Make a Promise.
Keep It.

Seth Godin

Author of 21 books incl. Purple Cow, This is Strategy
10,000 daily blog posts · Founder, altMBA

STRATEGY

Good Taste

Taste = Knowing What Others Want Just Before They Do

"I define good taste as knowing what other people want just before they do. If you're the only person who wants peanut butter covered licorice, you don't have good taste, everyone else thinks that's weird."

Quality ≠ luxury. Quality = meeting spec. If you meet spec, you're done.
High standards = relentlessly improve the spec in service of users, not perfectionism for yourself
Refusing to ship because it's not perfect for you = hiding, not craftsmanship
The spec to optimize: would the person we're making this for be delighted?

The 4 Strategic Choices

Choose These 4 Things First, Everything Else Follows

1. Choose your customers
Your smallest viable audience determines the language, price, features, and future of everything you build. Don't say "anyone." Pick someone specific.

2. Choose your competition
If you compete against Walmart, don't be surprised when they drop prices. Choosing your competitive set defines the rules of your game.

3. Choose your validation
Are you trying to please your boss, or the 400 customers you chose? Agree on who you're optimizing for, every meeting gets easier after that.

4. Choose your distribution
In software, distribution shapes the product. When Steam appeared, everything about PC gaming changed. Your distribution is not a given, it's a choice.

"For a product person, these are the critical choices and you probably have glossed over them. You have sacrificed your agency over the four most important things you should be choosing."

Brand & Tension

A Brand Is a Promise, Tension Is What Makes It Stick

Brand vs. logo Nike has a brand. Hyatt has a logo. If Nike opened a hotel, you'd know what it'd be like. If Hyatt made sneakers, no idea. A brand is a promise you'd pay extra to keep.

"AI very soon is going to stop being a feature the same way electricity is not a feature. AI companies need to ask: what promise do I want to make? A difficult promise. And how do I keep it?"

On tension (not stress) Tension = it might not work. Tension is what makes you lean forward. Every great product launch creates tension: did they tell the truth? Will it work for me? PF Flyers: will these sneakers help me run from the bully?

Seth on Claude "I have a very emotional connection to Claude.ai. ChatGPT regularly over-promises and under-delivers, without kindness or humility. Claude brings kindness and humility. When it doesn't know, it says so. That's a brand."

Purple Cow

Remarkable = Worth Making a Remark About

Remarkable means people are more likely to tell others if they tell others, it raises their status
Google homepage (2 buttons vs Yahoo's 183 links) was remarkable, you could recommend it to a confused friend
Tesla Model S door handles: weird enough that strangers in the parking lot asked about them. That's customer traction.
Better waves make better surfers, choose your market like a surfer chooses a wave
The secret: build something where the user's life gets better when they talk about you

10,000 blog posts Shift from "I have to write something" to "I get to write something." Build a queue. Take the pressure off. Remarkability lives in the space pressure creates.

Contrarian

Strategy & Marketing Myths Seth Would Argue With

✗ Build for everyone to maximize market size INSTEAD → ✓ Pick your smallest viable audience first. When you say your product is for anyone, it's actually for no one. The Humane Pin failed because they picked the wrong customer.

✗ Create buzz with a controversial rebrand INSTEAD → ✓ Buzz doesn't sell products. Jaguar didn't rebrand, they re-logo'd. Oreo's Super Bowl tweet got buzz. No evidence they sold one extra cookie. Customer traction beats PR stunts every time.

✗ High standards = perfectionism, never ship INSTEAD → ✓ High standards = improving the spec for your user, then shipping when it meets it. Refusing to ship is hiding. The professional ships and ships again, improving each time.

✗ AI is a feature that differentiates your product INSTEAD → ✓ AI will stop being a feature like electricity stopped being one. What differentiates you is the promise you make and keep. Build the brand, not the buzzword.