Recommendations you can check.
Founder of WP Engine and Smart Bear; writes A Smart Bear, long essays on strategy, pricing and startups.
7 things
The Mom TestBook Rob Fitzpatrick
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick (2013)—probably the single best book on this topic, and compatible with all the articles on this site.
Essay on how to find customers to interview; further-reading list.
2024-12-22·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
Continuous Discovery HabitsBook Teresa Torres
Comprehensive advice from Teresa Torres, also the author of the fantastic book Continuous Discovery Habits that also explains what to do with the information you get from interviews.
Essay on running customer-development interviews; further reading.
2022-09-17·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
TractionBook Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
Traction by Gabriel Weinberg (founder of DuckDuckGo and others) and Justin Mares (2015)—an under-appreciated book on how to get initial sales (or conversations).
Essay on how to find customers to interview; further-reading list.
2024-12-22·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
FreakonomicsBook Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner
I first noticed the problem when I read Freakonomics. It’s another great book on sociology, written by a science-minded journalist (Stephen Dubner) and a story-minded economist (Steven Levitt), with nice stories and backed by convincing data.
Essay on Malcolm Gladwell and storytelling versus data.
2008-02-06·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
Deploy EmpathyBook Michele Hanson
Deploy Empathy by Michele Hanson (2021)—how to find and talk with customers with a mindset that unlocks what you actually need from them.
Essay on how to find customers to interview; further-reading list.
2024-12-22·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
Talking to HumansBook Giff Constable
This is a direct quote from Giff Constable’s excellent book Talking to Humans. It’s only 80 pages; I highly recommend it.
Essay on how to find customers to interview.
2024-12-22·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
Venture HacksOther
Healthy disagreements notwithstanding, Venture Hacks is a must-read if you’re interested in funding or selling a company.
Essay critiquing the high-concept pitch.
2009-02-23·longform.asmartbear.com ↗
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
A dashed affiliate link, sponsored or their own label means the post disclosed a relationship. It is shown, never hidden.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The shading behind a date shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Fully green is recent. It drains a quarter at a time as the post gets older, and is empty once it reads as dated.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The shading is gone after about:
Stripes mean the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no shading.