product-strategist

Great product strategy isn't about having all the answers. It's about asking the right questions and making reversible decisions quickly while being thoughtful about irreversible ones.

The best product strategies:

1. Start with the customer problem — Not with your solution
2. Create optionality — Platform thinking enables multiple futures
3. Make trade-offs explicit — Strategy is choosing what NOT to do
4. Compound over time — Each decision builds on the last

When invoked, apply the guidelines in rules/ organized by:

• vision-* — Product vision, mission, and north star metrics
• market-* — Product-market fit, market sizing, opportunity assessment
• competitive-* — Competitive positioning, moats, differentiation
• strategy-* — Strategic frameworks, decision making, prioritization
• business-* — Business models, monetization, pricing strategy
• build-* — Build vs buy vs partner, platform decisions

Product Strategy Stack

```

┌─────────────────────────┐

│ VISION │ ← Where are we going? (3-10 years)

│ "The why behind why" │

├─────────────────────────┤

│ STRATEGY │ ← How will we win? (1-3 years)

│ "The path to vision" │

├─────────────────────────┤

│ ROADMAP │ ← What are we building? (Quarters)

│ "Strategy in motion" │

├─────────────────────────┤

│ EXECUTION │ ← How are we building? (Sprints)

│ "Roadmap in action" │

└─────────────────────────┘

```

Strategic Decision Types

| Decision Type | Reversibility | Time to Decide | Example |

|---------------|---------------|----------------|---------|

| Type 1 | Irreversible | Take your time | Business model, platform choice |

| Type 2 | Reversible | Decide quickly | Feature prioritization, pricing tiers |

Product-Market Fit Spectrum

```

Level 0: Problem Fit → You've found a real problem worth solving

Level 1: Solution Fit → Your solution addresses the problem

Level 2: Product-Market Fit → Customers pull the product from you

Level 3: Scale Fit → Repeatable growth engine working

Level 4: Moat Fit → Defensible competitive advantage established

```

Market Opportunity Framework

```

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐

│ TAM │

│ Total Addressable Market │

│ "Everyone who could theoretically buy" │

│ ┌───────────────────────────────────────────┐ │

│ │ SAM │ │

│ │ Serviceable Addressable Market │ │

│ │ "Those you could reach and serve" │ │

│ │ ┌─────────────────────────────┐ │ │

│ │ │ SOM │ │ │

│ │ │ Serviceable Obtainable │ │ │

│ │ │ "Realistic near-term" │ │ │

│ │ └─────────────────────────────┘ │ │

│ └───────────────────────────────────────────┘ │

└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

```

Competitive Moat Types

| Moat Type | Description | Examples |

|-----------|-------------|----------|

| Network Effects | Product improves as more users join | Slack, LinkedIn |

| Switching Costs | Painful to leave | Salesforce, Workday |

| Data Advantages | Proprietary data improves product | Google, Waze |

| Scale Economies | Cost advantages at scale | AWS, Stripe |

| Brand | Trust and recognition | Apple, Notion |

| Regulatory | Compliance barriers | Healthcare, Finance |

Business Model Canvas (Simplified)

```

┌──────────────────┬──────────────────┬──────────────────┐

│ VALUE PROP │ CHANNELS │ CUSTOMER │

│ What unique │ How you │ SEGMENTS │

│ value? │ reach them │ Who pays? │

├──────────────────┼──────────────────┼──────────────────┤

│ KEY RESOURCES │ KEY │ REVENUE │

│ What you need │ ACTIVITIES │ STREAMS │

│ to deliver │ What you do │ How you make │

│ │ │ money │

├──────────────────┴──────────────────┴──────────────────┤

│ COST STRUCTURE │

│ What it costs to operate │

└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

```

| Strategic Question | Framework to Use | When to Apply |

|--------------------|------------------|---------------|

| Where to play? | Market sizing, opportunity assessment | Early stage, pivots |

| How to win? | Competitive positioning, moat analysis | All stages |

| What to build? | Build/buy/partner, platform decisions | Growth stage |

| How to price? | Value-based pricing, monetization | Pre-launch, repricing |

| When to expand? | Adjacent market analysis | Scale stage |

• Vision without strategy — Inspiring destination, no map to get there
• Strategy without trade-offs — If everything is a priority, nothing is
• Copying competitors — Being a fast follower without differentiation
• TAM theater — Using unrealistic market sizes to impress investors
• Feature parity obsession — Chasing competitors instead of customers
• Premature scaling — Scaling before product-market fit
• Analysis paralysis — Researching forever, deciding never
• Sunk cost fallacy — Continuing failed bets because of past investment