Top 5 ways to build habit forming products?

Top 5 ways to make your product a habit-forming one?

'Hooked' by Nir Eyal is a must read on the subject. My picks from the book -

1. Become a Guru.
Thats what most brand build - a library of great Content on thier transactional apps - like #Zerodha varsity.

2. Become a Friend.
Personalize. Recommend. Valuable reminders. That wife's anniversary tip. #Cred saves the day on bills.

3. Become a Community.
Standing for a common cause in the category & solving consumer pain points. #Nike+, Redbull have embraced this so well.

4. Dont build point programs for loyalty. Build VAS, consumer will pay for. Like #Amazon Prime.

5. Don't make a super app to build frequency. Cut confusion. Retain focus.

What would you add there?

#product #marketing  #growth #book

Book Review - Good to Great by Jim Collins

Books worth enough to share your life with -

"Good to Great" by Jim Collins

This is like a book '7 habits of highly effective people' applied to companies! It traces progress of ~1500 companies to come up with 11 which beat competition consistently for 15 years in his research.

And filtered the 'reason why' into a behaviour model of 'Good to Great' shown in the picture split into disciplined people, desciplined thought, desciplined action. 

Apart from doggedness to keep at doing things, he defines discipline around 'clarity and focus' which is a gem nuance. wavering strategy or doing multiple things, back and forth is example of indiscipline.

The #audible version has voice of author himself and the way he narrates the book, he is so passionate in his work, it seems as if you are part of the discussion! Must listen.

However, apart from the company's behaviour aspects; i felt same can be applied to individuals in thier lives & careers -

1. Level 5 #leadership - A humble but firm leadership behaviour. Not flamboyant, not charming but simple people with no egos dedicated to the objective. None of these companies have those celeb leaders!

2. First who, then what - While embarking on a vision, its important yo figure who is on the bus (like-minded) & then decide to what to do next. Else, you falter easily as people leave the bus if mis-aligned.

3. Confront the brutal facts - Running away from reality doesnt help. And quoting future vision without confronting reality is like ostrich with his neck under sand.

4. Hedgehog concept - This is crux of this book. We should figure the intersection of 

-what we are passionate about, 

-what are our skills/talent that we are good at, and

-what is our economic engine ( how we can make money out of the two by figuring a matket and a metric that uniquely drives us to the vision)

5. Culture of #descipline, not hierarchical. Descipline by auto mode vs forced; enabled by disciplined thinking and disciplined control. No bureaucracy.

6. #Technology as accelerator, not as 'the' thing to change fortunes. First figure hedgehog concept and then apply technology if it helps you accelerate the focus via hedgehog. For eg. Clarity of thought boosted by tech is a dangerous thing.

7. #Flywheel - The good to great transformation is not like a revolution, its like slow and steady evolution. It builds up turn by turn on a steering wheel till you pass through a breakthrough. Its like a decade long overnight sensation!

Loved it to the core. Become a fan of Jim Collins. Its like those re-reads kind of books.

Which #book have you loved recently? Share your recommendations for a business book for my next read.

How to remember things for ever?

How to learn, to apply forever?

‘Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.’ – Benjamin Franklin

We all accept that learning is the no 1 #skill to grow - in #life, #career; everywhere. But have you thought about right model of learning? Learning that sticks with you, vs a hazy memory that I did read something about this but currently it’s failing me. Learning should result in a skill adoption that doesn’t require conscious thinking - like in case of riding a cycle. Once you learn it with deliberate practise, next time you just need a cycle and your brain takes over.

A model by trio authors (McDaniel, Roediger and Brown) of ‘Made to Stick’ suggest 3 steps to such learning -

1. ‘Encoding’ - is the first stage which is about conversion of perceptions into meaningful patterns in the brain. Like drawing rough sketches in the brain, giving you a hazy silhouette of what you are trying to learn.

2. ‘Consolidation’ - is like the process of tidying up the notes you scribbled during class—typing them up neatly in a document, adding examples and charts for clarity. With this stage, brain strengthens the hazy silhouette by rearranging the earlier patterns to make sense of them.

