Anna Lazitskaya

Finding product-market fit takes more time than you'd expect (12-18+ months usually), but time-to-PMF isn't the right measuring stick or way to think about it. The path to product-market fit is about a sequence of things that you have to learn and get right. Each thing is a bottleneck for the next. Here is an example list of sequential things you have to get right: 1. Who has demand? Who is exerting force against their status quo? 2. What exactly is the *shape* of their demand? (What's the project on their to-do list they're applying force against, with bad options) 3. How do you get people with demand to talk to you? 4. Given the shape of their demand, how do you position your product offering so they 'get it' and theoretically want it? 5. When they 'get it' and consider your product, how do you shape pricing/packaging so they actually want to exert force to buy it? 6. When they want to exert force to buy it, what is the process they need to go through in order to purchase it, and how do you support them? 7. When they DO buy it, how do you figure out the moment they would be weird to churn? What is the product / onboarding / implementation experience that is needed to support that? 8. Once you've figured out all the above, how do you put volume through your system and Of course, it's not just eight things, there are a bunch of others, this is just illustrative. And this isn't precisely sequential, because you often have a few false starts where you think you've found demand but you haven't. But you definitely can't skip steps and, for example, pretend that you can build a product and figure out demand later. (We all learn this one the hard way.) Now, the point: There are no points for effort, no gold stars for the amount of time you spend figuring out each of these things. You either figure out the thing or you don't. Figuring out each thing may take in 1 day or 1 year - it's about learning more than it is about *time/effort invested*. Which is why it's not a good idea to think about this as "time to PMF" - it's about the speed of figuring out this sequence of things. This is hard to do in general, but it is even harder if you are not approaching each bottleneck as the existential thing you must figure out ASAP, by any means necessary.

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Let’s talk about inclusive design. No, it’s not just about compliance or checklists. It’s about making sure your product actually works for the people you want to serve. And here's the best part: You don’t need to redesign your entire product to make it more inclusive. Small choices go a long way. Here are 5 simple design decisions that instantly make a difference: 1. Use high-contrast colors If your text is light grey on a white background... Some users simply won’t see it. Use strong contrast (think dark text on a light background) so your content is readable for everyone—including people with low vision or color blindness. 2. Label your buttons clearly Don’t use vague labels like “Click Here” or “Submit.” Use actionable, descriptive text like: 👉 “Book a Demo” 👉 “Download Report” 👉 “Create Account” It helps all users navigate, especially those using screen readers. 3. Make sure your product works without a mouse Try using just your keyboard to move through your app or website. Can you access every button, form, and link? If not, it's a barrier for users with motor disabilities (and even power users). Keyboard access = essential. 4. Add alt text to every image Images without alt text are invisible to screen reader users. Describe what matters in the image so everyone gets the same experience—especially for infographics or CTA banners. 5. Use clear, helpful form labels Don’t make people guess. Instead of “Name,” say “Full Name (as per ID)” if that’s what you need. Clarity reduces confusion and improves accessibility for assistive tech. These changes are small. But the impact? Huge. At The Gold Technologies, this is what we help founders and teams build into their products—from day one. Because accessible design isn’t just better for users. It’s better for business. If you’re building something and want a quick accessibility lens on it—we’re happy to help. We’ve opened up a few free consultation slots each month. Let’s make your product more inclusive, together.

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The next chapter of product storytelling is being written by AI A few years ago, product storytelling was simple: A photo, a short description, maybe a video if the brand was ahead of the curve. Today it looks very different. AI can already generate thousands of product descriptions in multiple languages, create lifestyle images that never required a photoshoot, and even adjust tone and style depending on the retailer or audience. That means the way brands tell their story is no longer static. It’s becoming dynamic, adaptive, and infinitely scalable. This shift is not only about efficiency. It’s about personalization at scale. Imagine a product being described one way to a parent shopping in New York, another way to a teenager in Tokyo, and shown in completely different contexts, without a single photoshoot or manual rewrite. AI is already reshaping product storytelling. The question is whether brands will embrace it as a creative partner, or risk becoming invisible in a world where product stories constantly adapt to the audience consuming them. We are only at the beginning, and it will be interesting to see which brands choose to explore it first.

