A framework for First Principles Thinking
Improve your thinking, become smarter and pioneer the future
Improve your thinking, become smarter and pioneer the future

I’ll be surprised if broadcast television in the U.S. survives another decade.

Art has always had a strange relationship with copying.

Robert R. Taylor is a name you’ve probably never heard before. But this serial entrepreneur made his mark on the world of business by coming up with several products you are almost certainly very familiar with. Today we’re going to talk about, on the surface, the most boring of…

Orbitz, the travel website, offers slightly different prices to customers who are shopping through its app or a computer, and even between two different users on the same platform. Some of this may be due to experimentation and testing, but it’s also a sign that web retailers…

Google Analytics is a powerful, free web analytics platform. However, it has gaps that are better served by other tools. I'll address those gaps and tools in this post.

Many attributes of the customer journey are very predictable and can be planned for to create and convert inbound store footfall.

Rapid, customer-tailored dynamic pricing adjustments being made possible by new digital and advanced-analytics capabilities can generate substantial margin improvement for chemical companies.

“Gravity’s not just a good idea, it’s the law.” A truth is a useful, reliable statement of how the world is. You can ignore it, but it will cost you, because the world won&#…
In his new book, Range, David Epstein argues that although specialization has its virtues, businesses need people with wide horizons and ranges of interests in order to succeed.
Your phone increasingly knows what you’re taking a picture of. And which apps you have installed. So…

Researchers at MIT's CSAIL have developed a new technique that identifies high-performance subnetworks within neural networks.

The box has never looked better.

by Jean-Louis Gassée

Create strong culture, stay laser-focused on problems, and set wildly ambitious goals

Based on data from 597 people, the best ways to build trust as a leader aren’t what you think they are. How do you build trust as a leader? The answer seems intuitive enough. For many of us, …

When Hulu was launched, in 2008, it had the backing of three major motion-picture studios—21st Century Fox, NBC Universal, and Walt Disney Studios/ABC Television. The service seemed poised to dominate video distribution online—but today it ranks only 8th among streaming…

Making better decisions is one of the best skills we can develop. Good decisions save time, money, and stress. Here, we break down what makes a good decision and what we can do to improve our decision-making processes.

Evernote has been plagued by a series of managerial missteps and failed product launches. The company’s future is far from certain.
In a world where there are no secrets, where innovations are quickly imitated or become obsolete, the theory of competitive advantage may have had its day. Realistically, ask yourself, If all your competitors gave their strategic plans to each other, would it really make a…

How a user-first culture led to a decade of eureka moments at Google UX

There is a story arc of the electric scooter market that took the world by storm in 2018, was second-guessed late in the year and has…

The key is flexibility, according to Trump's former National Security Advisor.

Thoughtful, empathetic language can make or break your business relationships

Understanding user behavior is key to understanding how users interact with your product. Here are 15 steps to analyze & change their interactions to your benefit.
Update 2016-10-18: This tutorial has been updated to reflect the latest version of my stack (now with Drip!). I’ve also updated pricing info (it’s technically a $0 stack now) and screenshots. The original outdated article is archived here. “Just tell me what to do so I can stop

“That’s just one person” and “Our real users aren’t like that” are common objections to findings from qualitative usability testing. Address these concerns proactively to ensure your research is effective.

A way to communicate, quantify, validate, and design for a Job to be Done

Dollar Tree has struggled to grow Family Dollar because of its different business model.

The long read: When Aldi arrived in Britain, Tesco and Sainsbury’s were sure they had nothing to worry about. Three decades later, they know better
Done right, GIST keeps the team, management and stakeholders aligned on the why (goals), what (ideas) and how (steps and tasks), and every task we execute is connected to a business goal. A full quarterly plan creates a GIST tree per goal:

Confirming what people already believe can sometimes help organizations overcome barriers to change.

Throughout China, Allen Zhang is known as the “father of WeChat”. Zhang’s public persona has much the same cultural importance and weight as the American legacy of Steve Jobs. He is renowned in China’s tech scene as an artist and philosopher, as well as for his fierce mission…

Finding and building the next big idea is the holy grail of any tech company. Unfortunately the statistics are against us: when subjected…

A discussion of the 9 core operating principles that world class companies tend to embrace, by NFX Managing Partner James Currier.

Manufacturers are developing two packaging designs for the same product: those destined for the retail shelf and those sent directly to consumers.

Recently, a founder asked to chat with me about SEO. During our call, the founder - whose startup is backed by a top-tier VC - said to me “I assume that you acquired your first users through paid marketing.” Really? Is this an assumption nowadays? Since we’ve raised money

Untuckit is using Amazon to offload older styles -- preferring the marketplace as an alternative over the traditional outlet store.
Chris Dixon's blog.

PopSockets opted not to be a direct vendor to Amazon. Instead, it chose one major reseller to represent it on the marketplace. But, Amazon would not allow it. So, PopSockets walked away.

All things being equal, speed will determine whether your company succeeds or not. Here's how to make it core to your culture.

The most successful companies and products of the internet era have all been predicated on the concept of network effects, where the network becomes more valuable to users as more people use it. This is as true of companies like Amazon and Google as it is for open source…

Shopify App Store: customize your online store and grow your business with Shopify-approved apps for marketing, store design, fulfillment, and more.

Shopify is partnering with a network of more than 20,000 app developers and agency partners to build profitable businesses.

Pricing is a good place to make a few critical resolutions for businesses. Learn the 5 resolutions as you shape your pricing strategy for 2019.

Dear designers/marketers (and innocent person reading this note), So, you’re doing customer interviews and user research, good for you! You’ve joined the fold of responsible, empathetic, and effective product design and marketing professionals. But you sound like a robot when…