Product Research 101: Find Winning Products to Sell on Amazon and Beyond


Renae Clark - 2015
    If you are an experienced seller or are looking to do arbitrage this book will have less value as I don’t discuss sourcing by arbitrage. I don’t do arbitrage, so I don’t teach it. This book is written for the new or struggling seller wanting to source wholesale or private label products. What you will learn: Basic steps for finding top selling products How to generate product ideas and look for trends How to validate demand Tips for finding suppliers Analyzing data to help you pick a product It took me 5 months of research before I pulled the trigger on my first products to sell on Amazon. Five months and countless hours. I have pages of notes with product ideas in many different categories. Some were wholesale products, others were ideas for my own products. I had some money set aside to buy inventory. But I couldn’t commit. I was looking for...not necessarily thee perfect product, but, well yeah, the perfect product. Fear of choosing “wrong” was holding me back. I knew that product selection was key to success so I needed to choose right. Another part of the problem was I had bigger ideas—I wanted to create a brand and I had some ideas as to what sorts of products I would carry. But those ideas required more capital than I was willing to invest for my first product. As a result, I put so much pressure on myself to dream big and think towards the future that I did…nothing! Another hold up was I was a little skittish to follow the advice to source from Chinese suppliers. It seemed so complicated for a beginner. Could I not take a little less profit and source domestically? Were there not manufacturers that could produce my ideas in North America? Yes, and yes. Ultimately the delays helped me because I learned a lot by joining Facebook groups and listening to and learning from the experiences of others. I devoured the advice in forums as well as blogs, books, webinars, and courses. I learned of the pitfalls of private label that the gurus selling you the dream never talk about. And finally, I did pull the trigger. I put together this guide to help any of you who are feeling a little gun-shy too. I put this book together for all of you who have the brains to say “Hey, if everyone buys top 100 selling products wont that saturate the market?” I put this book together to help you find great products from many different approaches. After reading this, you should feel confident enough to find a product and get started with your e-commerce business.

Move Fast: How Facebook Builds Software


Jeff Meyerson - 2021
    You may not like Facebook, but you can't deny its success. And to a large degree, that success stems from the "move fast" ethos. The entire culture of Facebook is built for speed.Move Fast is an exploration of modern software strategies and tactics through the lens of Facebook. Relying on in-depth interviews with more than two dozen Facebook engineers, this book explores the product strategy, cultural principles, and technologies that made Facebook the dominant social networking company. Most importantly, Move Fast investigates how you can apply those strategies to your creative projects.It's not easy to build a software company, but once you know how to move fast, your company will be prepared to build a strategy that benefits from the world's rapid changes, rather than suffering from them.

Worthless, Impossible and Stupid: How Contrarian Entrepreneurs Create and Capture Extraordinary Value


Daniel Isenberg - 2013
    Not bound by a western, Silicon Valley stereotype, this group of courageous and energetic doers has created a global and diverse mix of companies destined to become tomorrow’s leading organizations.Worthless, Impossible, and Stupid is about how enterprising individuals from around the world see hidden value in situations where others do not, use that perception to develop products and services that people initially don’t think they want, and ultimately go on to realize extraordinary value for themselves, their customers, and society as a whole. What these business builders have in common is a contrarian mind-set that allows them to create opportunities and succeed where others see nothing. Amazingly, this process repeats itself in one form or another countless times a day all over the world.From Albuquerque to Islamabad, you will travel with Isenberg to discover unusual yet practical insights that you can use in your own business. Meet the founders of Grameenphone in Bangladesh, PACIV in Puerto Rico, Sea to Table in New York, Actavis in Iceland, Studio Moderna in Slovenia, Hartwell Metals in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, Given Imaging in Israel, WildChina in China, and many others. You’ll be moved by the stories of these plucky start-ups—many of them fueled by adversity and, more often than not, by necessity.Great stories, stunning successes, crushing failures—they’re all here. What can we, in the East and West, learn from them? What can you learn—and what will these entrepreneurial stories, so compellingly told, inspire you to do?Let this book open doors for you where you once saw only walls. If you’ve ever felt the urge to turn a glimmer of an idea into something extraordinary, these stories are for you.

