relatable, and helps level up your way of collaborating. PPPS. If this post resonates, I will cover PM <> PD collaboration anti-patterns in the future.

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To AB test or not to AB test… that is the question Some companies AB test pretty much everything Some companies AB test nothing And it feels like there’s a trend towards a design-led approach over data-driven product management So when does it make sense to AB test things, and when does it not? ✅ 𝗔𝗕 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗚𝗢𝗢𝗗 ✅   AB tests definitely have benefits: 🎯 𝗤𝘂𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 There’s no better way to understand exactly the impact you’ve had, and therefore the return on investment of the work you’ve done. 🔍 𝗨𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘂𝗻𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀 AB tests protect against you bad second order effects. You generally measure the impact on both leading and lagging metrics. ⛔ 𝗔𝗕 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗕𝗔𝗗 ⛔ But they also have down sides: 🚫 𝗡𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 AB testing doesn’t tell you what to build, or which problems to solve. And without a vision your product will quickly lose coherence. 💰 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 AB tests are expensive to run, both because of the time to set them up, and the fact that they delay rolling out new features to 100% of your customers. ⏱ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗯𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 Whenever you change things people notice, and this affects their behaviour. How they act immediately after a change (when you’re running an AB test) is not necessarily how they’ll act long term. 📐 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗺 Cultures that heavily favour AB testing tend to optimise small details rather than looking for break-through changes to the UX. 🤯 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 You better know your metrics and which you really care about, because typically some metrics will go up and some will go down. Cue massive fights and frustration if everyone’s not on the same page about how important different metrics are. 💡  𝗔𝗕 𝗧𝗘𝗦𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗚 𝗧𝗜𝗣𝗦💡 If you’re doing AB tests then remember: 🛣 𝗔𝗕 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 Don’t mix up a staged roll out to uncover problems with an AB test to measure impact. They have very different purposes and timelines. Be clear what you’re trying to achieve. 🛡 𝗦𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 A smaller test group just means you’ll need to run your experiment for longer to reach significance. You’ll still need the same number of users overall. ⚖ 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝟵𝟱% 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗶𝗳𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 95% significance just means there’s a 19 out of 20 chance that you’ve got a non random result. You can choose a different threshold if you want (esp. if user numbers are low). 💯 𝗔𝗕 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝗱 𝘂𝗽 Often you are moving people further down the funnel without fundamentally changing their buying intent. If you need to calculate the cumulative impact of features, use a hold out group. Hustle Badger is the best place to accelerate your product career with a wiki, courses and community.

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Today I have been working on a new course and coaching program to help product leaders overcome the HiPPO. 🦛 Managing senior stakeholders is one of the most common challenges I see when coaching product leaders. It will be an e-learning course with remote coaching calls. The launch price will be 50% off- just £99.50. Ping me, or comment if you want to be added to the waiting list. #productleaders #leadershiptraining

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There are only 2 true tests of product-market fit. Nothing else matters. The tests: → Will customers pay for it? → If you took it away, will they clamor for it back? That's pretty much it. So, to get to PMF faster, simply ask: → What would you change that would make you want to buy it? → What would you do if you didn't have this? #productmarketfit *** ♻️ Like this? Please repost. ➡️ Follow me for daily executive coaching.

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Let’s be honest, Black Friday is ridiculous. Fighting over TVs? Discounting stuff nobody needs? 🙄 But hey, why fight it when I can join the fun—and actually give you something that’s WORTH it? So: 🚨 Last chance to grab my Agile Games Collection for just 29 Euros per year! 🚨 (Regular price: 49 Euros. Price goes up in December with the next game release!) Here’s what you’ll get: ✅ Cheat sheets to make you look like an agile wizard 🪄 ✅ Facilitation tips from the real world (no fluff!) ✅ Videos and instructions to make each game easy to run 🎥 ✅ Downloadable materials ready to print and use 📄 I’ve personally used these games dozens of times with amazing results—engaged teams, better collaboration, and “aha” moments galore. 📅 The sooner you join, the better price you lock in. With new games added every month, you’ll want to get in NOW while it’s still ridiculously affordable. Because who needs another TV, anyway? 🎯 👉 https://lnkd.in/eZtQn9Us P.S. No trampling required. 😉

