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Good Product Manager/Bad Product Manager
Warning: This document was written 15 years ago and is probably not relevant for today’s product managers. I present it here merely as an example of a useful training document. Good product managers...
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Think of CES as a Display of Ingredients for Future Products
CES is an incredibly exciting and energizing show to attend. Sometimes, if you track some of the real-time coverage you might get a sense of disappointment at the lack of breakthrough products or the...
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CES 2015 Recap for Makers and Product Managers
CES 2015 was another amazing show. Walking around the show one can only look with wonder at the amazing technologies being invented and turned into products. Few things are as energizing or...
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Managing Tensions In Online Marketplaces
A big part of managing two-sided marketplaces involves managing tensions between the two, often opposing “sides”. Typically these are consumers on one side and micro-entrepreneurs or small businesses...
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A Product Person’s Perspective on Enterprise Selling
Selling, specifically enterprise selling, is not something that comes naturally to most product-minded people. There's really only one key factor that distinguishes enterprise selling from everything a...
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a16z Podcast: Beyond Lean Startups
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CES 2016: Observations for Product People
CES is the best place to go to see and learn about making products. In one place you can see the technology ingredients available to product makers along with how those ingredients are being put...
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a16z Podcast: Selling to Developers
Developers are more than just influencers inside the enterprise — they’re now buyers, too. That’s a huge shift from before, when only IT and other departments had that kind of purchasing power. (It’s...
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All about Network Effects
Network effects. It’s one of the most important concepts for business in general and especially for tech businesses, as it’s the key dynamic behind many successful software-based companies....
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a16z Podcast: Culture and/of Design
“Mobile-first” (and now too AI-first) has been a mantra of sorts in design, but what does that mean at a company, product management, and competitive level? Especially given someone at company X will...
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a16z Podcast: What Startups Should Know about Analyst Relations
In the age of the internet — where information is freely available online, and connections between sellers and buyers of software products are visible on LinkedIn — do analysts really matter? Do they...
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a16z Podcast: Startups, Pivots, Culture, and Timing (Oh Shit!)
The hardest thing about pivots (major shifts in company/product direction) isn’t just the actual pivot. It’s the courage to make the decision… and being honest with yourself as a CEO. Especially...
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a16z Podcast: The Product Edge in Machine Learning Startups
A lot of machine learning startups initially feel a bit of “impostor syndrome” around competing with big companies, because (the argument goes), those companies have all the data; surely we can’t beat...
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Artificial Intelligence: The Promise and the Playbook
We’ve met with hundreds of Fortune 500/ Global 2000 companies, startups, and government agencies asking: “How do I get started with artificial intelligence?” and “What can I do with AI in my own...
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Hire a Head of Sales
As a former software engineer and CEO, I used to hold the “engineer-centric” view that sales is not a critical function in an organization. I believed that product excellence and market fit obviated...
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Hire a CMO
In a startup, the chief marketing officer (CMO) is usually one of two critical positions responsible for driving growth, alongside the head of sales. Essentially, CMOs are responsible for — and held...
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Hire a VP of Engineering
Engineering is one of the most critical functions at a tech company; in fact, as every company becomes a tech company in some form, it’s critical to every company. But in tech companies in particular,...
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Ears: Use Them - The secret of killer sales is extreme listening
In my experience, bad salespeople talk too much and LISTEN too little. If you’re closing deals and you haven’t been listening aggressively, you just got lucky. That success won’t be repeated. Active...
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a16z Podcast: Engineering and Learning Intent
“Young hungry and scrappy” is how Hamilton described his country, and it’s how many — including the guests on this episode — describe startups… or more precisely, the mindset that engineers in...
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a16z Podcast: Competing Against Luck
In business, mistakes of omission may be just as bad as (if not worse than) mistakes of commission — simply because of the loss in potential upside: new companies, new products, new opportunities for...
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