How To Destroy A Tech Startup In Three Easy Steps


Lawrence Krubner - 2017
    When inexperienced entrepreneurs ask my advice about their idea for a tech startup, they often worry "What if Google decides to compete with us? They will crush us!" I respond that far more startups die of suicide than homicide. If you can avoid hurting yourself, then you are already better off than most of your competitors. Startups are a chance to build something entirely original with brilliant and ambitious people. But startups are also dangerous. Limited money means there is little room for mistakes. One bad decision can mean bankruptcy. The potential payoff attracts capital, which in turn attracts scam artists. The unscrupulous often lack the skills needed to succeed, but sometimes they are smart enough to trick investors. Even entrepreneurs who start with a strong moral compass can find that the threat of failure unmoors their ethics from their ambition. Emotions matter. We might hope that those in leadership positions possess strength and resilience, but vanity and fragile egos have sabotaged many of the businesses that I’ve worked with. Defeat is always a possibility, and not everyone finds healthy ways to deal with the stress. In this book I offer both advice and also warnings. I've seen certain self-destructive patterns play out again and again, so I wanted to document one of the most extreme cases that I've witnessed. In 2015 I worked for a startup that began with an ingenious idea: to use the software techniques known as Natural Language Processing to allow people to interact with databases by writing ordinary English sentences. This was a multi-billion dollar idea that could have transformed the way people gathered and used information. However, the venture had inexperienced leadership. They burned through their $1.3 million seed money. As their resources dwindled, their confidence transformed into doubt, which was aggravated by edicts from the Board Of Directors ordering sudden changes that effectively threw away weeks' worth of work. Every startup forces its participants into extreme positions, often regarding budget and deadlines. Often these situations are absurd to the point of parody. Therefore, there is considerable humor in this story. The collision of inexperience and desperation gives rise to moments that are simply silly. I tell this story in a day-to-day format, both to capture the early optimism, and then the later sense of panic. Here then, is a cautionary tale, a warning about tendencies that everyone joining a startup should be on guard against."

The Growth Hacking Book: Most Guarded Growth Marketing Secrets The Silicon Valley Giants Don't Want You To Know


Parul Agrawal - 2019
     #2 gives us shortcuts to help us get results in a short span of time. The book that you are holding in your hands right now is for people who want to sprint on the second path.  The Growth Hacking Book is an almanac for growth in today’s hyper-competitive business world! Curated by GrowthMedia.AI, this book features more than 35 marketing experts, trailblazing entrepreneurs, industry thought leaders and successful companies from all over the globe who share radical ideas on how you can grow your business using unconventional marketing strategies. Each chapter is a treasure trove of growth ideas that businesses in the “The Valley” try to shield from the public.  But they are not secrets anymore. This book is for you if you want to learn about:  The concept of Growth Hacking  The best growth strategies from Growth Hackers for Growth Hackers The mindset, skillset and toolset for Growth Marketers  Identifying and analyzing growth channels  The future of Growth Marketing  ...and more. The fact that you are examining to buy this book is proof that you are hungry to learn growth marketing tactics.  It proves the maxim that says — you don’t choose a book; the book chooses you. Our Contributing Authors: Amit Kumar Arun K Sharma Badr Berrada Christian Fictoor Deep Kakkad Deepak V.

Everything I know about LEAN I learned in first grade


Robert O. Martichenko - 2008
    This book connects Lean tools to the Lean journey, shows how to identify and eliminate waste, and aids the reader in seeing Lean for what it truly is: to create a learning and problem solving culture. Written to educate the entire organization on the fundamentals of Lean thinking, this is the perfect source to engage all team members at all levels of an organization.

One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs: Live Your Dreams and Create Your Own Profitable Company