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Let's get real about coaching for engineering managers - I’m tired of seeing new managers get sucked into cookie-cutter "leadership" content and working with self-styled coaches without professional qualifications or affiliations to any of the coaching bodies (ICF, EMCC, AC). Yes they may have worked in the role. But that alone does not make them a coach. Professional standards aren't just a checkbox – they're the difference between surface-level advice and genuinely transformative leadership development. Because professional coaching isn't just about a certificate – it's about rigorous training, hours of working as a practitioner with real clients, reflection, mentoring by more experienced coaches and deeply understanding and living by ethical standards. In an industry where technical leaders are literally shaping the future of technology teams, why would you settle for bargain-bin coaching programs?

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Some of the feedback we receive triggers strong emotions in us because we believe that the feedback giver is not somebody who is supposed to give us this feedback in the first place. In their book, "Thanks for the Feedback", Douglas Stone and Sheila Heen describe it as a Relationship Feedback Trigger, among other triggers that provoke strong reactions and prevent us from accepting feedback. The relationship trigger fires when we have some history with those feedback givers—and usually not such a great history! So we have strong emotions for those people and quite some feedback for them, too! We might feel that they don’t appreciate our efforts, or we don’t trust their motives or their credibility. How do we react to such feedback? Usually, we fight back: ❗️“It is not me, it is you!” ❗️“You are the problem!” ❗️“You never …! ” ❗️“You always …!” Or may just feel offended and stop communicating. And we might be right. They might severely underestimate our efforts. They might also be taking their toll on the current situation. Nevertheless, by justifying ourselves and attacking back, we might miss something important—for us or them—their worries, their concerns, or our blind spots. Raising our own concerns and expressing our point of view could also be an important conversation to have. However, it's probably not the best idea to do it right away, changing the initial direction of the conversation—'sidetracking,' as it's called in the book—since it usually doesn't end well for either side. Instead, it often creates a snowball effect, escalating quickly to serious conflicts. You can find more visuals about feedback here: https://lnkd.in/gCwyQFw5 #Feedback #ThanksForFeedback #FeedbackTriggers

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FAILING FAST - one way to look at it We often talk about working in environments where we are encouraged to fail fast. 📢 But what does that mean? 📢 As obvious as it may seem, sometimes it really does mean allowing a REAL failure to take place. If we are committing to failing fast, then we need to hold steady until we learn the lessons from the “failure”. And once we’ve done that – can we say we are really failing? This is something to consider both ways – FAILING FAST has become the hip young kid around town, but we can’t always create an environment where failing is really an option. ❗ Does the work being done have a strict timebox? ❗Is the work being done an enabler for other items? ❗Are lots of other work items dependent on this piece of work? ❗Are you working in a highly regulated space? Failing fast can be a great tool, but we need to take a measured approach to how and when we can apply it. If we are facing something challenging and we want to really fail fast I recommend you do the following: ✅ Understand and agree what failure looks like for this piece of work. ✅ Understand and agree on how far we want to explore and learn from the failure. ✅ Check if there are any reasons why failure is not an option ✅ Check if everyone knows failure is a real possible scenario Obviously I am somewhat running with the Fail First sentiment a little further than we maybe need to – but those 5 Whys can really push you sometimes! hashtag #agilecoaching hashtag #agilesoftwaredevelopment ---- I'm setting myself a little challenge to see how many days I can dish out what I think is a useful bit of information I've learned over the sum of 15 years. If I get to 50 genuinely unique tit bits, I'll consider it a small victory 😁

