New Voices in Product
I’m often asked about the blogs I read and the people I look to for inspiration as to thought leadership when it comes to product. Sadly, for several years I couldn’t give a very good answer to that, however, today there are some exceptional people that have published their experiences, and I thought I would highlight my favorites here. If you like the topics that I write about, I’m confident you’ll also like what these people have to say.
Ben Horowitz - http://bhorowitz.com/
Ben is the newest voice in the product community, and ironically, he started writing when he left the product community to become a VC. I first met Ben at Netscape, and I was at least smart enough to realize that Ben was a whole lot smarter than I was, and I was one of many people there that benefited greatly from knowing and learning from him. His career went from product management, to the CEO of a rapidly growing startup, to a general management role running a very large part of HP. But now he invests full-time, and he’s giving back by sharing some of the many lessons he’s learned on his new blog. Ben likes to be provocative, but he is very thoughtful and not afraid to call it like he sees it. Here’s a great example.
Eric Ries - http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/
Eric is probably the key figure behind the Lean Startup movement, and he is an exceptionally gifted thinker and writer. He has the ability to take complex points and distill them down to a few key paragraphs that nail it. I honestly love reading his articles. He comes at product from an engineering perspective, with an emphasis on startups, but in my view, if you are in any way working on technology products – product, engineering, design or marketing – at small or large companies, you should be reading Eric’s thoughts. Some of the terms he uses are different, but I consider his views as close to mine philosophically as anyone I’ve come across to date. I’m working on an article that maps the Lean Startup concepts to the terms that I have used in my writing. Here’s a good example of Eric’s writing.
Steve Blank - http://steveblank.com/
Steve is not really a new voice in product, as he is an industry veteran and has been writing for a while. He authored the book “The Four Steps To The Epiphany” that I have long recommended. He comes more from the marketing perspective, and also from the Enterprise software world, but the principles he advocates are relevant across virtually all technology companies, especially startups. He’s closely associated with the Lean Startup work, but I find his perspective unique enough that I like to read both his and Eric’s views. Here’s a good example of Steve’s writing.
Fred Wilson - http://www.avc.com/
Fred is actually not a product guy, he’s a long-time VC, however, I mention him here for two reasons. First, he really loves product, and he truly immerses himself in the technologies of the internet. This makes him an extremely insightful investor (just take a look at his track record), and especially for those of you considering doing a startup, his views are very relevant and timely (and any of you would be extremely lucky to get him on your board). But the main reason I mention him here is because Fred has been writing a series of posts called “MBA Mondays” that strives to educate aspiring entrepreneurs and product people on the financial aspects of building and running a company. A while ago I wrote an article “Make A Friend In Finance” that makes the case for why product people must understand the financial dynamics just as they need to understand the technology. Well, for many of you, through his writing and sharing, Fred can be that friend.
There are several other voices that I read regularly and have a great deal of respect for, but these four thought leaders you may not have heard of before, and I think you’ll benefit from their experiences.