This now famous book came out in 2011 just when I started my product management career. In fact, I was not doing product management for an already established product, but more trying to develop an idea for a new product at an existing company.

While the build-measure-learn cycle directly resonated with me and fitted perfectly to agile methods (especially Scrum) that I wanted to apply, there two are other concepts that have both inspired and helped me a lot:

  1. The pivot
  2. The three engines of growth

Eric’s explanations on pivoting helped me a lot to let go of the original product ideas for the sake of a better one and to embrace change in direction.

For new products and services, in order to survive, it is of utmost importance to gain traction with users and customers. Eric’s explanations on engines of growth (paid, viral, sticky) helped me to prioritize certain product features to support product-led growth and escape the costly trap of fully relying on paid B2B salesforce.