All of our Product articles

ClassPass’ Founder on How Marketplace Startups Can Achieve Product/Market Fit

ClassPass’ Founder on How Marketplace Startups Can Achieve Product/Market Fit

It's rarely a straight line to product/market fit. Here are ClassPass founder Payal Kadakia's hard-won tips for marketplace startups that helped her guide her company from a near-bust to a $470M game-changer.
User-First Monetization — Lessons from Instagram and Strava

User-First Monetization — Lessons from Instagram and Strava

James Quarles played a crucial role in creating Instragram's multi-billion dollar business model. Now CEO of Strava, he's sharing the fundamentals of healthy monetization for startups.
Wait But Why’s Tim Urban on Parsing and Transmitting Complex Ideas

Wait But Why’s Tim Urban on Parsing and Transmitting Complex Ideas

From cryonics to AI to procrastination, Wait But Why's Tim Urban distills and presents the most complex ideas. Here he shares how he makes sense of hard-to-understand concepts so they're rich and resonant for others — an act that every startup leader and team must master over and over again.
17 Product Managers Who Will Own the Future of NYC Tech — and the 9 Frameworks They’ll Use to Do It

17 Product Managers Who Will Own the Future of NYC Tech — and the 9 Frameworks They’ll Use to Do It

Last year, First Round hosted a seminar of 17 rising star product managers in NYC, taught by some of the best product leaders in the tech industry. Here's who they are and what they learned.
Veteran CTO (with Multiple Successful Exits) Answers Your Top Startup-Building Questions

Veteran CTO (with Multiple Successful Exits) Answers Your Top Startup-Building Questions

Adil Ajmal has built several standout technical organizations from scratch to successful acquisition. Here, he answers the toughest questions from our community.
The Four Cringe-Worthy Mistakes Too Many Startups Make with Data

The Four Cringe-Worthy Mistakes Too Many Startups Make with Data

HotelTonight's Chief Data and Strategy Officer talks about how startups should set up and mine their data to drive insights that actually make a difference.
Make Product Decisions Without Doubt — My Lessons from Twitter and Slack

Make Product Decisions Without Doubt — My Lessons from Twitter and Slack

At Twitter and Slack, Tess Rosania built interfaces that millions use each day. Here, she dissects how she eliminated doubt from four high-stakes product decisions.
The Habit Behind This Founder’s Fast Financings, Product Development and Book Deal

The Habit Behind This Founder’s Fast Financings, Product Development and Book Deal

MissionU CEO Adam Braun has a habit that's helped him get term sheets in weeks, launch products and pen a bestseller. Here's an inside look at the practice that guides him.
Here's Why Zola Cherishes its NPS Detractors as Much as its Promoters

Here's Why Zola Cherishes its NPS Detractors as Much as its Promoters

Zola CEO and co-founder Shan-Lyn Ma's commitment to customer satisfaction goes back beyond her time at Gilt and Chloe + Isabel. But at Zola, her team and she have really zeroed in on NPS detractors — and discovered how much they can drive growth. Here's how.