🌱 5 new insights for product builders (#78)

Non-obvious behaviors that will kill your startup; Two types of games; A guide to lifelong learning; Common Ground vs a Common Goal; and The Emerging Startup Playbook

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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Friends, good morning! ☕

I’m sure some of you have seen Tesla’s unveiling of their new Robotaxi, Cybercab, Robovan, and household Robot. This was all announced at their event, “We, Robot”…a very original name for a very original design concept. I wonder what inspired crazy Elon for this project?

I truly think this man gets high watching sci-fi moves and then just Slacks his team requirements. Tesla’s stock is down FYI… TSLA 0.00%↑

Anyway, today’s roundup covers:

• A Guide to Lifelong Learning—With AI

• Non-obvious behaviors that will kill your startup

• Finding Common Ground Versus a Common Goal

• On games again…the two types of them

• The emerging startup playbook

Let’s get to it.

5 big ideas; 5 calls to action

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(#1) A Guide to Lifelong Learning—With AI

“LLMs are reading companions. The author is dead…but I can always continue the conversation with Claude and have it explain what’s going on.”
— Dwarkesh Patel

• 🫰 Why it matters: I think learning is the biggest superpower there is, and LLMs give us a way to give this superpower superpowers. It unlocks a new way to learn for us, becoming a partner that makes it easier to grasp harder concepts faster and connect the dots across domains. I’ve said it before, I don’t use Google anymore. I’m all about Perplexity because it makes pulling threads and chasing rabbit holes a natural user flow.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: AI is making learning easier—and most importantly—deeper. With LLMs, we don’t have to stay stuck in the weeds when reading something dense. We can use them to break down complicated ideas quickly, and then build on that to boost our knowledge in ways we didn’t think possible. Take Google’s new NotebookLM…throw a bunch of unstructured content in there and it becomes an on-demand teacher for you.

• 🥇 Applying it: Next time you're learning something new, throw that info into any of the models and ask it questions you’d normally need a subject expert for. Follow the suggested follow-up questions and see how much deeper you go.

Go deeper—A Guide To Lifelong Learning - With AI

(#2) Non-obvious behaviors that will kill your startup

“Judge people on what they ship, how often they ship, and the impact of their work, not on whether they “stuck to the plan.” People who feel like they must stick to the plan won’t bias for impact.” —

Andy Vandervell

• 🫰 Why it matters: Sticking rigidly to plans when trying to move fast can mean missing the opportunity to pivot toward what truly matters—user impact. Likewise, delaying shipping something for the proverbial "Just one more week" quickly becomes a cultural thing, compounds, and becomes a big momentum-killer over time.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Plans are important, but they shouldn’t be your guiding principle—customer and business impact is. When something more valuable for your users comes up, be flexible and adjust quickly. And when you’re tempted to delay launching for perfection, ask yourself: What’s more valuable, feedback from real users and fixing something important to them now, or an extra week of polish?

• 🥇 Applying it: Focus on shipping fast and regularly. Don’t wait for perfection—use feature flags and launch in smaller, quicker increments. Get user feedback early and iterate based on real-world results, not internal expectations. And always track impact. As the PostHog team has come to learn: Judge your team's work by the value it brings to users, not by how well they stuck to the initial plan.

Go deeper—Non-obvious behaviors that will kill your startup

(#3) Finding Common Ground Versus a Common Goal

“As sound as this advice is, common ground plays second fiddle to a closely related cousin. Even more powerful for establishing relationships is finding or creating a common goal. When objectives or goals are mutually shared, the parties engage differently. They immediately understand how they might work together toward shared success” —

Admired Leadership

• 🫰 Why it matters: Sure, finding common ground is great for breaking the ice and starting some relationship, but common goals are where the real magic happens. When two people are both driving toward the same thing, it’s no longer just about chit-chatting; it’s about making things happen. It’s a shift from surface-level similarities to shared ambitions, and that’s what builds really strong and productive relationships.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Finding a common goal instantly changes the dynamic. Instead of hoping to find random connections, you’re aligning on something bigger. It makes conversations more meaningful and focused. Plus, once you’ve got that shared goal, other commonalities tend to naturally fall into place.

• 🥇 Applying it: Next time you’re building a new relationship—whether it’s with a colleague, partner, or mentor—skip the small talk and dive straight into discussing goals. What do you both want to get done? Ask them what they’re excited about or aiming for. Once you’ve found that common goal, everything else (like shared interests or background) will flow a lot more naturally, and you'll build a more meaningful connection from the start.

Go deeper—Finding Common Ground Versus a Common Goal

(#4) On games again…and three types of them

There are basically two games you can play with your career. Many people choose the wrong one, and end up losing at both.

• Game One is optimizing for company outcome. Focus all of your energy on finding the highest leverage problems in your company and fixing them.

• Game Two is optimizing for personal outcome. Seek external signals like title, scope, and team size. Make sure you’re on the right team and working on the right things.

—

Dan Hockenmaier

• 🫰 Why it matters: There are two games you can play in your career—focusing on making the company better (Game One) or focusing on boosting your own image (Game Two). Too many people chase the wrong game, and it backfires. If you spend all your time trying to look good for promotions and titles, you miss the bigger opportunities that come from actually solving important problems. Play the right game and watch the doors open.

• 🔑 Bottom Line: Playing Game One is, at least most of the time unless you’re at a Google or Meta, the smart move because when the company wins, you win. And there’s no better financial outcome or resume line item than being part of a company that was very successful.

• 🥇 Applying it: Stop worrying about job titles and start focusing on where you can make the biggest impact at your company. If you’re thinking about launching your own thing, start practicing the Game One mindset now. The skills you’ll develop will make running your own company smoother.

Go deeper—Playing Game One

(#5) The emerging startup playbook

“People used to tell founders that they should be embarrassed by their initial product; otherwise, they’ve shipped too late. That was fantastic advice when the predominant alternative was pen-and-paper or Excel. Now the alternative is mostly other modern software products.” —

Kyle Poyar

I love how Kyle puts it…build a minimum remarkable product.

Go deeper—The emerging startup playbook

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

(1/3) 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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(2/3) 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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(3/3) Other interesting things I came across 🕳️🐇

• Burn the Playbooks

• Actionable metrics for mobile apps

• What Your Biggest Weakness Really Is

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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