Work & money · Collection guide · 5 stops
Build something people want
Take one proposed product or service through this path. Begin with the customer’s problem, translate it into a meaningful outcome, then turn that understanding into contact and observation. The later company stories test what happens when a promising idea meets relationships, growth and the experience people actually receive.
Browse this collection in reading order →Suggested routes through material saved to explore. I haven’t read or watched everything here yet. The order and prompts are editorial suggestions based on available source text, excerpts, descriptions and synopses; they are not personal ratings or claims of completed viewing.
Identify the relationship to the problem
Sequoia’s framework distinguishes forms of product-market fit by how customers experience a problem. Start here before choosing features or assuming that interest means a strong need.
Pause & try
Describe one specific customer and the situation that creates the problem. How do they deal with it now, and what evidence do you have?
Describe the desired change
Butterfield’s memo asks the team to think beyond the software being sold. Use it to turn the first step’s problem into an outcome someone would recognise and value.
Pause & try
Explain the proposed benefit without naming a feature or using your product category. What becomes easier, possible or less frustrating?
Build a habit of contact and evidence
Articles · Est. 2 min
Brian Armstrong of Coinbase with an email to a new PM →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Armstrong’s email makes product work concrete through users, behaviour and communication. It follows the positioning exercise because an elegant description needs contact with what people actually do.
Pause & try
Plan three conversations or observations around the customer’s existing workflow. Ask about a recent real instance before describing your proposed solution.
Examine the organisation around the idea
Startup.com adds the interpersonal and organisational pressures of building a company. Watch with your own assumptions in mind: a business needs more than a convincing account of the customer’s problem.
Pause & try
Name one disagreement your collaborators might have about money, roles or direction. Discuss how you would decide it before the stakes increase.
Protect the experience as it grows
Memos · Est. 5 min
The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience - Howard Schultz →
Collected by The Unintuitive ↗
Schultz’s memo questions whether operational changes weakened the experience that made Starbucks distinctive. It closes the route by examining what success and expansion could accidentally remove.
Pause & try
What part of the customer experience must survive a faster or cheaper process? Describe a way to check it directly with customers.
After the five stops
Take it into your own life.
Write the customer, problem, current alternative and proposed change on one page. Run a small test with a clear sign of failure as well as success. Use what people do and report to revise the hypothesis before investing in a larger version.
Continue exploring
Items 1–5 are the guided route above. The remaining items are listed alphabetically below; choose what interests you next. These numbers match the collection shelf.
- $1 Million, 10 Years, Zero Excuses - WSP → Find on the shelf: $1 Million, 10 Years, Zero Excuses - WSP →
- 1,000 True Fans - Kevin Kelly → Find on the shelf: 1,000 True Fans - Kevin Kelly →
- A conversation about advertising, with David Ogilvy → Find on the shelf: A conversation about advertising, with David Ogilvy →
- Bankrupt - Pan Am → Find on the shelf: Bankrupt - Pan Am →
- Bessemer Venture Partners (collection) → Find on the shelf: Bessemer Venture Partners (collection) →
- Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968 → Find on the shelf: Building the Professional Firm: McKinsey & Co.: 1939-1968 →
- Competition is for losers → Find on the shelf: Competition is for losers →
- Extreme brainstorming questions to trigger new, better ideas → Find on the shelf: Extreme brainstorming questions to trigger new, better ideas →
- General Magic → Find on the shelf: General Magic →
- GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY - P.T. Barnum → Find on the shelf: GOLDEN RULES FOR MAKING MONEY - P.T. Barnum →
- His Way → Find on the shelf: His Way →
- How Larry Gagosian Reshaped the Art World → Find on the shelf: How Larry Gagosian Reshaped the Art World →
- How to start a startup - YC series → Find on the shelf: How to start a startup - YC series →
- How we work and why - Hunter Harrison → Find on the shelf: How we work and why - Hunter Harrison →
- Icahn → Find on the shelf: Icahn →
- Investor and Operator Resources → Find on the shelf: Investor and Operator Resources →
- Jeff Bezos interview on Starting Amazon (2001) → Find on the shelf: Jeff Bezos interview on Starting Amazon (2001) →
- Jesse Willms, the Dark Lord of the Internet → Find on the shelf: Jesse Willms, the Dark Lord of the Internet →
- Jobs On Flash - Steve Jobs → Find on the shelf: Jobs On Flash - Steve Jobs →
- Life lessons from an ad man | Rory Sutherland → Find on the shelf: Life lessons from an ad man | Rory Sutherland →
- Morgan Housel - Betting On Things That Never Change → Find on the shelf: Morgan Housel - Betting On Things That Never Change →
- Print the Legend → Find on the shelf: Print the Legend →
- Shelby American: The Carroll Shelby Story → Find on the shelf: Shelby American: The Carroll Shelby Story →
- Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview → Find on the shelf: Steve Jobs - The Lost Interview →
- The 9 traits Sam Altman looks for to identify founders who can build a $10 billion company → Find on the shelf: The 9 traits Sam Altman looks for to identify founders who can build a $10 billion company →
- The Best Venture Firm You’ve Never Heard Of → Find on the shelf: The Best Venture Firm You’ve Never Heard Of →
- The Prince of Solomeo → Find on the shelf: The Prince of Solomeo →
- Triumph of the Nerds Series → Find on the shelf: Triumph of the Nerds Series →
- Valentino: The Last Emperor → Find on the shelf: Valentino: The Last Emperor →
- Why Software Is Eating the World - Marc Andreessen → Find on the shelf: Why Software Is Eating the World - Marc Andreessen →