You have come to expect bad service. You hate calling the bank, right? You just know you will spend a good part of your morning on hold. And you can predict with accuracy how an employee at the home improvement store will respond when you ask about a certain item: “If it’s not on the shelf, we don’t have it.”| www.aha.io
Features vs. benefits. Which are more important? As a product manager, you need to focus on both. Because you are responsible for making sure that the right functionality gets built and that your product delivers real value to customers. But it is easy to get so caught up in what your product can do that you lose sight of why those capabilities matter to customers.| www.aha.io
There are certain phrases that make a product manager cringe. For me, it is when customers refer to the process of submitting feedback as throwing ideas into a “black hole.” Ouch. I never want a customer to feel this way. This is one reason why our team at Aha! created a new goal this year: zero unreviewed customer ideas. Seriously.| www.aha.io
You are so busy that you are tired. Really tired. Seven-days-a-week, 12-hours-a-day tired. And you still have more to do, more than seems possible for just one person. But you are not the only one — this is how it always is for company founders. You are consistently on the edge of too much, but you will go until you cannot go anymore. And then you do it again the next day.| www.aha.io
You start the day off ready to cruise through your schedule and To-do list. And then… the speed bumps appear out of nowhere. Impromptu meetings. Last-minute requests. Fire drills from the sales team. If this sounds like your typical work day, I have good news for you — you are a fortunate product manager.| www.aha.io
When is the last time you expressed gratitude to a co-worker? I am not talking about a quick “thanks” in an email. I am talking about taking a moment to tell them why you are grateful — for how they contribute to the team and how they make your own work better.| www.aha.io
What does it mean if someone calls you bold? It could be that your actions seem courageous. Or that you take risks and have a certain fearlessness to your character. But it does not necessarily mean you are thoughtful. Although it should. Because boldness requires listening and openness too — traits that are sorely needed today.| www.aha.io
Something different. This is what my co-founder Dr. Chris Waters and I had in mind when we founded Aha! five years ago. We had spent nearly 20 years working in Silicon Valley and building breakthrough products at both large technology companies and smaller startups. And in plain terms — we were successful in lots of meaningful ways but we experienced a lot we did not like in the process.| www.aha.io
I recently shared some good news with you — Aha! was named Company of the Year in the Stevie Awards’ 2018 American Business Awards. I also shared that this recognition was a perfect moment for the Aha! team. It is humbling when others recognize your success. And I am excited to announce that we just won another prestigious award.| www.aha.io
I never imagined that I would talk with our company about a pandemic. But for many leaders, last week brought the unimaginable. It did for me on Wednesday, which I typically set aside for deep introspection and strategy. I spent that afternoon going through my own assumptions about the potential impact of coronavirus on the world, our company, our customers, and our team. Those reflections were the basis for a heartfelt conversation with the entire Aha! team last Friday.| www.aha.io
Brian de Haaff was named Thought Leader of the Year in the Business Products category of the 2025 American Business Awards. He received the Gold Stevie Award — the highest distinction in the category.| www.aha.io
I remember the first time a customer yelled at me. I was a senior product manager and the company was working on a new network optimization device — one we promised would save costs and reduce network congestion. Unfortunately, we hit a couple of roadblocks in the process. The first was that we delivered the product months late. The second (and worst) was that it crashed the customer’s test network.| www.aha.io
T-R-M. You will hear these three letters often at Aha! — with teammates exclaiming things like, “Melissa showed some next-level TRM today, showing the customer new functionality that they needed before they even asked for it.” Or “I reported a bug to the engineering team and it was fixed within 10 minutes. Serious TRM!” So, what is TRM? It stands for The Responsive Method. It is the engine that powers us.| www.aha.io
In 2018 Aha! surpassed over 5,000 paying customers with an annual revenue of $40 million. Learn how we do it with a fully remote global team.| www.aha.io
Extreme openness. This was the original intention of the open-office design. Breaking down walls would also break down barriers — everyone could exchange ideas throughout the day. The organization would realize a hyper-state of transparency where the best ideas would always win. But I bet you have experienced a different reality with this floorplan.| www.aha.io
Brian de Haaff and Dr. Chris Waters founded Aha! in the spring of 2013 in Menlo Park, California. Our entirely remote team is committed to helping companies innovate and build lovable products.| www.aha.io
We introduced the Minimum Lovable Product as a direct response to the Minimum Viable Product. This is how to delight customers from the start.| www.aha.io
Super busy? Calendar overload? Brian de Haaff, Aha! co-founder and CEO, shares four questions leaders can use to prioritize the most impactful work and engage deeply with the team.| www.aha.io
Aha! is 100% remote, productive, and hiring! Work from wherever you work best. Join one of the fastest-growing software companies that does its best to put people first.| www.aha.io