# Reading List for Building a Product

By [Kevin Rocci](https://paragraph.com/@pontz) · 2021-12-09

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_This post collects articles and brief notes on articles about building a product. I plan to use this a reference for myself, and I am sharing broadly in case others are looking for a reference. I’ll be updating this as I go and expect it to be a work in progress for some time._

Product Market Fit
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[Finding Product Market Fit](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yaN4HYyKqy3YenzZVNNiUQDiY17I4FvXqxydD7P1sdY/edit), John Danner

*   Use a PMF Report Card to evaluate progress towards product market fit (PMF).
    
*   Stages to get through to build a real company and advance out of the seed round
    
*   Key Tips: experiment every day, focus on one metric at a time, defer gratification, and don’t monetize too early.
    

[Experiment to PMF](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Eg1gD4K_VLFcSsFmtoiNArjtS4lcR1vrQ0mpwDQnEOE/edit), John Danner

*   A startup is a series of experiments—need to experiment every day
    
*   Experiments > User research
    
*   Build a long list of experiments that you prioritize on a regular cadence
    
*   Have good tracking and measurement in place early
    

[PR/FAQs for Product Documents](https://medium.com/agileinsider/press-releases-for-product-managers-everything-you-need-to-know-942485961e31)

*   Popularized at Amazon, a PR and FAQ doc is created before building a new product.
    
*   Clear pros for the is approach: align on what the customer needs, force assumptions to be explicit, and increase ownership of the work.
    

Funnels and Conversion
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[Increase funnel conversion with Psych](https://darius.com/increase-funnel-conversion-with-psych-7378d51c4caf), Darius

*   Users come to your site with a specific state of mind—understand it and unlock more conversion
    
*   Users arrive with a certain amount of positive Psych and interact with your page or app in ways that add to or subtract from this Psych.
    
*   Reminds me of a concept discussed by George Saunders in “A Swim in a Pond in the Rain”—readers arrive with a certain amount of energy and a good story builds and pushes that energy forward, from one moment to the next. He described it as one of those hot wheel tracks with a gas station that adds momentum to the car each time it passes through.
    

[Growth Loops are the New Funnels](https://www.reforge.com/blog/growth-loops), Reforge

*   Powerful growth happens as a series of loops—not funnels
    
*   Growth loop ≈ compounding interest

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*Originally published on [Kevin Rocci](https://paragraph.com/@pontz/reading-list-for-building-a-product)*