May 2, 2023

May 2, 2023
March 28, 2023
Silicon Valley Bank's sudden downfall from a $40 billion market cap to zero is a cautionary tale for the banking industry. What led to their demise, and can this scenario be avoided in the future? As..
March 14, 2023
In the world of artificial intelligence, ChatGPT has made a significant impact. As a language model, it can process and respond to a wide range of questions in a matter of milliseconds. While its..
March 9, 2023
In a down market, it can be challenging for companies to maintain their customer base and keep revenue flowing. In our recent podcast, How Would You Beat the Market Downturn, we cover some insights..
March 8, 2023
In this post (and our podcast), we look at ESG, which refers to environmental, social and governance for companies. This has been in the news lately, because BlackRock, the largest asset manager in..
February 15, 2023
February 7, 2023
January 24, 2023
September 23, 2022
Developing a clear product positioning strategy is key to establishing and conveying a unique value proposition to your customers. Strong positioning makes it easier for your customer to see why they..
September 12, 2022
User journey is popularly defined as the process and experience that a customer goes through when using your product. Companies that are mapping user journeys using this method have taken a..
September 2, 2022
Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, and every big company in China has been investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). Across the world, significant capital is being..
September 1, 2022
For this episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we brought on board a guest speaker: David Subar, CEO of Interna, a firm that helps technology companies make better products faster. David has..
September 1, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how you can beat Steve Jobs or how you and your product team can emulate his approach to product development.
Do you decide..
August 31, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how you can beat Netflix, or how Netflix could beat its current performance. Should Netflix invest in gaming platforms? Is the..
August 2, 2022
Effective product differentiation starts with everyone on your team focusing on your customer’s unmet needs so that you can build, market, and sell a product that satisfies those unmet needs better..
July 11, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies can beat Uber. Do you build another ride-sharing app? Would autonomous cars be the way to beat Uber? Or should..
June 14, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies can beat Airbnb. For a little bit of perspective, as of late May 2022, Airbnb has a market cap of about 73 billion
June 6, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies might take share from Twitter and more specifically, how could Twitter beat itself in order to grow faster. The..
May 27, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies in the fitness industry - or even the larger health industry - can beat Peloton’s highest point of success and..
May 23, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies can improve their lead scoring tactics. The conversation opened up other relevant lines of thought, such as “why..
April 18, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies can beat their equity value multiple. We explored the connection between the value of a company’s equity and its..
February 23, 2022
In this latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we looked at how companies and teams can beat their own product ideas. We explored questions like “How can you come up with even better..
February 18, 2022
In our latest episode of the How Would You Beat podcast, we were joined by UX and product management veteran, Christian Crumlish. Christian has led organizations and been an individual contributor..
February 4, 2022
In 2014, our CEO, Jay Haynes, analyze Apple using our Jobs-to-be-Done theory to calculate how much Apple's equity value was really worth. At the time, Apple's market cap was $452 billion and, by our..
January 26, 2022
In our latest episode of How Would You Beat?, we were joined by Steven Johnson. Steven is the best-selling author of 13 books about the history of innovation, including Where Good Ideas Come From..
March 9, 2021
Jay Haynes, founder and CEO of thrv, recently sat down and spoke with Phil Terry, founder of Collaborative Gain as part of a product talk. The talk was focused on the jobs-to-be-done (JTBD) framework
March 2, 2021
Welcome to our series, "How Would You Beat?" In each article, we pick a company and talk about how you could use jobs-to-be-done innovation methods to beat that company's product. We discuss..
January 27, 2021
Welcome to our series, "How Would You Beat?" In each article, we pick a company and talk about how you could use jobs-to-be-done innovation methods to beat that company's product. We discuss..
January 25, 2021
In each of our "How Would You Beat?" articles, we pick a company and talk about how you could use jobs-to-be-done innovation methods to beat that company's product. We discuss innovation theory and..
January 18, 2021
Welcome to our series, "How Would You Beat?" In each article, we pick a company and talk about how you could use jobs-to-be-done innovation methods to beat that company's product. We'll discuss..
January 4, 2021
Today, people are asking about jobs-to-be-done because it's a trendy topic. Specifically, they're asking, "What is the job?" If you're on a product, marketing or sales team at a company,..
December 14, 2020
How do you create a good jobs-to-be-done statement? This is critical because you're using language to define what your customers want and what your market is. We know that people hire products to..
November 30, 2020
According to Jobs Theory, your customers are not buying your products, they are hiring them to get a job done. Jobs to be done are goals that your customers are trying to achieve independent of any..