3. ‘Retrieval’ - is accessing the learnt information using cues that help us recall it. Methods such as quizzing on the material, teaching the concept to someone else or applying in a real-life situation help strengthen this stage. Every time we retrieve and apply what we have learnt, the skill and associated memory become stronger until it is almost effortless.

So, now you have a model to learn sth for permanency!

If you realise, my #linkedin posts are part of the stage 3 of this model. And that’s how small efforts like posts, add to my #learning!

Thanks for being my audience and helping me learn, everyday. 🙏

Book Review - The great mental models by Shane Parrish

Finished this #book recently - The great #mentalmodels by Shane Parrish.

The premise for one to read the book is - In life and business, the person with the fewest blind spots wins. 

Blind spots are areas which which we don’t know that we don’t know. 

Until, we figure multiple mental models which people apply across disciplines, we would be at the mercy of our default mental models. 

Mental models describe the way the world works. They shape how we think, understand, and form beliefs. These are largely at play in subconscious!

Some of the key Mental Models from the book:

#firstprinciples Thinking

Break a complicated concept/problem to building blocks, the first principles. Remove all existing beliefs or assumptions. What remains are the essentials. 

First-principles expose the boundaries that you have to work within. From this, you can challenge the fundamental assumptions of the situation more effectively. It’s a must have Recipie for disruption.

How to arrive at them - 5 Why’s is a good approach. Keep asking why at each level till u have at least five whys. 

#SecondOrderThinking

When making choices, consider not just immediate; but distantsecond and subsequent order consequences that help you avoid future problems. When making a decision, ask this question: And then what?

#Inversion

Inversion means approaching a situation from the opposite end of the natural starting point. Start by assuming that what you’re trying to prove is either true or false, then show what else would have to be true. 

Sherlock homes was assigned a task of finding x is having a valuable picture. Straight approach is to first assess if x has that picture - Search the house to figure etc. 

Inversion is to assume x has the picture. He burns nearby area to create panic for x to leave house. X runs out with valuable picture out herself! Power of inversion!

Any other book on mental models you recommend?

Book Review - Big Billion Startup (Flipkart Story)

Finished this book on audible recently - Big Billion Startup by Mihir Dalal. Its actually is like an action packed thriller!

If you are interested in indian startup space and want to go down memory lane on how 2 young IITians built this behemoth, its a must read. And it has lot of learnings to pick from.

Listing some of my key takeaways -

1. Never trash a sounding unrealistic idea (because its against conventional wisdom) - When one of the senior folks at Flipkart floated the idea of exclusivity (as a marketplace); it was laughed at. But later it became a mega trend with Motorola and Xiaomis where phones got sold in lakhs in minutes!

2. Self-belief and confidence of positive feedback from customers can give immense power to founders in this case to not exit early! Bansals were given cheap exit offers (though good prices) but they stuck thier guns.

3. Vision enables you to take bold bets. Due to Sachin's vision and trend spotting in data (that bulk of shopping will move to app) led him to declare an app only strategy which was ridiculed at that time.

4. Having one day as a non-operations day where thinktank just debates future is a plus. Else, most days and nights in a startup goes in firefighting.

and many more. 

I thoroughly loved it.Recommend!

#flipkart #ecommerce #book

Your Product is a Vitamin or a Painkiller - Is it habit forming one?

Recently finished Hooked - How to build habit forming products by Nir Eyal. Have earlier read multiple books on habits, but first time on habit forming products. Its also a must read book for tech product managers. I loved it and recommend to marketers as well, here is a concept of product being a vitamin or a painkiller.

Products are seen as either pain killers (solves a problem u are facing and hence a must-have for target audience - If u have a headache, you require a painkiller; solving a functional need) or vitamins (enables u to become stronger to not face problems later and hence not important to use/acquire immediately). Companies love to have their products become painkillers because then they have a quantifiable market to capture.

To make your product a habit forming one, it needs to be both pain killer and vitamin. Eg. Facebook is a pain killer or vitamin? One can live without it, but provides a good benefit to stay connected with friends. (Vitamin). But after having connected with most friends and pages, it now provides me real time updates, pics and videos that it now has become my boredom killer (painkiller, pain being boredom or even feeling of missing out). So most social media platforms aspire to be in this space of being both a vitamin and a painkiller.