Stephen Key - 2012
    Now, the next step is to take action--and that's exactly what One Simple Idea for Startups and Entrepreneurs is all about.Stephen Key, one of the world's leading experts on getting business ideas off the ground, revealed in his groundbreaking book One Simple Idea just how simple it is to make a fortune by selling or "renting" your great ideas.Now, he helps you live the entrepreneurial dream by delivering a proven, straightforward process for starting, growing, and running a business--without the need for an MBA or millions of dollars in funding. As an inventor and successful business owner, Key brings a unique and fully rounded perspective to the subject, teaching you how to:Develop, test, and protect your ideaPlan and launch your businessManufacture, package, market, sell, and distribute your productManage and grow your businessPrepare for and implement your endgameKey draws on his own experience as a billion dollar inventor to offer how-to's and other takeaways you can use to get off the ground and into the black. Case studies, tips, and advice from other successful entrepreneurs underscore key principles to make it easier than ever for you to achieve your business and life dreams.You don't need millions of dollars or a business, engineering, or manufacturing background to develop, produce, and sell your own product idea. All you need is one simple idea--and the passion to make it happen.Praise for One Simple Idea"This book is straight-forward, no-nonsense information for how to start a successful company. Read it!"--Barbara Corcoran, investor/shark on ABC's reality hit Shark Tank"The ideas in this book are key to creating the kind of enterprise that will create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the future. The goal of entrepreneurship is to reduce the risk of failure as detailed in this book."--Nolan Bushnell, inventor of Pong(R) and founder of Atari(R)Kudos!! One Simple Idea for Startups & Entrepreneurs is brilliant !! A must read for those that have the courage to dive into their dreams. This is a true Road Map for those that have the passion to achieve their Freedom. Truly something that I wish would have been there for me 33 years ago.--Russ Hornsby, toy industry veteran, 2010 Toy of the Year award winner in seven different countries, and creator of hit toys ZhuZhu Pets(R), XiaXia Pets(R), DeGeDar(R) and others"I took one of those simple ideas and turned it into a company that now has its products in over 35,000 doors of retail distribution. With One Simple Idea for Startups & Entrepreneurs, Stephen gives us the tools we need to take an idea from your Head to the Store shelf." --Todd Basche, inventor of Word Lock(R), the #1 selling word combination lock"Any inventor or entrepreneur who wants to make money without risking hundreds of thousands in design, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution would be well served to take advantage of the practical wisdom offered up in Stephen's most recent work, One Simple Idea for Startups & Entrepreneurs." --Ron Hazelton, former home improvement editor for ABC's Good Morning America and leading authority in the do-it-yourself home improvement field

If You Build It Will They Come?: Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity


Rob Adams - 2010
    In If You Build It Will They Come, business professor and strategy consultant Rob Adams shows you how to make sure you hit your target market before you spend a lot of money. He shows you the fast, systematic and proven approach of performing Market Validation in advance of making a large product investment.Adams outlines a simple and effective market validation and testing strategy that is proven, giving entrepreneurs and managers the ability to dramatically improve the prospect of product success. He explains how to quickly gather information on competitors, directly interview members of your target market, and figure out what the market really wants to buy, versus what customers say they want.The steps to quickly understanding the viability of your market Where to go to gather the information needed to hit the market requirements How to follow through with the right product launched in the right way Adams cuts through the fancy terms and expensive market research that gives lots of data but no real product oriented information about usage, pricing, features and competitive forces. In the end you'll produce results on your first release of a far more mature product, shipped in a faster timeframe with features customers will actually use. This book is for anyone involved with designing, developing and launching new products. Its examples and advice cover everything from the fledgling start-up that needs their first product to work just to survive to the successful Fortune Class company establishing new worldwide markets. Examples cut across all major industrial sectors including consumer, retail, manufacturing, technology, life sciences and services. This book offers the step-based guidance you need to make sure failure is not an option.

No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention


Reed Hastings - 2020
    It has led nothing short of a revolution in the entertainment industries, generating billions of dollars in annual revenue while capturing the imaginations of hundreds of millions of people in over 190 countries. But to reach these great heights, Netflix, which launched in 1998 as an online DVD rental service, has had to reinvent itself over and over again. This type of unprecedented flexibility would have been impossible without the counterintuitive and radical management principles that cofounder Reed Hastings established from the very beginning. Hastings rejected the conventional wisdom under which other companies operate and defied tradition to instead build a culture focused on freedom and responsibility, one that has allowed Netflix to adapt and innovate as the needs of its members and the world have simultaneously transformed.Hastings set new standards, valuing people over process, emphasizing innovation over efficiency, and giving employees context, not controls. At Netflix, there are no vacation or expense policies. At Netflix, adequate performance gets a generous severance, and hard work is irrel-evant. At Netflix, you don't try to please your boss, you give candid feedback instead. At Netflix, employees don't need approval, and the company pays top of market. When Hastings and his team first devised these unorthodox principles, the implications were unknown and untested. But in just a short period, their methods led to unparalleled speed and boldness, as Netflix quickly became one of the most loved brands in the world.Here for the first time, Hastings and Erin Meyer, bestselling author of The Culture Map and one of the world's most influential business thinkers, dive deep into the controversial ideologies at the heart of the Netflix psyche, which have generated results that are the envy of the business world. Drawing on hundreds of interviews with current and past Netflix employees from around the globe and never-before-told stories of trial and error from Hastings's own career, No Rules Rules is the fascinating and untold account of the philosophy behind one of the world's most innovative, imaginative, and successful companies.

Junk to Gold: From Salvage to the World's Largest Online Auto Auction


Willis Johnson - 2014
    Willis Johnson, the founder of Copart [CPRT], offers up a personal and inspirational account of this journey to the top including lessons he learned from love, war and building a global, multi-billion dollar business. Even at the pinnacle of success, Willis remained grounded in his family-first values. His stories will inspire and provoke the entrepreneur in everyone to start building their dream.

