Hardware Must Offer Frictionless, Low‑Cost Try‑Before‑Buy
How do you make it easy for people to "try before you buy" if you're a hardware companies with expensive stuff? Recently I was at a conference with a lot of hardware companies and many struggled to identify what they could give away for free because of the prohibitive "cost of proof" required to showcase their value to customers so they could "try before they buy" easily. One of the most common hacks you can do is to give away free versions of your product where people can easily try before you buy For cologne this is often at airports But here's a perfect example of a company that's so darn close but misses the mark... I'm referring to Peloton They've done a great job getting into all major hotel chains but then force everyone through a painful signup option. And if you don't want to sign up you get the most boring bike experience known to man... A good old dark screen with basic stats. The perfect reminder to use a real bike outside. The takeaway? If you're a hardware company and want to give your customers a great try before you buy experience, do these two things: 1. Get your product into the locations where people would naturally love to discover your product 2. Make it easy for them to experience the full value of your product Peloton should just let people use their workouts and classes without signing up. They'd get way more customers because people actually experienced their core value not the boring screen. If you found this helpful, tag a hardware founder you know that wants to grow faster 🙌
AI Era Demands Instant Value, Not Hand‑Held Onboarding
If your onboarding needs a walkthrough, a 14-email drip, and a CSM to deliver value, your product lost before it started. Here’s the simple truth: in the AI era, users won’t tolerate hand-holding. They don’t want training wheels. They want...
AI Halves Time-to-Value, Redefines Market Competition
Founders think they’re competing against other products. Most are actually competing against a shrinking clock. Every market has an expected Time to Value. And that expectation keeps compressing. I call this The Halving Principle™. The Halving Principle™ is the observation...
Paying Customers Define Product Experience and Success
Who is actually giving you money? Sounds obvious. But a lot of companies F* this up. I asked Travis Cannell this on the podcast. He runs Vast.ai , a two-sided marketplace for GPU compute. They serve both hosts supplying GPUs,...
Build the Future First, Enable Rapid User Value
Christian (Chris) Bach (CEO @ Netlify )'s framework for becoming the obvious choice in your category: Start with a strong worldview about where the market is going. Then reverse engineer what needs to exist for that future to happen. Then...
From SaaS to RaaS: Pricing Shifts Toward Outcomes
Most companies still sell software. The future pays for outcomes. SaaS pricing is shifting through three phases. And if you’re not explicit about which phase you compete in, someone else will decide for you. Phase 1: SaaS You sell a...
Prioritize One‑Sentence Chat for Immediate User Value
A friend at 1Password pointed out Loblaws letting customers order groceries through ChatGPT. No app. No search. Just ask and get what you need. That’s a massive UX shift. If your product can be used by talking to it, someone...
Obsession with Context Beats Product Fixation for PLG Success
Christian (Chris) Bach (co-founder of Netlify , $2B+ valuation) joined me on the podcast and broke down something I wish more founders did early: To become the obvious choice in your space, stop obsessing over your solution. Instead, start obsessing...
A Small Step Boosts User Ownership and Adoption
The Betty Crocker effect: sometimes making your product do everything is the fastest way to make users feel like spectators. Quick story. When Betty Crocker first released instant cake mix, all you had to do was add water. It flopped....
Credit‑Card Trials Double Revenue Efficiency vs Freemium
If 1,000 people land on your website… How much revenue do you actually generate? Kyle Poyar , ChartMogul and ProductLed analyzed 200 SaaS & AI companies for our 2026 Funnel Report. Here’s what happens with 1,000 visitors: Freemium 1,000 visitors...
Speed Is the New Moat for Solo AI Founders
Calendly has hundreds of employees. Meet.bot has one. Who moves faster? Vincent Jong told me something most founders underestimate: Speed can be your moat in the AI era. Incumbents are stuck protecting: – existing customers – existing revenue – existing...
Founders Should Trust Their Gut Over Data
“Trust your gut.” That was Jason Fried answer when I asked him what advice he’d give every B2B SaaS founder. And it hit because it’s uncomfortable. We’ve built a whole business culture around justification: – data-supported decisions – evidence-based roadmaps...
60‑Second Value: The AI Growth Imperative
I’m running a 5-day intensive starting Monday for AI and SaaS founders. It’s called WARP Week. The premise: the fastest-growing companies in the AI era are getting users to value in 60 seconds or less. The ones that figured this...
AI-Native Tools Are Eroding Software Friction, Seize the Window
I was building a quiz last month using a tool I’ve used for years. Halfway through, I had a thought I’d never had before: This is way too much work. The tool hadn’t gotten worse. My expectations had changed. So...
From Days to Minutes: AI Accelerates Product Delivery
“60 seconds to value? That’s impossible for my product.” I hear this every time I talk about WARP. Here’s what I tell them: Cursor writes complex code in seconds. Midjourney creates complex art in seconds. Lovable builds entire applications in...