Lets see some other product category -shopping apps? Painkiller or Vitamin? Its a painkiller when I have an itch to buy something i need; on other days its forgotten. It doesn't have that vitamin promise to use everyday (like Facebook). Then, what should shopping apps do to make users visit more often with a habit? Send more notifications to tell about more styles to shop, or deals which are ending by the night? No, that would work only a few times and then u will loose these levers if used rampantly. Then?

Become more emotional than transactional. How? Here are few of my thoughts -

1. Become an Enabler; a Guru imparting wisdom they need - If yours is a fashion category, put up educational content on fashion - styling tips, mixing and matching, current trends, look-books. Get even influencers on the platform to impart this category wisdom; a Rajeev Makhani reviewing products on the platform will add to stickiness. Great Content on a shopping app - Firstcry.com becomes your go to place on baby related queries.

2. Become a Friend; who understands 'the consumer' - Personalize the solve your consumer is looking for. Telling me when i need something the most - Suggestions of gifts for my anniversary (7 days before so that I don't miss it), telling me about the new CSK T-shirt or memorabilia that has come (watch history on partner app/shopping history) or book recommendations from my favorite author (from my shopping history/Wishlist) and so on. Not lame personalization like the Diwali catalogue on Diwali.

3. Become a Community; standing for a common cause in the category/audience and solving consumer pain points. A brand who patiently listens to consumer's trials/tribulations in the category. You might get to know some problems which haven't been solved and can open a niche not served yet. You can even co-create with your users to solve and even empowering them. Consumers come forward to contribute to a cause that they relate to. Further, adding to the stickiness of your app. Some of the strongest community apps/brands take part in your journey to become better - Nike+, Redbull.

Pitfalls - 

1. Point system building Loyalty - Common knowledge tells that points system is a big driver of stickiness or building habits to the app. But that might be history. Consumer today is more fickle for a brand she can trust than loyal to 25 paisa points. Brands today build benefits in their offerings that alleviates the pain faster - Amazon's faster shipping as part of Prime program is that. Even Prime Video alleviates the pain of boredom; bundled in the program.

2. More things added on the platform to build frequency - Another pitfall in my opinion is adding too many functionalities on the app to make consumer come back for one thing or other; might not be right strategy. This can lead to confusion on the interface vs simplicity that alleviates consumer pain of finding a solve sooner. 

What do you think are more drivers of making your app/product both a vitamin and a painkiller? Share your thoughts.

#product #marketing #habits #vitamin #painkiller #growth #book

True Marketing is simple.

In this digital world today, a lot is being invented and talked about as the next big thing in marketing. #digitalmarketing, #contentmarketing, #socialmediamarketing #Momentmarketing and so on.

While this could mean a lot of complexity for beginners or non-marketers; ultimately these are all variations of core concepts of marketing in upcoming media types. A piece of communication gets modified basis type of media (TV, FB, YT etc), basis behaviour of users on that platform (time spent, screen size..), and so on.

To bring #simplicity to this madness, this excerpt from #SethGodin's book 'This is Marketing' captures 'What is Marketing' in 5 steps -

1. To invent a thing worth making, with a story worth telling, and a contribution worth talking about.

2. To design & build it in a way that a few people will particularly benefit from and care about.

3. To tell a story that matches the built-in narrative & dreams of that tiny group of people, the smallest viable market.

4. To spread the word.

5. Last step is often overlooked: show up—regularly, consistently, and generously, for years —to organize, lead & build confidence in the change you seek to make.

Above all, best #marketing is supposed to be #simple - for consumers as well as marketers.

#MarketingisSimple

Book Review - The Everything Store by Brad Stone

This book i picked up to understand the history of Amazon, the company i work for now. Its a fantastic long read for anybody who wants to understand the evolution of this startup into a behemoth of today; it takes the readers through this time travel of 2 decades with detailing and gives a peek into the intriguing mind of its founder - Jeff Bezoz.

