Lean Startup isn’t responsible for the deluge of crappy products being released by mediocre startups. Erick Schonfeld makes that suggestion in his recent post Details Matter. I’d argue that the mainstream usage of things like Twitter and Facebook (along with social media’s ability to create incredible influencers), lower costs and barriers to entry (development is […]
Performance vs. Features — Which is More Important?
It’s fairly well understood at this point that performance is a critical aspect of building for the web. Better performance typically means better results (for whatever you’re trying to get people to do.) E-commerce transactions go up. Sign-up conversions go up. And so on. The same holds true with B2B / enterprise software. People will […]
The Curse of Knowledge in Product Design
You know your product best. You know every feature, how it all works, the bugs, nuances and hiccups too. You know what’s coming next in the product roadmap. You definitely know more than your customers, right? Yup, you have the Curse of Knowledge. The Curse of Knowledge is described in Dan and Chip Heath’s book, […]
Piggyback and Steal: Startups Need to be More Parasitic (In a Good Way!)
In a recent NextMontreal tech podcast (which I participate in on a weekly basis), I used the phrase, “piggyback and steal.” I thought it was reasonably catchy, so I jotted it down for this blog post. Without context it makes no sense, so let me add some. During the podcast I was talking to Frederic […]
How To Prioritize Feature Development After Launching an MVP
The initial launch of your Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a big step. It means you’re putting something into people’s hands to try. Keep in mind that this isn’t so much a launch as it is the beginning of a process. But you’re out there, and people are using your product. Now you face one […]
Scratching Your Own Itch May be Detrimental to Your Startup’s Health
A lot of startups come into existence when the founders work to solve their own problems. They “scratch their own itch” and (hopefully!) find that lots of other people are itchy too. But there are significant risks as well. These days a lot of startups are launched quickly with a couple of technical co-founders. That […]
Rounded Corners, Wasted Time and Technical Burden
I’ll admit it. I love rounded corners. They’ve gone out of style somewhat, but I still love ’em. When we were building Standout Jobs, we made the decision to have rounded corners on all the widgets that appeared on a career site. Actually, I probably made the decision. I certainly pushed hard for it. Rounded […]
Design Web Apps With a Scalpel Not a Hammer
Design works when it solves problems. And there aren’t many problems on the Web that you can solve using a hammer. Slamming someone upside the head is generally not the best way of getting them to do what you want. Brute force has its place, but if you’ve pummelled someone into submission, they’re not likely […]
And You Thought Building Product Features Was Easy?
Laura Klein really blew my mind with her post: 6 Questions to Ask Before Launching a New Feature. I don’t think I’ve ever put that much thought into adding a feature before. From now on, I’m going to make damn sure I do (or at least try!) The only addition I can really make is […]
Founding Partner at 