Before founding the Silicon Valley Product Group to pursue his interests in helping others create successful products through his writing, speaking, advising and coaching, Marty Cagan served as an executive responsible for defining and building products for some of the most successful companies in the world, including Hewlett-Packard, Netscape Communications, and eBay.
Entrepreneurial Role Models:
- Bill Campbell
- Jeff Bezos
- Elon Musk
- Scott Cook
When business started difficulties overcame:
“The true start-up is where you’re really putting a lot more on the line and you’re putting your credit card to the max and you’re selling cars to get funding and it’s almost a classic everybody I know who’s done a real start up like that, it’s very difficult for sure”…[Listen for More]
Favourite Books:
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers book by Ben Horowitz
- Principles: Life and Work Book by Ray Dalio
Favourite Quote:
“The most important thing is to know what you can’t know”
Recommended Online Resources:
Stratechery – by Ben Thompson – On the business, strategy, and impact of technology.
Best Advice to Other Entrepreneurs:
“It’s all about your product. Nothing else matters unless you come up with a product that your customers actually want to buy and will work for your business, that’s where you need to focus and in order to make that product succeed you’ve gotta tackle your risks and know what the risks are and tackle them aggressively”…[Listen for More]
More About Marty Cagan:
Neil’s Quote at the Beginning:
“We found that specialists did not know as much as we thought. So, you think maybe there are other answers. There are not, but if you belief something will help you it probably will: it will help, not cure.” Charles Bronson
Other Quotes From the Chat with Marty Cagan:
- “You’ve got to surround yourselves with very smart people”
- “That’s where a lot of the time goes in building a company is building the right team”
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