November 16, 2020
Today we're going to talk about adopting a product roadmap framework. This is for teams who are trying to create product roadmaps. If you've ever tried to create one, it can be extremely difficult...
October 26, 2020
Product Management frameworks are exciting to learn and frustrating to implement. As a product manager myself and a framework teacher, I totally understand the appeal. Being a product manager is a..
September 7, 2020
By definition, most product, marketing and sales people don’t work at market leading companies. In order to build a business, we need to get people to switch from using some other product or get..
September 2, 2020
What is targeted messaging? Why is it important to your product, marketing and sales teams? How do you use jobs-to-be-done to deliver effective targeted messages?
Companies frequently make the..
August 31, 2020
How can you use Jobs-to-be-Done innovation methods to beat your competitors? In this next installment of “How Would You Beat?” we explain how to define markets using JTBD, which is the critical..
August 24, 2020
As the head of sales, you’ve likely experimented with numerous frameworks for your sales team. There’s also a good chance that you’ve grown tired of the redundant message across all of them:
August 18, 2020
Let's just say it: working with a terrible team sucks. It really sucks. Whether it’s your leadership team, your colleagues or your peers, working with a team that sucks, absolutely sucks. It’s even..
August 17, 2020
Jobs-to-be-done is more than just a theory. It also provides a framework for complete product innovation that makes your customer the focal point of your product strategy. The jobs-to-be-done..
March 13, 2020
Welcome to the next lesson in our online JTBD course. You will learn how to size a market using jobs-to-be-done innovation methods. In this video, we will explain how to avoid lethal market sizing..
March 12, 2020
Welcome to the next lesson in our online JTBD course. You will learn how to define your market using jobs-to-be-done innovation methods. In this video, we will explain what a market is, types of..
February 12, 2020
Welcome to the next lesson in our online JTBD course. You will learn how to identify the critical customer in your market. In this video, we will show you how Nest succeeded by targeting a different..
January 30, 2020
We are excited to launch our #JTBD YouTube channel today to help your product team use Jobs-to-be-Done innovation methods. Our first 15-minute video covers all the basics of JTBD and shows how you..
December 9, 2019
As recently as three months ago, WeWork was a high-flying startup headed for an IPO with a $47 billion market cap. Since then, they have suspended IPO plans indefinitely, ..
October 17, 2019
Facebook has been in the news for allowing a Donald Trump ad that makes untrue statements: essentially lies. They have been defending this by claiming (i) protection of “free speech” and (ii) that..
June 26, 2019
“Every lie we tell incurs a debt to the truth. Sooner or later that debt is paid.”
-- Valery Legasov, chief of the commission investigating the Chernobyl disaster, in HBO’sChernobyl
Here’s a..
April 9, 2019
Product positioning strategies are key to fostering a unique connection with your customers. When a product or brand is positioned well, it’s easy to point out. There’s no confusion around what the..
February 5, 2019
Issue: Disagreement on Customer Needs
Your goal as a company is to build, market and sell products that satisfy customer needs better than competitors. Although it may sound oversimplified,..
January 29, 2019
Your product strategy is everything. It will define your success or failure as a product team. So what is a product strategy? Does your product..
January 23, 2019
Issue: Miscalculating Your Real Competitors
Creating equity value in your company comes down to one thing - your ability to satisfy customer needs better than competitors in your market. This is why..
January 17, 2019
Brainstorming can feel like the wild wild west of product planning. The unpredictability of idea generation sessions can derail..
December 18, 2018
Market sizing is used to determine which markets are worth investing in. Companies use market sizing because they know that even if a..
December 11, 2018
The goal of market segmentation is to identify a group of customers (a segment) who are different from the whole population. It is a tactic for product, marketing, and sales teams to relate to..
September 20, 2018
Coming up with the right set of features for an MVP is a pressure-filled task. If your MVP doesn't succeed, convincing anyone to continue investing in your product (or company) is an uphill battle...
August 15, 2018
In Jobs Theory, there are three types of jobs-to-be-done your customer is trying to get done - functional, emotional and consumption. Knowing the difference between these three jobs is critical in..
August 9, 2018
How do you define your market? Is it by the customers you serve? The product you’re building? Or perhaps the category everyone else uses to describe your product?
When it comes to defining a market..
May 8, 2018
May 1, 2018
Digital transformation has executives salivating at the thought of being innovative, however it’s clear many of them have misunderstood what it requires to execute successfully. Last month, Harvard..
April 26, 2018
What do you do when you’ve spent the lifetime of your business focusing..
March 2, 2018
You can use Jobs-to-be-Done to learn from your customers and measure a new product idea before building anything.
The Build-Measure-Learn Feedback Loop is a core tenet of the lean startup..
