🎯 Align & Execute

👋 Hi there - it’s Egemen.

Startups fail not because they lack ideas, but because they don’t execute well.

The same goes for choosing a co-founder - the wrong partnership can slow you down or even push you out of your own company.

A strong founding team aligns not just on the big vision, but on how to execute it.

Today, I’m sharing a number of practical frameworks in all of these areas.

This is one of those LOADED editions this time - enjoy!

Here’s a snapshot of what’s on the menu today:

💡 Spotlight: Cherrytree

A bad cofounder can cost you years and millions.

If you don't want that to happen to you, take the cofounder compatibility test.

Only 1/5 score above 80%.

Cofounders are to startups what location is to real estate. If you don't have the right foundation, it's impossible to build an empire. Make sure you're compatible with your cofounder to give your startup the best odds of success.

Take the test now.

🎯 Gain an unfair advantage - become a SCALABLE member today.

🧠 Deep-Dive: Product Execution and Customer Satisfaction

If execution isn't the priority, your product strategy is just a wishlist.

Some features are essential, some make you competitive, and some create "the wow effect". Focusing only on essentials keeps you in the game, but breakthrough products go further.

Your product strategy cannot be a backlog of wishlist items.

Great products don’t win because they have the most features - they win because they deliver real value.

• Uber didn’t start with luxury rides or food delivery. It just made getting a ride easy.

• Airbnb didn’t launch with premium stays. It solved one problem: booking a stranger’s extra room.

• Slack didn’t replace every office tool. It made team messaging effortless first.

A strong product strategy isn’t just a list of ideas - it’s a roadmap for impact.

Poor execution always leads to low (or negative) user satisfaction.

If you don’t solve a problem or deliver value - you will never “do one thing exceptionally well”, which is the key to winning.

• A good product strategy creates alignment.

• A great one drives execution.

• Make sure yours does both.

Check out what our readers also enjoy reading:

🗺️ Method: The Kano Model in Action

Speaking of execution, The Kano Model is used to plot product features vs. customer expectations.

Here’s when you should use it:

• When assessing new product feature ideas

• During your product roadmap sessions

• During product council or meetings with stakeholders

Basic expectations
Does your product meet your customers’ basic expectations?

👉 If there are gaping holes in your product which mean it is not meeting the basic needs of your customers then these should take priority.

Satisfiers
Meets the ‘wants’ of your customer.

👉 While basic expectations are a must, the satisfiers go a little further in meeting a desire of your customer.

Delighters
Items which genuinely go above and beyond standard customer expectations to delight your customers.

👉 Your customers didn’t even know they wanted this since it’s beyond their expectations for a product like yours.

⚾️ Catch: Beefree (Email & Landing Page Builder)

Start planning, executing, and collaborating on your next campaign with Beefree’s HTML/CSS page and email templates.

Designed for any occasion, industry, or season, these templates offer versatility.

Collaborate seamlessly with your team for seamless collaboration and leverage AI Assistant to overcome writer’s block.

With Beefree, the design possibilities are endless.

☝️ Scaled This Past Week: Anthropic

Anthropic raises $3.5B at $61.5B valuation - it’s the scale of the week!

The latest funding round was spearheaded by Lightspeed Venture Partners, which invested $1 billion, with substantial contributions from prominent investors.

Noteworthy ones being:

• Bessemer Venture Partners, 

• Cisco Investments,

• D1 Capital Partners,

• Fidelity Management & Research Company,

• General Catalyst,

• Jane Street, Menlo Ventures, and

• Salesforce Ventures

Anthropic's strong funding highlights the growing investor confidence in AI startups and their transformative potential - with ambitious plans and a focus on innovation and safety.

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