My Daily Emails

When you’re early, the work isn’t to shout louder. It’s to make tomorrow feel INEVITABLE. You can’t sell to a market that isn’t ready. So you seed it. The other

The best innovations don’t make you adapt. They adapt to you. Most home coffee roasters are equal parts smoke and guesswork. Too hot, too long, too bitter — you take

Mass production hides mistakes. Small runs expose them. I have a client who tests new product variations in the tiniest runs imaginable — sometimes just a handful of units, with

In markets drowning in specs, solving real constraints beats listing features. Oversupply pushed most e-bike brands into brutal price wars. I’ve seen quality bike makers squeezed, not at all because

Night vision used to be WB-cartoon fantasy. Now it’s in your backpack for under a hundred bucks. As a kid, I was sure Wile E. Coyote had one of these

Sometimes the best marketing is a shortage of the product. Think about the PlayStation 5 launch. Demand dwarfed supply, and units sold out everywhere. Instead of turning buyers away, the shortage fired

Maybe the best way to sell your premium product is to offer something cheaper right next to it. Apple’s iPhone SE was never meant to blow minds. It exists to

When something promises too much for too little, skepticism kicks in before belief ever can. They say when something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That’s the

Offering too many options can add confusion and push buyers away. We’ve been fooled into thinking choice is good. More SKUs, more features, more “freedom.” But for your buyer, most

What if your ketchup sachet could disappear after use — or be eaten? London-based Notpla is making that future feel real. Their edible, compostable seaweed packaging — like the Oohohydration bubbles used in

This weekend, 17+ million U.S. travelers will squeeze through airports for Labor Day. That’s not only a record, but a product lesson. Travel days magnify customer pain Suddenly the sleek

For decades, innovation has been shaped — and often slowed — by one thing: the battery. It’s why my heated gloves are lumpy and weird. Why my Apple Watch is

Often innovations arrive before the world is ready for them. In 2009, Mattel released the Mindflex — a toy that let you move a ball through an obstacle course with your brain. It

Sometimes the biggest challenge is not the product, but the people around you Being ahead of the curve feels exciting — until you realize others can’t see what YOU see.

When your prototypes evolve faster than your sourcing chain. A recent Kickstarter campaign from Texas-based Saltgator Tech, Inc. introduced a desktop soft-gel injection molding machine for just $399. The campaign is doing very well, to

Recycled glass fibers from retired wind turbine blades can give data centers a surprise edge (and what it means to you) Data center builders know time is money. And in

How vertical placement of price tags triggers subconscious value perception — and how to test it in digital, retail and B2B environments A bottle of gin sold 35% better when

Packaging that listens can teach and sell — long after the shelf. Clinique embedded NFC chips in select editions of its Moisture Surge 100H moisturizer. Tap the jar with your phone and you

What to do when your product never gets its first surge of sales — even after “validation” “I launched my product six months ago, but it never really took off.

Why NIH research proves your crowdfunding portrait could make or break your funding dreams — and the neuroscience behind first impressions Pop quiz: should founders smile in their crowdfunding photos?

How artificial urgency hijacks our brain’s priority system — and makes us grab the wrong thing Hotels.com shows one room left at this rate. Amazon promises free delivery if you order within

How admitting small flaws makes customers trust you more — and the counterintuitive psychology behind it Last week a client panicked because a customer posted a mildly critical review. “This

How one hotel towel experiment cracked a code on persuasion — and what it means for YOUR product messaging Behavioural psychologist Robert Cialdini wanted to figure out which hotel towel

How Skullcandy and Unilever turned customer feedback analysis into instant strategic intelligence — and what you can steal from their playbook Skullcandy used to spend two days manually analyzing customer sentiment

Why telling customers they can’t have something makes them want it ten times more — and how smart brands leverage reverse psychology Remember when your parents told you not to

The tough truth about sustainable growth — and what happens when you run out of gas at mile 3 I constantly meet founders who’ve trained for a sprint but signed

What Duolingo’s AI announcement reveals about the hidden human cost of “bold” leadership decisions Duolingo’s CEO announced they were going “AI-first” and the internet blew up. Users deleted the app. Reddit

The day machine learning tried to punt a profitable strategy — and what it reveals about human insight vs. algorithmic advice I fed a client’s marketing data into an AI

A reader’s insight about value psychology reveals the secret to overcoming price resistance — and what luxury brands know that you don’t Subscriber Rana nailed something many entrepreneurs struggle with.

Why viral success fizzles faster than you think — and what kills exponential growth early on A client told me the other day they expected sales growth to be a

How 6G testing in a remote facility reveals the future of product connectivity — and what it means for every hardware maker Deep in the Swedish countryside, something revolutionary is

The hidden psychological force that keeps people trapped with inferior products — even when yours is obviously better A potential customer emailed me yesterday about their marketing struggles. Their current

Six new BK drinks reveal the smart business strategy hiding in plain sight — and what it can mean for YOUR margins This summer Burger King launched six new beverages:

How improving product safety can accidentally create riskier behavior — and what smart product makers do about it I remember when my youngest daughter got her first bike helmet. Suddenly,

How losing 95% of users at onboarding kills exponential growth before it starts — and the psychology of those first five clicks I’m consulting on onboarding design for a client

Why launching a product well is like conducting an invisible orchestra — and why most innovators have no clue what’s happening backstage “When will we launch?” The question every excited

The difference between knowledge and expertise — and why some insights only come at 2 AM I’ve read more marketing books than I can count. Written one myself. Absorbed frameworks,

What Sherlock Holmes taught me about finding clues that reveal what customers really want My 11-year-old brought home the complete Sherlock Holmes collection. She’s been devouring novels almost since she

Why fear-based micro-management destroys more product launches than bad strategy It arrived at 5:47 AM on a Tuesday. A 12-paragraph email from a client’s team member, dissecting every social media

How one jewelry company turned a nervous purchase into an unforgettable brand moment I was terrified to spend big bucks on earrings I had never even seen. It was my

Why launching products feels like playing a rigged video game — and how to win anyway Life isn’t fair. But that’s nothing compared to launching a product in the digital

A Sunday salute to the dreamers, makers, and stubborn optimists who refuse to accept “good enough” This morning I’m thinking about the relentless optimism of product makers. You know the

The simple triage system that keeps product launches moving when chaos feels like the new normal Tuesday morning: Payment processor glitch affecting 15% of checkouts. Tuesday afternoon: Customer discovers product

How smart packaging design creates unboxing experiences that sell more products Nestlé has partnered with IBM to develop AI that designs better packaging materials. Not stuff like flashier graphics or

Why I avoid deleting nasty comments and celebrate the free engagement — BUT where I draw the line Last week, a troll showed up on a client’s YouTube video with

The cognitive bias that’s costing you sales — and how to break through it I’ve only walked out of a movie theater before the ending once in my entire life.

Why finding your price point feels like threading a needle blindfolded — and the surprising research that makes it easier Every product maker faces the same pricing paradox. Price too

How to find real customer pain points using tools you already have Last month, a client asked me to help identify why their competitors were gaining market share DESPITE having

How one simple button rewired human behavior and created trillion-dollar industries Sometimes the hugest breakthroughs start as the tiniest solutions. My friend Melina Palmer recently interviewed Bob Goodson, coauthor of LIKE:

The retail psychology trick that’s hijacking your customers’ brains (and how to use it ethically) I went to IKEA once for a simple lamp. Ninety minutes later, I emerged with