The role of strategy in product is very often under-appreciated. It can be so easy to immerse yourself in the details of execution only to emerge in the wrong place at the wrong time. In my experience, a good strategy helps focus execution by making clear to the entire team and company what matters and what doesn't in the market you're trying to win.

The works below are the most formative text I've read on strategy. This list is constantly evolving, if you have any recommendations I would love to hear them.

Books

• Good Strategy/Bad Strategy - Richard Rummelt, 2011

• 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy - Hamilton W. Helmer, 2016

• Understanding Michael Porter - Joan Magretta, 2011

• The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz, 2014

• Zero to One - Peter Thiel, 2014

• Competing Against Luck - Clay Christensen, 2016

• Rework - Jason Fried, 2010

Links

• Idea Maze - Balaji S. Srinivasan, 2013

• Aggregation Theory - Ben Thompson, 2015 - present

• Complexity and Strategy - Terry Crowley, 2017

• Day 1 - Jeff Bezos, 2017

• The Great Unbundling - Ben Thompson, 2017

• What is Strategy - Michael Porter, 1996

• Status as a Service (StaaS) - Eugene Wei, 2019

• Strategy Letter V (Commoditizing your complements) - Joel Spolsky, 2002

• How bundling benefits sellers and buyers - Chris Dixon, 2012

• The Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Death - Gail Goodman, 2013