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Product Strategy – Insights

One of the most important—and most difficult—elements of product strategy is the ability to **generate, recognize, and leverage insights**. These insights form the foundation of effective product strategies and are often what differentiate high-growth product companies from those that stagnate.

Product Strategy: Insights as the Foundation

Summary

One of the most important—and most difficult—elements of product strategy is the ability to generate, recognize, and leverage insights. These insights form the foundation of effective product strategies and are often what differentiate high-growth product companies from those that stagnate.

History provides many examples: Netflix’s insights into customer behavior, Facebook’s insights into onboarding, and Slack’s and Salesforce’s insights into trials all fueled outsized growth. These breakthroughs were not accidents—they were the result of deep preparation, sustained learning, and thoughtful leadership.

No Formula, Only Thinking

There is no paint-by-number framework for discovering strategic insights. Strong product strategy does not emerge from templates or matrices, but from leaders who identify the few pivotal issues that can multiply impact and then focus effort on them.

Insights rarely appear without preparation. While moments of inspiration can feel sudden, they are almost always preceded by deep study of:

  • Company objectives and metrics
  • Product vision
  • Customer behavior
  • Technology trends
  • Industry dynamics

Without this groundwork, even obvious insights are easy to miss.

Insights Can Come From Anywhere

Insights are not limited to leadership or formal research. They can emerge from:

  • Conversations with customers or sales teams
  • New or emerging technologies
  • Industry analysis or independent research
  • Seemingly minor user comments

The key is maintaining curiosity and an open mind, supported by enough context to recognize when something truly matters.

Four Primary Sources of Product Strategy Insights

1. Quantitative Insights

Product data is one of the richest sources of strategic insight. Analysis of acquisition funnels, retention patterns, business models, and sales execution often reveals where a product works exceptionally well—or fails unexpectedly.

Strong product teams run live-data tests continuously. Most tests produce incremental learning, but occasionally a test reveals a critical insight. Successful leaders recognize these moments and translate them into action.

2. Qualitative Insights

User research generates qualitative insights that are often deeply transformative, even if they are not statistically significant.

There are two types of qualitative insights:

  • Evaluative: Does a proposed solution work? Why or why not?
  • Generative: What new problems or opportunities exist that we were not previously pursuing?

While product discovery often focuses on evaluative learning, ongoing exposure to users frequently uncovers larger, more impactful opportunities. Many organizations either fail to engage regularly with customers or fail to act on what they learn.

3. Technology Insights

New enabling technologies can unlock solutions that were previously impossible. These insights often come from engineers, who may prototype new approaches and surface opportunities for leadership.

Organizations should not fear unfamiliar technologies. If a technology matters strategically, the company must learn it. In strong product organizations, engineers actively explore and advocate for these technologies.

4. Industry Insights

Industry insights extend beyond direct competitors. Trends in adjacent markets, regional differences, and broader technological shifts can all inform product strategy.

While some companies rely on management consultancies for industry analysis, these insights are often business-focused and lack the depth required for product strategy. Insights discovered internally are more likely to be trusted, understood, and acted upon.

Sharing and Leveraging Learnings

Identifying insights is only half the battle. In large organizations especially, insights must be shared effectively to have impact.

Written artifacts alone—emails, reports, or messages—are rarely sufficient. Product and design leaders play a critical role in connecting insights across teams and recognizing broader opportunities.

Effective practices include:

  • Weekly 1:1s between leaders and product managers
  • Leaders actively aggregating insights across teams
  • Regular sharing of key learnings in all-hands meetings

This ensures insights reach the right people at the right time and helps leaders build a holistic understanding of the business.

From Insights to Action

At this stage, the organization has:

  • Focused on a small number of critical problems
  • Identified the key insights that can move the needle

The next step is converting these insights into clear actions and objectives for product teams. Insight-driven action is what turns strategy into results.

Key takeaway: Great product strategies are built on deep, well-shared insights—earned through preparation, curiosity, and continuous learning.