Pyjama Profit: The Millennial's Guide to a Sustainable Freelance Career


Varun Mayya - 2018
    The book talks about in-demand online skills and the different paths one can take to become an expert in these fields. A stable income from freelancing in college was the bedrock that had allowed the authors to explore their ambitions further and get to where they are today. In the process, they've worked with many of their own batch mates, colleagues and friends to help them set up highly successful freelance careers. The author duo decided to detail their story of what worked for them and how anyone in the country could thrive without being tied down to a full-time job. The authors feel the timing of the book is perfect because of the growing freelance economy and growing aspirations among millennials to find a job they love and not just something that pays their bills.

No Exit: Struggling to Survive a Modern Gold Rush


Gideon Lewis-Kraus - 2014
    They're burning through cash, sales have stalled, and investors are nowhere to be found. Welcome to the reality of the new tech boom. Sure, it has produced its glittering share of billion-dollar "exits." But for the vast majority of startups life is nasty, brutish, and short on glamour. NO EXIT explores the feverish world of company founders who are desperately trying to keep their dream afloat. It’s a harrowing and hilarious look at the Silicon Valley no one sees. This is an extended version of a story that appears in the May 2014 issue of WIRED magazine.

Principles of Product Management: How to Land a PM Job and Launch Your Product Career


Peter Yang - 2019
    The book has three parts: Principles: Part one covers the leadership principles that PMs use to lead their team to overcome adversity. When your product fails to gain traction, when your team falls apart, or when your manager gives you tough feedback—these are all opportunities to learn principles that will help you succeed. Product development: Part two covers how PMs at Facebook, Amazon, and other top companies build products. We'll walk through the end-to-end product development process— from understanding the customer problem to identifying the right product to build to executing with your team to bring the product to market. Getting the job: Part three covers how you can land a PM job and reach the interview stage at the right company. We'll prep you for the three most common types of PM interviews— product sense, execution, and behavioral—with detailed frameworks and examples for each. Hear directly from product leaders at Airbnb, Amazon, Google, and more on: How to overcome challenging situations from a VP of Product at Amazon. How to build a great product roadmap from product leaders at LinkedIn and Airbnb. How Google, Airbnb, and other top companies evaluate PM candidates from leaders at those companies. How PMs can grow their career from a Director at Instagram and Twitter. Table of Contents1. PrinciplesTake OwnershipPrioritize and ExecuteStart with WhyFind the TruthBe Radically TransparentBe Honest with Yourself2. Product DevelopmentProduct Development LoopUnderstanding the Customer ProblemSelecting a Goal MetricMission, Vision, and StrategyBuilding a Product RoadmapDefining Product RequirementsGreat Project ManagementEffective CommunicationMaking Good Decisions3. Getting the JobPreparing for the TransitionMaking the TransitionFinding the Right CompanyAcing your PM InterviewsProduct Sense InterviewExecution InterviewBehavioral InterviewYour First 30 Days4. Product Leader Interviews

Measure What Matters


John E. Doerr - 2017
     With a foreword by Larry Page, and contributions from Bono and Bill Gates. Measure What Matters is about using Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), a revolutionary approach to goal-setting, to make tough choices in business. In 1999, legendary venture capitalist John Doerr invested nearly $12 million in a startup that had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. Doerr introduced the founders to OKRs and with them at the foundation of their management, the startup grew from forty employees to more than 70,000 with a market cap exceeding $600 billion. The startup was Google. Since then Doerr has introduced OKRs to more than fifty companies, helping tech giants and charities exceed all expectations. In the OKR model objectives define what we seek to achieve and key results are how those top­ priority goals will be attained. OKRs focus effort, foster coordination and enhance workplace satisfaction. They surface an organization's most important work as everyone's goals from entry-level to CEO are transparent to the entire institution. In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will show you how to collect timely, relevant data to track progress - to measure what matters. It will help any organization or team aim high, move fast, and excel.

The Great CEO Within: The Tactical Guide to Company Building


Matt Mochary - 2019
    With The Great CEO Within, he shares his highly effective leadership and business-operating tools with any CEO or manager in the world. Learn how to efficiently scale your business from startup to corporation by implementing a system of accountability, effective problem-solving, and transparent feedback.Becoming a great CEO requires training. For a founding CEO, there is precious little time to complete that training, especially at the helm of a rapidly growing company. Now you have the guidance you need in one book.