The biographer, Brad Stone has done significant research on why Amazon is where it is, and what factors, events and values contributed to this journey and continues to.

For me, as a new-joinee to a company which is know by its peculiar culture; the book really portrays the background on why this culture is like that.

Whether its the leadership principles of Amazon or its peculiar practices of using a 6 pager doc vs a presentation or why meetings start as a study hall where everyone reads silently or why there are PRFAQs made or why 1  empty chair in a meeting...its all answered there!

I personally liked the ways of a founder on how to create a culture that is a photocopy of how he thinks. And like a great learner, he has picked up a few values from the books he read or values from other companies into those leadership principles.

Its a great read for anybody who either wants to know about Amazon or who wants to know how to define the culture of a new company.

Some of the key things i didnt know before i read the book about Amazon -

1. Bezoz is an avid fiction/non fiction reader and has done changes in business strategy once he read a book.
2. Bezoz during tumultuous times of 2001 meltdown wrote something like 'I am not my stock price' on his whiteboard in office.
3. Bezoz tore a reciept of a team meal after paying saying that i am not going to claim it from the company, to stress principle of frugality.
4. Bezoz's way of negotiating while acquiring zappos or Quidsi is quite tough.
5. He is quite driven by future and has taken long term bets on projects which might appear science fiction at start. Thats a stark difference from other companies.
6. How Amazon safeguards the interests of customers by negotiating hard with vendors/partners.
7. How kindle happened and Bezoz delayed the launch till the ebook universe is at least 10000 ebooks.
8. How he saw future and converted Amazon into a technology company from an e-retailer.

Its a great read! Go for it.

Book Review 4 - Give & Take by Adam Grant

Just finished my 4th book of 2018 - Give and Take by Adam Grant. This book is an interesting view on relationships in life with people and how patterns emerge in 3 types of people - Takers, Matchers and Givers. Takers are always driven by thier own selfish motives, trying to get to the top by powering  themselves over others. Givers are those people who help, mentor others; who take interest in others' worlds to better and overall pull everybody up. Matchers are people who give and take in equal amounts with a propensity to match. The obvious hypothesis is that Givers are the last ones on the success ladder.

The book challenges that hypothesis with real life examples from Startup capital to hollywood; and discusses learnings on how givers excel everywhere. It systematically discusses the benefits of giving and pitfalls to avoid to become a 'successful giver'.

Some key gems from the book -

1. Givers dont network like networkers do at networking events. They have a genuine desire in contributing to others and thus thier networks are stronger. The quality of conversations lead to depth of relationships which they tap at any point of time. And as the interactions are genuine, even dormant ties when reconnected lead to poistive outcomes vs takers who sort of burn bridges. Eg Adam Rifkin, rated as largest networker on linkedin.

2. Givers are so genuinely interested in helping others; when they work in a team they dont have a 'claiming' desire; thus they give collaborate well with others. Takers on the contrary again in a desire to move ahead, do it once and people dont want to work with them again. Thus, the power of collaboration takes them much ahead even in occupations dealing with innovation, creativity or medical surgeries etc. Eg. George Meyers, man behind Simpsons.

3. Givers practice powerless communication at times to connect with audiences vs takers powerful speeches. The audience find them normal human beings with some flaws and somebody who listens more, making them open up well vs a deft speaker delivering speeches like a monologue. The book talks about several examples from sales where givers were top achievers because client felt safe with them. They felt that the salesman has a genuine desire to help rather than powerful fleecers or takers.

4. Despite these huge benefits, where givers fail is that they get 'used' extensively like doormats by takers or they burnout while indulging in selfless service. Its when the author brings about ways to avoid these pitfalls. 

He suggests Reciprocatory Rings as a method to deal with takers or matchers. He says takers avoid ditching people when their reputation is on the line or the act is in public. Takers show helping behavior if they are shown doing it. Thus, author suggests to have open help sessions where a person asks for help and volunteers have to raise hands to help. And as a rule everybody has to help at least one. 

