The hidden pattern behind successful products | Mark Pincus (FarmVille, Words with Friends, & more)
Lenny's Podcast episode in which Lenny Rachitsky talks with Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, about his book Life at the Speed of Play and his Proven, Better, New framework for product ideas. Mark says to take the proven off the table by copying what already works, make it better in small increments that every existing user would say yes to, and only then add something new. He says his rule of thumb is that instincts are right most of the time while ideas on top of them are usually wrong, so you should test many ideas around your instinct and fail for the right reason. The description notes he also discusses raising kids and the episode closes on parenting. Sponsors named: WorkOS and Vanta. PARTIAL COVERAGE: the captions cover the conversation, but this summary highlights the framework and idea testing only, so the later segment on parenting is not summarized. All views and figures are the speakers' own and are not independently verified. Nothing here is financial, legal or investment advice.
Executive Summary (TL;DR)
Lenny's Podcast episode in which Lenny Rachitsky talks with Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga, about his book Life at the Speed of Play and his Proven, Better, New framework for product ideas. Mark says to take the proven off the table by copying what already works, make it better in small increments that every existing user would say yes to, and only then add something new. He says his rule of thumb is that instincts are right most of the time while ideas on top of them are usually wrong, so you should test many ideas around your instinct and fail for the right reason. The description notes he also discusses raising kids and the episode closes on parenting. Sponsors named: WorkOS and Vanta. PARTIAL COVERAGE: the captions cover the conversation, but this summary highlights the framework and idea testing only, so the later segment on parenting is not summarized. All views and figures are the speakers' own and are not independently verified. Nothing here is financial, legal or investment advice.