A bumper December catch-up post
Hello!
Time and tide wait for no one, and it seems like it’s been forever since I last published a post. I’ve been incredibly busy with the day job, but that is a poor excuse and I’m committing to getting back to one post a week.
I have a few ideas for long-form posts, but I’m going to take this opportunity to share a few pieces of content, and some burgeoning community work that I’ve been experimenting with (join us!)
Join the Slack Channel
I’ve recently decided to start a Slack workspace. Yes, yes, I know, another one. But, I love bringing people together and chatting about product-related issues. I’ve done in-person events, I’m doing the Zoom calls (see below), but the Slack workspace is the asynchronous way to network. Sign up here and join the growing community!
One Knight Knetworking
Inspired by some other groups I’m on, I started running a free, weekly Zoom call where we get together and have a chat. The format is simple - turn up, get put into a breakout room with a random stranger and chat for a few minutes, then do it again, then go about your weekend. It’s simple and fun!
This runs weekly at 5 pm UK time, and you can sign up for the recurring event here.
Podcast episodes everywhere
There have been a few podcast episodes since my last newsletter, with April Dunford, Maja Voje, Petra Wille, Steve Portigal and Richard Blundell. Here’s what you missed:
Nailing your Product/Market Fit Strategy by Focusing on the Mission Critical (with Maja Voje)
I spoke to Maja Voje (who is also an enthusiastic Zoom networking attendee!) about her new book “Go-To-Market Strategist” and some of the avoidable mistakes people make when trying to find Product/Market Fit. She also had a lot to say about finding an early customer profile, and why we’re leaving money on the table when pricing our products. Listen to the episode here.
Going Beyond the Dreaded Product Demo and Creating the Perfect Sales Pitch (with April Dunford)
April Dunford is one of my favourite product marketing voices and my most unexpected Strava buddy. I spoke to her a couple of years ago about “Obviously Awesome”, but she’s back with a new book, “Sales Pitch”, with which she hopes to help people craft a winning sales pitch that focuses on differentiated value. Listen to the episode here.
Making our Product Teams Stronger through Building Communities of Practice (with Petra Wille)
Another returning guest! I spoke to Petra a couple of years ago about “Strong Product People”, her amazing book that brought the PMwheel to my attention. She’s back now with a new book, “Strong Product Communities”, where she’s taken some of the learnings from researching high-performing product companies and distilled them into an actionable guidebook for bottoms-up team development. Listen to the episode here.
Helping Superhero Startup Founders Stay Away from their Kryptonite (with Richard Blundell)
I bumped into Richard online a while back when he published “The Go To Market Handbook for B2B SaaS Leaders”, a punchy, actionable book aimed at helping superhero B2B SaaS founders avoid making common mistakes that prevent growth, or cause it to stall. Richard went into detail about why founders should be the first salespeople, and why PMs shouldn’t be the first hire. Listen to the episode here.
Making Sure You Make an Impact through User Research (with Steve Portigal)
And here’s my most recent episode, with Steve Portigal, superstar user researcher and author of “Interviewing Users”, recently released as a second edition. You can get 20% off the book if you use promo code KNIGHT on the publisher’s website until 21st December. Even if you don’t do that, check the episode out as it’s a good one about all things user research.
That’s all, folks
Ok, so we’re up-to-date… phew! Over the next few weeks, I’m planning to get back to the spicy takes and learnings. In the meantime, stay safe out there.