Welcome to A Smart Bear: Longform

Long-form articles, meant to be savored and referenced on any device or in print.

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  The Elephant in the room: The myth of exponential hypergrowth

  Even Facebook and Slack did not grow "exponentially," as frequently described. Here is the correct model that you can use to understand and affect growth. —March 2022 | 5,500 words.
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  Extreme brainstorming questions to trigger new, better ideas

  We know, "no idea is a bad idea," but brainstorming is often unsuccessful. These prompts actually work. They could even lead to a unique business model. —March 2022 | 3,800 words.
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  Excuse me, is there a problem?

  Many startups fail despite identifying a real problem and building a product that solves that problem. This explains why, so you can avoid their fate. —April 2023 | 6,700 words.
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  Finding Fulfillment

  What creates a fulfilling existence? Exploration leads to a framework I’ve used for years for myself and the people around me. I hope it helps you too. —December 2022 | 3,500 words.
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  Navigating the unpredictability of everything

  We dramatically, repeatedly fail to predict the future. Does that mean "strategy" is senseless? No, it means you need these techniques to navigate a volatile world. —March 2023 | 4,800 words.
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  Rocks, Pebbles, Sand: How to implement in practice

  This complete work-prioritization framework builds on the simplistic "Rocks, Pebbles, Sand" analogy, adding the details you need in the real world. —July 2022 | 4,100 words.
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  Fermi ROI: Fixing the ROI rubric

  Traditional rubrics fail to reveal the best answers, or how explain those answers to others. After explaining why, the following system solves both failures. —June 2022 | 4,900 words.
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  Binstack: Making a maximal multi-dimensional decision

  Binstack is a technique for selecting the "single most impactful" solution when there are multiple, incomparable dimensions to evaluate. —July 2022 | 3,500 words.
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  The Iterative-Hypothesis customer development method

  A simple but effective system, used to vet what is now a Unicorn, for generating insights about how your potential customers think, what they need, and what they'll buy. —September 2022 | 3,400 words.
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  Failure to face the truth

  This admonition recurs in myriad books, frameworks, and topics, across decades of time. When something is so consistent, it must be wisdom. —April 2022 | 1,900 words.
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  How repositioning a product allows you to 8x its price

  You can charge much more than you think, if you reposition your value-proposition. Here’s how. —June 2018 | 700 words.
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  When you want to quit because it’s just not worth it

  Are you crying in the shower because you can't handle it anymore? Beyond Impostor Syndrome: Complete melt-down? Well, at least you're in good company. —February 2011 | 1,700 words.
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  The Impossible Product Manager, a.k.a. the "Great" Product Manager

  According to the Internet, being a Product Manager is impossible. Can you ever measure up? No. But don't worry, there's a better answer. —April 2022 | 2,200 words.
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  JIT selection from independent streams: An alternative to the “big backlog” of work

  The vaunted "single-threaded, ordered list” confuses "prioritization" with "work-planning," and forces comparisons of the un-comparable. Here's the solution. —August 2022 | 2,400 words.
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  Moats: Durable competitive advantage

  Industries commoditize over time, delivering similar products at similar prices resulting in low profit. Moats are the antedote; your strategy must create some. —May 2022 | 1,800 words.
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  Pricing determines your business model

  Pricing is inextricably linked to brand, product, and purchasing decisions. It cannot be "figured out later," because determines your business model today. —November 2014 | 1,200 words.
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  When should a decision be fast, or slow?

  Decisions should usually be made quickly, to accelerate action and learning. But sometimes it really is smarter to take your time. Here's how to decide. —September 2018 | 1,300 words.
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  The "Talk vs Walk" framework

  We invented this strategic exercise at WP Engine -- engaging both Marketing and Product, generating actions for both sides that make products more desirable and competitive. —June 2022 | 3,200 words.
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  Jason Cohen: About the author

  I built a few companies, two of which are now unicorns, both bootstrapped and VC-funded, bought and sold a few, invested in dozens, and wrote about everything I know.
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  Using the Needs Stack for competitive strategy

  This simple method positions your product to be more valuable, especially against competitors who aim to disrupt you, or you them. —June 2023 | 3,800 words.
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  When customers are “willing” to pay

  This fresh take on "Willingness-to-Pay" analyzes three types of customer motivation, leading to superior strategies for growth that also better the world. —May 2023 | 3,800 words.
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  Productive meeting activities: Leverage the team, empower the individual

  Meetings are most productive when we create something that none of us could have created alone. Here are several ways to use meeting time wisely. —May 2022 | 1,200 words.
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  Who's lying?

  A lesson all pilots know: How you must use multiple dials, employing different sources of energy, to report identical data, because some of it is always lying. —February 2022 | 800 words.
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  Distributed Logical Time

  A simple, decentralized, scalable, constant-memory mechanism for independent replicas to record events in time, preserving the "happened-before" relation in almost all cases. —February 2019 | 3,000 words.
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  Satisficing vs Maximizing

  Fast, or Best? Choose your decision-making goal wisely, especially if you're naturally a perfectionist. —May 2017 | 400 words.
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  Building in public forces true competitive advantage

  "Building in public" is popular: How fun when strangers cheer you on! But isn’t competitive advantage ruined when competitors know your growth rate and steal your source code? —December 2016 | 700 words.
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  In its emptiness, there is the function of a startup

  Everything about a startup changes over time. The few things that don't, are its essence. The voyage is meaningless, unless you decide what those things are. —August 2014 | 1,000 words.
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  The only way to guarantee startup success

  What is it like to reach the pinnacle of success? Is that where you attain happiness and fulfillment? Or are they found right here, right now. —July 2014 | 1,000 words.
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  More money if you do, more money if you don’t

  A business always takes more money than you expect, even when you take this fact into account. Here's why. —January 2014 | 500 words.
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  You can have two Big Things, but not three

  No you can't "have it all." You can have two things, but not three. —January 2014 | 500 words.
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  Startup identity & the sadness of a successful exit

  Most founders experience a profound and prolonged sadness after selling their company. But "not selling" might be worse. Maybe my story will help you. —February 2013 | 1,800 words.
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  What a startup does to you. Or: A celebration of new life

  A startup is a crucible -- a fiery place that tests your limits, not by probing them but by violently exceeding them, all of the time. It's worth it. —July 2012 | 1,000 words.
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  When being “first” is not a competitive advantage

  Is it good to be "first?" It seems so -- what's the point of being a copycat? While "first" sounds impressive, in reality it doesn't predict who will win. —December 2011 | 1,000 words.
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  Why I feel like a fraud (Impostor Syndrome)

  Most high-performing people experience Impostor Syndrome. Me too. When you understand the cause, you can defeat it. —January 2010 | 1,700 words.
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  Rich vs. King in the Real World: Why I sold my company

  Reflecting on selling Smart Bear in 2007, offering insights for entrepreneurs facing similar decisions. —October 2009 | 1,500 words.