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The secrets of how experienced engineering leaders accelerating growth of new Tech Leads... 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘦𝘵 + 𝘗𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 + 𝘚𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 + 𝘍𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 = 𝗦𝘂𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀𝗲𝘁 Individual focus → 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗳𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀 𝗣𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗘𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 I love Andy Grove's definition 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘱𝘶𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. Although I prefer to use the term 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀. It's possible for a team to product a lot of output but not much value! 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗮 𝗧𝗲𝗰𝗵 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱? A team scoped Tech Lead can have many flavours. Is team leadership included? What about line management? What about delivery? Clarity is key 𝗦𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁 Engineer → Tech Lead is a tricky transition. Holding more frequent 1:1's initially Seek feedback from team Stay close 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸 We all make mistakes when taking on new responsibilities  Provide both reenforcing and corrective feedback Observations + Impact = Actionable feedback Learn from mistakes Celebrate the wins P.S How do you support new Tech Leads?

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Product Trios are challenging. Good Product Trios build great products. But to get teams to "good" is hard. I love how no-BS Teresa Torres is about Trios. Common goal, common responsibility, common accountability. One PD/UX, one PM, one Engineer. They do Product Discovery together ("What to build"). Sounds easy enough. I've seen 14 teams in different companies attempt this. And what I can say, about introducing this way of working: Short term pain for long term gain. For companies where "fluidity of collaboration" is more important than "role understanding" already, this might be a very short term pain. For teams where "role understanding" is a real and important part of their daily life, we have a lot of work to do. Especially for engineering. I used to work as a fullstack engineer. If you would have told me I was supposed to juggle my time between "doing Discovery work" (fuzzy, what is that even? mostly meetings?) and pushing code, I'd told you, that sounds hard. If you then told me, I needed to do so without clear boundaries and rules but on in a "fluid" way, I'd told you you are crazy. Now, don't get me wrong, right now I'm working with a few very role-fluid Product Trio's and loving it. But to assume that it is something you can just "do" is unrealistic at best and borderline irresponsible for many orgs. 📕 Teressa Torres - Blog post about Product Trios in the comments Excerpt from my conversation with Afonso Malo Franco. -------- I post 5x a week here in an attempt to get 1000 companies to do weekly Product Discovery. I'm at 24/1000. Which is more than four weeks ago. Follow along to see if I make it before turning 90 - and shoot me a message if you need a little help to get your Discovery rolling.

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🚀 How Do You Know You've Hit Product-Market Fit? 🎯 Finding the sweet spot where your product resonates with the market can feel like searching for a hidden treasure. But when you find it, oh boy, does it change the game! 🔍 Signs You've Nailed It: 🎯 Customer Feedback - Your users don't just like your product; they rave about it! They're your product's loudest cheerleaders, without you having to ask. 🎯 Growing Demand - You’re not just keeping up; you're struggling to keep stock or scale services fast enough. 🎯 Repeat Business - Customers come back for more, again and again. Loyalty speaks volumes. 🎯 Organic Growth - Your marketing efforts are good, but the word-of-mouth is explosive. New customers are hearing about you from existing ones. 🌉 Crossing the Chasm Insights: Jeffrey Moore’s iconic book, Crossing the Chasm, provides a brilliant roadmap from early adoption to mainstream market success. One key takeaway? The importance of focusing on a niche market initially to gain traction before expanding. This approach allows for deep understanding and meeting the specific needs of early adopters, setting a solid foundation for broader appeal. Key Lessons: 🔑 Target the Right Customers - Focus intensely on who your early adopters are. They’re your bridge to larger segments. 🔑 Position Your Product Clearly - Ensure your product's value proposition is understood and compelling. This isn’t just about what your product does, but why it’s essential. 🎢 It’s a thrilling ride from initial concept to achieving product-market fit, but once you’re there, the real journey of scaling and refining begins. 🤔 Think you’ve got product-market fit? What's your evidence? Let’s chat below! 🗨️ #ProductMarketFit #StartupJourney #EntrepreneurLife #CrossingTheChasm #BusinessGrowth #InnovationManagement #ProductManagement Learnings from: Institute of Product Leadership ProductTank Bangalore Product Leaders Forum

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