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What happens when you make a book freemium? I know because that's exactly what I did with Product-Led Onboarding. Four years ago, Wes Bush and I made a bold decision: give away Product-Led Onboarding for free. Publishers thought we were crazy. But here's what actually happened: → 40,000+ copies downloaded → Became the go-to resource for product onboarding → Led to speaking gigs, consulting clients, and my second book → Built trust with product leaders before they ever talked to me He knew it'd work because Wes also gave away his first book "Product-Led Growth" for free. Today, Wes is doing it again with the Product-Led Playbook. He turned down major publishers and invested $150,000 of his own money to give this book away. Why? Because when you give away your best thinking, something counterintuitive happens: people want to work with you more, not less. The Product-Led Playbook is literally the system ProductLed uses with clients paying $10K-$30K per month. It's the framework behind $1B+ in self-serve revenue. And Wes is just... giving it away. This is what I love about product-led thinking. It's not just about how you build products. It's about how you share knowledge, build trust, and create value before asking for anything in return. If you're building a SaaS business or thinking about product-led growth, grab this book. It'll save you years of expensive mistakes. Read it for free online here: https://lnkd.in/gQi8_emT

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Matt LeMay spent 13 years as a music critic at Pitchfork before becoming one of product management’s most influential voices. He’s consulted with companies from startups to Fortune 500s and authored two essential PM books, including "Product Management in Practice" and more recently, "Impact-First Product Teams." After watching countless product teams get laid off despite “doing everything right,” he discovered a harsh truth: too many PMs are doing "work around the work" and have lost sight of how their work connects to real business outcomes. In our conversation, we discuss: 🔸 The one question that predicts if your team will survive the next layoffs 🔸 Why following product “best practices” perfectly can actually accelerate your path to unemployment 🔸 The “low-impact PM death spiral”—how teams accidentally make themselves irrelevant 🔸 How to push back on executives without saying “no” 🔸 The counterintuitive reason why the happiest PMs are also the most commercially minded 🔸 The Liz Phair review that made Matt an internet villain for 22 years—and what it taught him about product management Listen now 👇 • YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gTspnigi • Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gM-8sfpV • Apple: https://lnkd.in/gJRqCSTe Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting the podcast: 🏆 Enterpret — Transform customer feedback into product growth: https://lnkd.in/gjz_mCJt 🏆 Pragmatic Institute — Industry‑recognized product, marketing, and AI training & certifications: https://lnkd.in/gFJDEKVW 🏆 Anthropic — The AI for problem solvers and enterprise: http://claude.ai/

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🚨 Product Management in Europe is broken. Too much process. Too little business impact. Too often, Product Managers are treated like project managers instead of growth leaders. At the Highberg MediaMinds Strategy Forum 2025 I’ll go on stage with a clear message: 👉 It’s time to move Product from the backlog to the boardroom. My keynote: “From Broken to Breakthrough: Rebooting Product Management in Media” I’ll share: ➡️ Why most product teams underdeliver today ➡️ How the US does it differently (and better) ➡️ What it really takes to rebuild Product as a growth engine in media If we want product to matter, we need to stop hiding in the sprint planning room and start speaking in business terms. The future of Product in Europe depends on it. #ProductManagement #Leadership #Media #DigitalTransformation #HighbergStrategieforum Bauer Media Group Highberg

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We’ve spent decades perfecting the UX of clicks. Now, we’re designing for conversations. Retail in particular has come a long way. Over 25 years of A/B testing has taught us everything, from where to place an “Add to Cart” button to how homepage banners can nudge someone to explore more products. AI enters the picture, and suddenly, it’s not just about clicks, scrolls, and filters. 𝐈𝐭’𝐬 𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐬𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐟𝐥𝐮𝐢𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭. But there’s a catch: Just adding conversational AI into the mix doesn’t mean it will be effective for your brand. 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐭 — 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲. This means thinking about where your customer is in their journey. Are they ready to buy, or are they still in the research phase? Are they shopping from their smartphone or a desktop computer? (We’ve actually found in Bloomreach’s Clarity data that 75% of interactions with our proprietary AI shopping assistant begin on mobile.) This shift to AI will be a complete reset of UX, as we start a new kind of optimization that’s not just focused on conversions but built for forming human connections.

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