5. Another pitfall is burnout out of excessive giving on account of selfless service character. Here Givers need to be 'Otherish' which means a behavior where you help but also enjoy and take care of your interest as well. This develops when u get driven by something which is good for ur individual success but also is must do for others. Eg. As a giver, you might not want to achieve ur own target in sales but help others as u dont want that much money. Givers switch off and loose out here. However, if u also think about ur family and thier needs, suddenly u dont feel guilty but motivated to achieve ur target. Thats 'otherish' behaviour.

Its a very good book on behavior and people who deal with people on a daily basis, its a must read.

2018 Book Review #2 - The Subtle art of not giving a F*ck

Just finished this incredible book on self awareness and personal development. I will not call it a self help guide, its rather a counter-intuitive approach to living a good life. And here is it why - its not a book telling you all the time to be positive even if you are in deep shit. Its more practical and tells you to accept that you are f*cked up and need to change things and how. This book is thus not a sweet read but full of slang words that work magic as if you are talking to yourself.

I stumbled upon this book via reading a blog post by this celebrated blogger, Mark Manson, which really provoked my thinking. And yes, the title enticed me too.

Now, here is on the book- if you have read through Napoleon Hill, Joseph Murphy, Norman Vincent Peale and so on, you will find this book a refreshing breeze of fresh air. Here are quick bits from the book which are nothing but real gems -

1. Not giving a f*ck doesnt mean being indifferent; it means being comfortable with being different- It means to accept the issues of life, not run from them and then see what you can do about them. Do what u can do, and when u can't do much about rest (not in ur control), accept and stop giving f*ck about it.

2. To not give a f*ck about adversity, u must first give a f*ck about sth more important. (When in this limited time, u dont find sth meaningful to chase or solve, ur mind will wander and just give f*ck about the weather, or neighbours or why u were born like this..

3. Whether u realize it or not, u r always choosing sth to give a f*ck about. (Whether u have not chosen to get born in a developing country, to not to be poor or born short, but u r always choosing to react to it in a kiddish manner, to cry or to wail on why this happened to me; u r choosing ur response and hence choosing to give a f*ck abt pointless stuff).

4. I loved this part - Happiness is about solving problems. You solve 1 problem, u feel happy, and then u solve a bigger problem to make u more happy...its an upward spiral of happiness coupled with complex problems. Happiness is thus an activity rather a feeling. Its a constant work in progress. If thats so simple thrn why most of us arent happy? Because we f*ck things up in either Denial or Being a victim. And when u do either of the two u r either running away or not owning problems so that u can solve them.

5. To be happy, we ask 'what i want to enjoy?' rather than 'what pain can i sustain?' The path to happiness is all about process and is full of struggles. But the problem is that we only want the result or the reward and believe that makes us happy, but rather its the action or struggle that makes us happy regardless of the result. Our struggles determine our successes.

6. Believe that u r not special. Period. Thats quite contrary to belief spread by so many books and movies like matrix! Life is full of mundane things and u need to accept this and work in the process. Its like a diet regimen that u need to eat boring veggies. But once u accept that u need to eat veggies to be fit or more healthy; u become more alive. Accept u r not 'the one' and its fine. And once u believe that u r ordinary, u can work on the process and can actually drive better results rather than living always with the false knowledge of being special and getting frustrated with no results.

7. Life and happiness are dependent on what value u choose to measure success or performance out of life. U can choose good or bad values. The key difference is bad values are reliant on external events while good ones are achieved internally.

Self improvement is about choosing better values to give a f*ck about. Because when u choose better values, u solve better problems and better problems get u better life! The 5 keys values as Mark mentions in the book are - 1 Responsibility 2 Uncertainty 3 Failure 4 Rejection 5 Contemplation of own morality.  And he describes his interpretation around them very well in the book.

8. Choice makes a difference. The difference between a problem being painful or powerful is a sense that u chose it and hence u r responsible for it. When we choose ur problems we feel we are empowered to work and solve it, but when we feel its been thrust on you and u dont have a control on it, u feel victimized and miserable. Thus always choose. But real question is about what we r choosing to give a f*ck about? What values? What metrics? Are these good ones?

