The Spot #6

Welcome to the SPOT. Your weekly newsletter of the top 3 strategy, product, operations, and tech articles from around the web for PMs at small software companies. Here are this week’s articles:

The Adjacent User

“The Adjacent Users are aware of a product and have possibly tried using it, but are not able to successfully become an engaged user. This is typically because the current product positioning or experience has too many barriers to adoption for them.”




So how do find these “adjacent users” and turn them into paid customers?


First you find who is successfully using your product and why they’re successful. Next you look to who is kinda like them but struggling somehow. Then you figure out a way to fix their struggles.

Step-by-Step Exercises to Define Your Product Strategy

Need to work on product strategy? Here are 11 different frameworks you can use to get yours out on paper. Try one out for yourself, or even better, try a bunch to really start thinking about all the possibilities.

Competing against trillion-dollar Goliaths

There are lots of great nuggets in this quick-to-read twitter thread.

The TL;DR: Use network effects, have great service, don’t compete directly, love what you do, use your ability to plan long-term to your advantage, and be more afraid of other startups than the big boys.