February 6, 2018
Over a year after the publication of Clayton Christensen’s book about Jobs Theory, Competing Against Luck, Jobs-to-be-Done is a much more common topic at companies of all sizes and sectors. As..
July 18, 2017
If you're looking for ways to improve your Net Promoter Score, Jobs-to-be-Done can help you determine what to do to transform your detractors to promoters.
April 11, 2017
If you haven't already, take a look at the Cicret Bracelet video. In just over two years, it has over 25 million views on YouTube. It's a water-resistant bracelet that projects your smartphone's..
March 29, 2017
In 2011, IBM found that drivers in cities around the world spend an average of 20 minutes finding a parking spot. Such studies highlight the need for more efficient parking.
Entrepreneurs and..
March 21, 2017
Processes and frameworks can get a bad rap. Many companies are proud of having a light-weight or loose process, considering themselves "agile," "fluid," and "intuitive." They may even say their work..
March 13, 2017
thrv, LLC (thrv.com), the first and only jobs-to-be-done product management software, today announced that Melissa Burghardt has joined the company as a Growth Partner. For thrv's customers, Melissa..
February 28, 2017
Many people think that only entrepreneurs need to pitch investors and raise money, but the same process is happening every day in big companies. Boards, executives, and stakeholders are trying to..
January 12, 2017
The latest version Apple's MacBook Pro hit the markets in late 2016, advertised as faster and more powerful than ever. One of its main selling points--the TouchBar--is said to make the device more..
December 1, 2016
It's the heart of Q4. Product Managers across the land are getting requests for next year's road map as part of a company-wide "annual planning process."
Some of you have talked your way out of an..
November 28, 2016
Jay Haynes, thrv's CEO, gave a talk on Building High-Growth Products with Jobs-to-be-Done at Product Tank SF, the San Francisco Meetup for Mind The Product. Below is the video of the talk.
The goal..
October 27, 2016
This is Part 2 of two-part series explaining thrv's process for executing Jobs Theory. Part 1 is about customer research you can do to define the right question that will drive your product..
October 7, 2016
This is a two part series explaining thrv's process for executing Jobs Theory. Part 1: How to Ask the Right Question is about defining the job of your customer, identifying unmet needs, and..
September 15, 2016
In 2010, Google Ventures design partner Jake Knapp developed a process that would help product teams go from abstract idea to a testable prototype in five days flat, now known as the Google Ventures..
August 2, 2016
There has been so much written about Product Management recently that NomNom Insights and DataStories did a study of Product Management Content on Medium. We've been doing our best to keep up and..
July 28, 2016
Horace Dediu argues that in the mobile phone market, profit share is the key to creating shareholder value, not market share. This makes sense. You don't want to just sell more product than your..
July 19, 2016
Executive Summary:
With Pokemon Go's explosive growth, product teams around the world are asking, "What are we going to do with Augmented Reality?" Jobs-to-be-Done provides a customer-centric..
July 12, 2016
thrv works with product teams to help them satisfy their customers' needs. Critical to this effort is alignment among the teams we work with. They need to be aligned around who..
July 7, 2016
I’ve spoken to quite a few product managers whose teams and companies have recently adopted the Agile Software Development framework. When we discuss Jobs-to-be-Done and thrv, they are often..
June 28, 2016
Snapchat launched in September of 2011. Just 2 years later, Facebook attempted to acquire them for $3 billion. A year into their stratospheric growth, mainstream media assumed it was a sexting app...
June 21, 2016
This week features the third and final installment of our JTBD Product Management: An Education Market Example series. If you haven't read them already, check out Part 1, Part 2, and our Cheat Sheet...
June 14, 2016
Today, we continue our exploration of how Jobs-to-be-Done helps product managers think differently, drive innovation, and develop new products and features based on the needs of the customer. In our..
June 7, 2016
Last week we posted our Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) cheat sheet. It's a handy guide to help you understand how JTBD differs from traditional thinking, and how you can use the JTBD framework to create..
June 1, 2016
This is the introduction to a series about how Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) can change your product development mindset. Part 1 explains the first five rows of our Jobs-to-be-Done worksheet using the..
May 19, 2016
The news of Berkshire Hathway's billion dollar stake in Apple reminded me of a post I wrote in January, 2014 explaining the math behind valuing Apple at over three trillion dollars.
From Matt..
May 18, 2016
It's one of the toughest moments for any company. You've spent time and money, pushed a great team to their limits, and now you are ready to launch a product into the world. You should be proud,..
May 2, 2016
Welcome to thrv! We're excited you're here and we can't wait to tell you more about our company, our people and our software. Why are we so excited? Because we believe the discipline of Product..