9. Everything starts with action. Even if u havent made any plans about it, and u can choose to stay put and wait...dont. Just So something. Why? Because action leads to inspiration to futher motivation to further action.

10. This one is my personal favorite out o this book - Life is like a game of poker. in poker, people will get different cards, good or bad. But still people with bad cards will continue to play as they know its not just the set of cards that decide the result, but how one chooses to take risks with those cards.

Similarily, in life we get different situations but the game of life's ultimate result is dependent on how u choose to respond to these situations and keep making best choices to move forward. The people with the best cards or situations arent necessaily the ones who win or succeed eventually.

Its a must read for people dealing with the pursuit of happyness.

Book Review - Rich Dad Poor Dad

This is a book which i heard about reading in my first job at infosys. But like many other nerds or other 'worker' people, i neglected the advice thinking i hate finance. At 37, when i just happened to pick this from a footpath and read it recently, i realized what a waste of 15 years had been.

This is a MUST READ book for any human being who makes a living. It should be rather part of school curriculums so that so many lives can be saved. You must be wondering about the hyperbole, but here is what it is about -
"Poor ppl work for money, and rich ppl make thier money work". Now, you must have been intrigued. Yes, the book unveils a thinking around finance principles needed for a healthy life. It talks about assests and liablities, cash flows, income and expense but in a manner that a layman can understand.

I would just mention a few key points from the book that might make you pick it up if you havent -

1. Poor ppl work for money, and rich ppl make thier money work.
2. Poor ppl look at expensive things and say, i cant afford it. Rich ppl look at same things and say, how can i afford it.
3. Poor ppl look at the biggest thing in thier life - house, as an asset, rich understand that its a liability.
4. Poor ppl work day in day out to increase thier active income of salary while rich work on thier passive incomes ( stocks, bonds, real estate etc).
5. Poor ppl first pay thier bills and taxes and then pay themselves. Rich ppl first pay themselves and push themselves to then pay the bills and taxes.
6. Poor ppl understand that the only way to realise thier dreams is through harder education and then job labour giving higher salary, thus perpetual rat race. Rich ppl know that rats race and hence to not to become a rat means financial freedom, and hence dreams.
7. Savers are loosers, Investors are winners. Savers are risk averse, investors are opportunity makers.
8. Winning at financial game is - Its not how much money u make, its about how much u keep.
9. The rich buy assets. The poor only have expnses. The middle class buy liabilities they think are assets.
10. The rich focus on thier asset columns while everyone else focus on thier income statements.
11. The biggest asset we all have is our mind. If it is trained well, it can create enormous wealth.
12. Failures inspires winners. Failure defeats losers.
13. Find a reason to be rich greater than reality - the power of spirit.
14. Make daily choices.
15. Choose friends carefully, birds of same feather, flock together.
16. Learn new formulas quickly and keep up with the times.
17. Pay yourself first. Focus on cash flow, people and personal time.
18. Be an indian giver - the power of getting sth for nothing.
19. Use assets to buy luxuries. Eg if u want to buy a car, invest into sth which can get u a car rather than create a liability thru a car loan.
20. Power of giving, spread the knowledge, make others rich and you shall recieve in kind.

Amazing book, read it asap, the earlier the better. And a great word of admiration to Mr Robert Kiyosaki for spreading such vast knowledge to people.

Current Read - Corporate Chanakya

Just grabbed recently from an Airport shop; this book is amongst many books being based on ChanakyaNiti by a revered strategist/mastermind/Kingmaker - Chanakya/Kautilya. The book is not a straight read; but a very comfortable read whenever you get time. I have been reading this during my flights.

The book is being written in such a way that it covers various topics around leader - leadership, business, power, knowledge, actions etc. And the best thing is that unlike various other authors which try to say that Indian Concepts are THE BEST and rest of the world is all bakwaas; this author says both concepts complement each other. And additionally, it also brings in examples from History & Mythology(Ramayana, Mahabharata), Indian Business (JRD, Murthy..),Global Businesses (Jack Welch..) and even movies (Troy, Gladiator..).

A very simple, light on mind, enjoyable book for people interested in management, running businesses and especially wherever there is a need of leading people..

~nits