🌱 5 new insights for product builders (#76)

The bucket theory of creativity; Stop innovating so much; Differentiating with your weaknesses; the PEARL framework for interviews; and 12 clear signals you have a good leader

Jaryd here! 👋 You’re reading 5-Bit Fridays—your weekly ~5-minute roundup of 5 actionable insights that can help you build and grow your product.

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Today’s letter is brought to you by June, the best analytics product for B2B SaaS companies. Waste no time instrumenting analytics—get instant reports with one snippet.

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Friends, good morning! Today’s roundup covers:

• The bucket theory of creativity

• Why we should stop innovating so much

• How to differentiate with your weaknesses during interviews

• How (and why) to use PEARL framework for interviews; and

• 12 clear signals you have a good leader

Right to it…

5 big ideas; 5 calls to action.

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(#1) The bucket theory of creativity

• 🫰 Why it matters: As Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while.”

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Buckets help you collect your thoughts, help with dot-connecting, drive pattern spotting, and ultimately help stir your creativity.

• 🥇 Applying it: Start by creating one bucket. For example, my buckets are newsletter ideas I have in Notion. Often just a headline. Find yours by writing down any big questions you’re wrestling with right now, or topics you want to dig deeper into. These could be single-word buckets. The simple act of defining a bucket will help you spot related information out in the wild.

Go deeper—read the full post by Alex Dobrenko

(#2) Stop innovating so damn much

“ When you think about successful startups, you can think of differentiated product and growth strategies. But how many startups won because of their unique meeting philosophy? Which industry was disrupted because a startup used Discord, not Slack?” — James Evans (CEO/founder at Command AI)

• 🫰 Why it matters: When you innovate in fewer domains, paradoxically, your company becomes more innovative.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: By copying and stealing almost everything other winning companies are doing, you ultimately create the space to become more innovative where it matters—your product, growth model, GTM strategy, values, and culture. You won’t waste time and create unnecessary risk on inconsequential decisions like software, comp policies, rituals, etc.

• 🥇 Applying it: Inventing is fun, but do it very selectively. When you find your area to bet big on, go very deep on that point of differentiation.

Go deeper—read the full post by James Evans

(#3) Use PEARL instead of STAR to shine in your PM interviews

“The more your decisions were obviously right, the lower your level. In order to highlight your seniority, you need to focus on why your decisions weren’t obvious. You need to build up all the reasons that smart people thought you should do something different… until you came along with new insights that convinced them.” — Jackie Bavaro

• 🫰 Why it matters: STAR is the widely popular framework for telling a story during a job interview, but it punches below it’s weight for more senior people.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Highlighting the problem and your unique insight at the front of your story is the perfect setup to show your seniority, compared to a lower-level “Here’s what was happening and how I reacted”. Also, ending your story with what you learned gives you a chance to be leveled higher than how you performed in your story.

• 🥇 Applying it: Use the PEARL framework—Problem, Epiphany, Action, Result, Learning. Use it instead of STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to make sure your stories highlight your seniority.

The next bit relates nicely to this.

Go deeper—read the full post Jackie Bavaro

(*) Simplicity is what makes June so effective and powerful…

“Best product analytics tool I've tried. Recommend 10/10” — Jonathan, Co-founder at crowd.dev

• 🫰 Why it matters: Most companies overpay for, and underuse, their product analytics platforms; easily spending tens of thousands a year on analytics for products that are often geared toward more technical users.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: June gives non-technical users simple (yet powerful) product analytics that requires no setup. With a single snippet install, you’re all set! In just 15 minutes, you’ll have beautiful reports to start discussing.

• 🥇 Applying it: If you’re a B2B founder or PM, just test adding the JS snippet. At no cost, you’ll see what June reveals to you about your customers.

As a HTG reader, grab 25% off your first year! Try June, and join the ranks of some of the snazziest new B2B companies.

(#4) In a job interview, this is how to acknowledge your weaknesses

“One day, a young woman named Michele Hansen spotted a job opening that piqued her interest. She wasn’t qualified—the posting was for a product manager at an investment company, and she had no experience in financial services. Instead of trying to hide her limitations, she led with them:

‘I'm probably not the candidate you've been envisioning,’ her cover letter began. ‘I don't have a decade of experience as a Product Manager nor am I a Certified Financial Planner.’ Hansen got the job”—

Adam Grant

• 🫰 Why it matters: Pure self-promotion isn’t the ticket to landing a great job. The evidence tells us another story. In one study, interviewers gave the highest ratings to applicants who were more concerned with being seen accurately than positively.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Knowing how to talk about your weaknesses, and using it to differentiate yourself, is a great way to become memorable.

• 🥇 Applying it: The next time you’re applying for a job, really think about what your biggest gaps are between what they’re looking for and your experience/skills. Then, instead of burying it and hoping they don’t see it (they will…), LEAD with it.

Go deeper—read the full Adam Grant

(#5) 12 clear signals you have a good leader

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4 bits of bonus content for the curious….🧑‍🎓

(1/4) Featured tools I’m currently using to grow 🛠️

• I use Sidebar as a leadership program to accelerate my growth as a product leader. An excellent community for founders and senior leaders. (Learn more)

• I use Circeback as my new AI notetaking meeting buddy. I’ve never seen actionable summaries so good—neither has my team. 10/10. (Learn more)

• I use Perplexity for everything. It’s my new Google search, my go-to AI tool, and my #1 research companion. A true game-changer for me. (Learn more)

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(2/4) How I can help you grow 🤝

Are you a founder looking to grow your business without breaking the bank? If so, I’ve invested in a company (Athyna) that can help you find incredible talent and build out your global team in less than 5 days. Their product, service, and worldwide talent pool are just amazing (and so affordable). Learn more here ↗

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(3/4) Other interesting things I came across 🕳️🐇

• Kamala Harris Did Something Unthinkable

• Yuval Noah Harari’s Apocalyptic Vision

• The Insane Scale of Europe’s New Mega-Tunnel

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(4/4) Latest posts from the newsletter ✨

If you’re new, not yet a subscriber, or just plain missed it…

• 8 lessons from my first startup investment: Breakdowns on negative CAC, strategies of constants, creator squads, a brilliant cold email tactic, and more

• The simplest (and best) way to know if a problem is real: The new MVP (Meme Viable Problem), and a 3-step playbook to using it

• 100 books to help you Grow: The Power of the Paperback, a Database of the Top 100, and a Personal Curation

And that’s everything for this week’s edition. If you enjoyed reading today’s letter, feel free to forward it to someone! Or if you’d like to both (1) support my work, and (2) unlock premium essays like these, consider upgrading to paid.

Otherwise, have a fantastic weekend, and I’ll see you next time. ✌️
—Jaryd

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