The following is adapted from the chapter on product prioritization (Chapter 3: Assumptions & Hypotheses) that I wrote in Levers: The Framework for Building Repeatability Into Your Business There may be more books and blog posts on product planning than there are grains of sand on the beaches of Hawaii…

It is 2017. We have Agile. We have Lean Startup. We have a million (give or take) product management blog posts about how to properly do A/B testing and experimentation. We have incredible off the shelf testing software like Mixpanel, Optimizely, and (nameyourfavoritehere). …

We’re excited to announce that we’re deepening our commitment to the rapidly emerging startup ecosystem in Kansas City with the launch of Techstars Kansas City. Applications will open in January 2017. We will select 10 startups and the program will begin in July 2017. Lesa Mitchell will be the Managing…

Why now is actually a good time to be a music startup Yesterday we announced our latest Techstars offering for startups, Techstars Music. Music has been a notoriously challenging category for startups, but I’m beyond stoked. Here’s why: Music drives culture. For many people, musical taste defines style and is…

What should we expect from a bot ecosystem? — Thoughts on bots. Hot hot hot. Bots have thoughts on lots and lots. No dots. Just bots. Hot / not? Great Scott! If you talk like Dr Seuss to a bot, can it learn to respond in rhyme? We shall see. Yippee! The internet is abuzz this week on the…

1994. Friends and ER debut. Kurt Cobain departs. Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding. The OJ chase. Forrest Gump. Oh, and the consumer internet as we know it is born. Netscape, Yahoo!, and Amazon all appear. And a complete restructuring of power in the areas of Communications, Content, and Commerce begins. …

Lately, I’ve been obsessed with the power of voice. Not voice as in self-expression (though important!), and not voice as in voice calls or — worse! — voicemail, but rather voice as the next major UI layer for software in the living room and beyond. As voice recognition and, more…