Why should I care?

You’ve probably heard the advice to share your goals—it’s supposed to keep you accountable and motivated. It’s great advice, and I use it often, but it hasn’t worked for everything.

For years, I’ve talked about writing a book on product leadership. I told my blog readers, workshop alumni, friends, and even big names like Ben Horowitz.

I found a good editor and mapped the process, but my progress? Barely there.

Still, I’ve made some progress by interviewing product leaders from many companies. I focused on those who were there from the start and could share how the product and company evolved—because success isn’t instant. 

A key theme came up: speed matters. Leaders said things like, “We had to move fast to get it done,” or “Speed was one of our values.”

It sounds obvious—startups need to move fast. But why is speed so critical?

And what do people mean by ‘speed’? Not all speed is the same. 

Here are four types that are crucial for startups.

Let’s dive in.

My favorite weekly finds

🛠️ Tools

• Monkt - Convert any document or webpage into AI-ready structured Markdown or JSON

• Use Brainnote as an AI thought organizer to summarize your ideas in seconds

• Erayaha.AI - Review contracts for hidden risks and financial impacts directly in Word and Google Docs with AI assistance

• Love Blitzit! It’s a desktop timer app that helps you stay focused by tracking your time and removing distractions

• Lecca.io - Create custom AI agents that automate tasks across web, phone, email and calendar using your preferred LLM

• LegalCheckPro - Review contracts and legal documents and simplify them into clear, easy-to-understand summaries for us PM 🫠 

📰 AI Insights

• Instagram demo’d new AI editing features that’ll let users “change nearly any aspect of your videos”.

• IRS deployed AI tools to detect fraud patterns and analyze financial data as criminals increasingly use artificial intelligence for sophisticated schemes.

• OpenAI missed its self-imposed 2025 deadline to deliver Media Manager, a promised tool for creators to control their content in AI training data.

• CSIC researchers developed a “molecular lantern” probe that uses light and AI to detect brain changes without genetic modifications.

👀 ICYMI

• Bottom-Up Planning: A Necessary Evil? (Listen or read Link)

• How to Create a Team That Owns Every Outcome (Listen or read Link)

• How to Build Emotional Resilience (Listen or read Link)

Why Waiting to Make Decisions Could Be Killing Your Startup

1- Speed of Insight

Lean and agile methods are all about learning by doing, not just planning. 

You only truly understand the market when you’re in it.

Time and time again, I’ve seen this play out—assumptions you make at the start often turn out to be incomplete or just wrong. 

Unexpected challenges pop up, and competition or trends appear from angles you didn’t anticipate.

While critical insights may already exist—in the market or in your customers’ minds—you don’t automatically have access to them. To move fast, you need to actively seek them out, not just wait for them to come to you.

Start by reviewing your initial assumptions regularly, especially the strategic ones. Are they still true? Often, they won’t be entirely off-base, but they may lack precision. And when it comes to core areas like your product’s value proposition or how customers view the problem you’re solving, accuracy is everything.

The faster you uncover and act on these insights, the better equipped you’ll be to adapt and succeed.

2- Speed of Decision

After gaining market insights, the next challenge is deciding what to do. Uncertainty never fully goes away in product management—you can only reduce it. The key is balancing data-backed decisions with the need to act quickly enough to stay ahead.

Remember, delaying decisions has costs too. While some situations need more research, waiting often adds little value.

Risk exists both in acting too fast and too slow. The goal is to decide when further analysis won’t significantly improve outcomes.

If your company relies on consensus-based decisions, this can cause delays. Use risk management language to show that waiting is no longer beneficial. Address specific concerns by creating safeguards, so even those who disagree feel comfortable moving forward.

Quick decisions aren’t rushed—they’re about acting at the right time with managed risks.