🛍️ The Amazon way and pre-pmf product mgmt / PM Snacks 80
The making-of Amazon Prime • The product model at Amazon by Marty Cagan • Podcast: faire du produit en Pre-PMF • Start with the novelties • How to create a product manager portfolio
Hey everyone,
I was not planning to share so much about Amazon (I’m not especially a fan), but the first two articles are very complementary, and insightful. I love first-person account of creating well known features, it shows how messy the process can be.
Talking about messy, I participated in a podcast, and shared how we work in my startup while being Pre-PMF and still in the exploration phase. I feel like it’s important to record how we work and what we feel before we reach a new stage (and forget).
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1️⃣ The making of Amazon Prime • May 2019 • 20 min read • #strategy
One of my favorite genre to share on this newsletter: an oral history of how an idea got built. It’s hard to remember now, but when Amazon started working on Prime, they were mostly selling books and DVDs. Their margins were low, most people were still betting on eBay / Walmart, and logistics costs were piling up. So how did they do it?
1/ Speed mattered: ideas are bets, the faster you ship, the faster you can get new info and reinforce your beliefs. Prime’s 1st version was shipped in 6 weeks.
2/ Build moats: because Amazon was not the strongest player, Bezos saw an opportunity to use this program to become the default option when ordering online. Clients psychology changed forever after being introduced to fast & free shipping.
3/ Founder’s sponsorship is still one of the best way to take big risks. It enabled the team to ship fast (they could poach people from other teams), despite huge internal skepticism about the profitability of the operation.
2️⃣ The Product Model at Amazon • March 2024 • 9 min read • #execution
Now the way Amazon works can sometimes feel “out of the ordinary”… but actually, if you look into it, you’ll recognize the usual suspects: customer-centric product vision, data-driven experimentations, long-term thinking, strong leadership, and focus on being really agile. Read what Marty Cagan has to say about their model in this article.
3️⃣ Podcast: faire du produit en Pre-PMF (🇫🇷 FR) • Mar 2024 • 59 min listen • #execution
Terry Michel invited me to talk about how we work in my startup (uku), and what it means to build a Pre-PMF product. I decided to participate because most content is created by “survivors”, when theirs startups are already successful (like the previous pieces on Amazon Prime). Expect to find some actionable advice and real talk about how difficult this journey can be while it’s still unfolding. Notes:
1/ the podcast is only available in French.
2/ we were talking about a product called backstage, already replaced by our latest experiment: catchup. The podcast was recorded 2 months ago, time flies!
4️⃣ Start with the novelties • March 2024 • 1 min read • #strategy
I’m regularly having this conversation with people I coach, it’s easier to compete in a busy market as long as you start with the truly novel ideas your product brings. Don’t try to build your competitor’s features + a few differentiated ones. Go all-in with the novel ones. But Jason Fried says it best in 1min30 👇 PS: he is talking about their new product Hey Calendar.
⏳ How to create a Product Manager Portfolio • Mar 2023 • 7 min read • #hiring
Most clicked link one year ago in PM Snacks 71.
For some reason, it’s super common to have a portfolio among designers but not yet in the world of product management. I wish more people would do it, it’s better to be known for your ideas and achievements than your resume. If you want to stand-out, I would consider making one. Not sure how? Read the article. Last piece of advice:
1/ make it sharp
2/ don’t obsess over the design
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A warm welcome to the 25 new subscribers, we are now 3451 readers strong! Thank you for reading this far.
Olivier
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About → Productverse is curated by Olivier Courtois (10y+ in product, startup co-founder, coach & advisor). Each issue features handpicked links to help you become a better product maker.