Product
Build the smallest thing that proves you're right.
6
concepts
5
tools
18
books
How product works — step by step
Read these in order. Each takes about 3 minutes.
- 01
Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
The smallest version of your product that lets you learn whether you're on the right track.
First step: Name the single riskiest assumption in your idea.
- 02
Product-market fit
When you've built something a real market badly wants — and you can feel the pull.
First step: Pick a clear target customer.
- 03
Jobs to Be Done
People don't buy products — they 'hire' them to get a job done in their life.
First step: Find people who recently bought or switched to a solution.
- 04
Habit-forming products (the Hook)
Products become habits through a loop: trigger, action, variable reward, investment.
First step: Trigger: what prompts use — a notification, or a feeling like boredom?
- 05
Product discovery & the four risks
Before building, check four risks: will they buy it, can they use it, can we build it, and does it work for the business?
First step: Write the idea as a problem to solve, not a feature.
- 06
The design sprint
A five-day process to go from a big question to a tested prototype with real customers.
First step: Monday: agree the goal and map the problem.
Tools for product
Most useful at these stages
Essential reading
The Lean Startup
Eric Ries
Treat your startup like a series of experiments. Build a small version, measure how real people react, learn, and adjust fast instead of guessing for months.
Running Lean
Ash Maurya
A step-by-step playbook for applying lean ideas, including the Lean Canvas, a one-page startup plan.
Competing Against Luck
Clayton M. Christensen et al.
Explains 'Jobs to Be Done': people don't buy products, they hire them to make progress in their lives.
Lean Analytics
Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz
Which numbers to watch at each stage of a startup, and the idea of focusing on One Metric That Matters.
The Only Thing That Matters
Marc Andreessen
The essay that popularised 'product/market fit' and argued it's the one thing that decides a startup's fate.
Hooked
Nir Eyal
The Hook Model: how products build habits through triggers, actions, variable rewards and investment.
Sprint
Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky & Braden Kowitz
Google Ventures' five-day process for answering big questions by prototyping and testing with real customers.
Inspired
Marty Cagan
How the best tech companies discover and build products customers love, by tackling the biggest risks early.
Explore by tag
From the library (18)
Badass: Making Users Awesome
Kathy Sierra shows that sustainable success comes from making users badass at what they do, not just building awesome products. A counterintuitive masterpiece from the creator of Head First books.
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability
Steve Krug's classic on web usability. Short, funny, and packed with practical advice for making products intuitive. Essential for product founders.
The Design of Everyday Things
Don Norman's classic on user-centered design principles. Essential for founders building products people love to use—explains why good design is intuitive and bad design frustrates users.
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact
Chip and Dan Heath reveal how to create defining moments that customers and employees remember forever. Essential for founders building memorable brand experiences and company culture.
Unreasonable Hospitality: The Remarkable Power of Giving People More Than They Expect
A national bestseller from Will Guidara, former co-owner of Eleven Madison Park, which was named #1 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants list. The book reveals how exceptional service and authentic human connection can become a competitive advantage in any industry.
Hooked
Nir Eyal's book provides insights into building habit-forming products using the 'Hook Model.' It's a valuable resource for startup founders focused on enhancing user engagement and creating products that keep users coming back.
Peak
"Peak" by Chip Conley adapts Maslow's hierarchy of needs to the business world, as described by Fred Destin of Accel Partners. The book offers advice on achieving sustainable outperformance and leveraging crises for better outcomes.
Rocket Surgery Made Easy
Tactical usability testing guide companion to Don't Make Me Think. Provides exercises for continuous product improvement.
Setting the Table
Danny Meyer's "Setting the Table" explores the importance of creating exceptional customer experiences, a crucial element for any successful startup.
The Customer Rules
A customer-experience and service excellence book by Lee Cockerell outlining practical rules for delighting customers and building loyalty—directly relevant to startup founders focused on product–market fit and retention.
The Ice Cream Maker
A business parable about quality and customer service that illustrates how organizations can innovate and delight customers—relevant for startup founders building product and culture from the ground up.
The One to One Future: Building Relationships One Customer at a Time
Introduces concepts of lifetime value, most profitable customers, and customer lifecycle.
Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making
Unorthodox product management guide for startups from Tony Fadell, covering processes for MVP building, team leadership, and product iteration based on iPod and Nest experiences. Key use cases include rapid prototyping and scaling hardware-software products. Offers a hands-on alternative to theoretical PM books like Inspired.
From App Idea to Business
Step-by-step product management processes for startups transforming app ideas into viable businesses, including MVP development, validation, and launch strategies. Tailored use cases for mobile and software founders covering market fit and monetization. More practical for tech products vs. general PM frameworks like Inspired.
Product Design for the Web
Frameworks and iterative processes for web product management in startups, emphasizing discovery, MVP building, and user-centered design. Use cases focus on rapid learning cycles for web apps and sites. Web-specific complement to broader PM books like Inspired.
Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days
Five-day product management sprint process for startups to build and test MVPs, validate ideas via prototyping and user feedback. Developed at Google Ventures for rapid problem-solving. Faster alternative to extended cycles in PM literature like Inspired.
The Inmates Are Running the Asylum: Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore The Sanity by Alan Cooper
Pioneering product management processes for tech startups emphasizing user-centered design, personas, and goal-directed methods to build effective MVPs. Critiques programmer-driven development and advocates sanity in high-tech products. Foundational text vs. contemporary views in Inspired.
About Face: The Essentials of Interaction Design
By Alan Cooper, Robert Reimann, David Cronin, and Christopher Noessel (4th edition, 2014, Wiley), this is a comprehensive guide to designing digital product interfaces and interactions, covering goal-directed design methods for apps, websites, and devices.