Software Lead Weekly
Issue #706, 5th June 2026
This Week's Favorite
Why Whoop Doesn't Tell the Time: A Lesson in Product Strategy (Video)
2 minutes read.
A masterpiece from the CEO of Whoop, explaining why they don't have screens and how it impacts every decision they're making in the company. This serve their perception in the market while also makes sure the product teams are focused on the right value to build.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
2 minutes read.
A masterpiece from the CEO of Whoop, explaining why they don't have screens and how it impacts every decision they're making in the company. This serve their perception in the market while also makes sure the product teams are focused on the right value to build.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Culture
BREAKING: CEO Discovers Tokens Cost Money
1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile. Who said Cloud Cost is expensive?
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1 minutes read.
My humble effort to help you start the weekend with a smile. Who said Cloud Cost is expensive?
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Making Agents Easy: 13 Lessons From Forter's Agentic AI Sprint
12 minutes read.
I'm privileged to work with incredibly smart people for many years at Forter. Ben Maraney is one of them, and the impact I've seen him leading transformational changes is the reason I love my career so much. If you're interested in learning how to get everyone in your organization building AI agents, you should read and watch Ben's talk - it covers the pitfalls to avoid, the shortcuts to try, and the lessons we learned in this journey so far.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
12 minutes read.
I'm privileged to work with incredibly smart people for many years at Forter. Ben Maraney is one of them, and the impact I've seen him leading transformational changes is the reason I love my career so much. If you're interested in learning how to get everyone in your organization building AI agents, you should read and watch Ben's talk - it covers the pitfalls to avoid, the shortcuts to try, and the lessons we learned in this journey so far.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The HTML Brand: The Rise of Input-Based Outcomes
14 minutes read.
"In the last few weeks the simple zip folder has become the deliverable we've been asked to produce. Not a website, a software product, or a go-to-market campaign bible. Said another way, our input is where our value lies and what helps drives the outcome, not our outputs. [...] When an atomic kit is the deliverable, the kit isn't a finished asset. It's a system that produces finished assets. That changes what's actually being sold. What's being sold is the encoded thinking that makes every future artifact, page, and product feel like the same brand." -- This post will inspire you to rethink what you leave behind when you meet with prospects, and what they can do to leverage your value beyond the immediate artifacts they're used to. This is a brilliant take: "Aim to be paid for your mind, not your hands."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
14 minutes read.
"In the last few weeks the simple zip folder has become the deliverable we've been asked to produce. Not a website, a software product, or a go-to-market campaign bible. Said another way, our input is where our value lies and what helps drives the outcome, not our outputs. [...] When an atomic kit is the deliverable, the kit isn't a finished asset. It's a system that produces finished assets. That changes what's actually being sold. What's being sold is the encoded thinking that makes every future artifact, page, and product feel like the same brand." -- This post will inspire you to rethink what you leave behind when you meet with prospects, and what they can do to leverage your value beyond the immediate artifacts they're used to. This is a brilliant take: "Aim to be paid for your mind, not your hands."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
The Secret to Better AI Outbound: More Humans
4 minutes read.
Meghan Gill's post is a powerful example for how AI should help take your business to the next level by thinking where and how to create leverage. There are many small nuances to keep in mind if you want to keep pipeline generation (emails, events, etc.) effective and authentic :"Even with the benefit of AI, outbound is still hard. The reps who win won’t be the ones who automate the most. They’ll be the ones who know when not to."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
Meghan Gill's post is a powerful example for how AI should help take your business to the next level by thinking where and how to create leverage. There are many small nuances to keep in mind if you want to keep pipeline generation (emails, events, etc.) effective and authentic :"Even with the benefit of AI, outbound is still hard. The reps who win won’t be the ones who automate the most. They’ll be the ones who know when not to."
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Peopleware
We Should Be More Tired Than the Model
4 minutes read.
"In some ways, we’ve replaced the social media feed with a stream of tokens, and I look forward to reading those papers in ten years. [...] I’ve been working on using the tool more deliberately and adding friction back into development. [...] All of these negate the supposed speed up effects of LLM-generated code in the short-term by adding friction, and yet, in the longer term, make me better at using the tool, because they solidify my own foundation instead of the foundation models'." -- Vicki Boykis has a great point here. What we need to train is our ability to reason about decisions and judge tradeoffs effectively.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
4 minutes read.
"In some ways, we’ve replaced the social media feed with a stream of tokens, and I look forward to reading those papers in ten years. [...] I’ve been working on using the tool more deliberately and adding friction back into development. [...] All of these negate the supposed speed up effects of LLM-generated code in the short-term by adding friction, and yet, in the longer term, make me better at using the tool, because they solidify my own foundation instead of the foundation models'." -- Vicki Boykis has a great point here. What we need to train is our ability to reason about decisions and judge tradeoffs effectively.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
On Mid-Career (Dis)satisfaction
3 minutes read.
"Many ambitious people choose their next job based largely on Title / Money / Scope. It makes sense, because these factors do actually make you happy when you accept the offer. But they will stop making you happy starting the very first day of your new job. [...] In your job, you know you must first understand your users when building the product. But you never consider that you must first understand yourself as you build the rest of your career. Because when it comes to your career, you are the user." -- If you understand that your career is a product, you'll play a different game.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
3 minutes read.
"Many ambitious people choose their next job based largely on Title / Money / Scope. It makes sense, because these factors do actually make you happy when you accept the offer. But they will stop making you happy starting the very first day of your new job. [...] In your job, you know you must first understand your users when building the product. But you never consider that you must first understand yourself as you build the rest of your career. Because when it comes to your career, you are the user." -- If you understand that your career is a product, you'll play a different game.
Read it later via Instapaper.
Share it via Twitter or email.
Inspiring Tweets
@SahilBloom: I’m convinced that no matter how you choose to live, people will tell you that you’re doing it wrong. Wrong priorities. Wrong work. Wrong relationships. Wrong whatever. Your entire life will change the moment you learn to smile, nod, and ignore every single one of them.
@ketacode: In 1 day, you can create a product, understand no one actually wants it and shut it down, instead of 4 years of bootstrapping
- Oren
P.S. Can you share this email? I'd love for more people to experiment and improve their company's culture.
P.S. Can you share this email? I'd love for more people to experiment and improve their company's culture.