This article is the second part of a curated list of timeless, essential essays for product builders. The author’s goal is to provide an antidote to low-quality content by highlighting foundational articles on growth, leadership, communication, and entrepreneurship that many may have missed.
Key Readings and Concepts
The post details the first six of ten recommended essays, summarizing their core arguments:
- Building Products (Julie Zhuo): Success hinges on solving a clear, important problem for a well-defined audience before even thinking about solutions.
- Communication Is the Job (Andrew Bosworth): Effective communication is a leader’s fundamental responsibility. If your team is misaligned with your vision, it is your fault, and you must humbly seek to understand the gap and correct it.
- Executive Communication (Barbara Minto): Advocates for the SCQA (Situation, Complication, Question, Answer) or Pyramid Principle for clear communication. Start with an agreed-upon, factual situation, introduce the complication, pose the resulting question, and then lead with your answer.
- Distribution (Ben Horowitz): Argues that a great product is not enough. Choosing the right distribution channel (i.e., route to market) is a critical and strategic decision that is often misunderstood or overlooked by entrepreneurs.
- The Market Curve (Mike Vernal): Emphasizes that the market you choose is a primary determinant of success. Market size can be simply understood as the number of potential customers multiplied by what each might be worth.
- The Four Fits (Brian Balfour): Challenges the common belief that “product-market fit” is the only thing that matters for growth. It is just one piece of a larger puzzle, as many great products fail while some mediocre ones succeed.
Conclusion and Takeaway
The main takeaway is that building successful products requires a holistic understanding that extends beyond the product itself. Mastery of foundational concepts in communication, market strategy, and distribution is equally critical. This curated list serves as a guide to acquiring that essential, timeless knowledge.
Mentoring question
Reflecting on the six frameworks presented (from problem definition to distribution), which area represents the biggest gap or opportunity for improvement in your current product work, and what’s one action you could take this week based on that insight?
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