Ian Vanagas

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Articles

WTF is activation and why should engineers care?

2 months ago | newsletter.posthog.com | Ian Vanagas |Gergely Orosz

Improving activation is one of the most impactful things a product engineer can do, but it’s also weirdly hard to define. People often call it your product’s "aha" moment – i.e. when a user experiences your product's value for the first time – but this is vague and subjective. So why isn't there a simple, universal definition? Because:It’s unique to your product. No two products are exactly the same, so it’s impossible to generalize. This is also why activation benchmarks suck.
The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Rockstar Product Engineer

Jun 9, 2024 | read.highgrowthengineer.com | Jordan Cutler |Ian Vanagas |Raviraj Achar |Wes Kao

Hi everyone đ, Jordan here. Today, we have a special guest post from at , one of the fastest-growing tech newsletters. Product for Engineers helps engineers build product-thinking skills and 10x their impact. Itâs also written by folks at PostHog, an open-source and all-in-one suite of product and data tools. This article will give you everything you need to become a rockstar product engineer.
Improve your SQL skills X2 in 5 minutes

Feb 13, 2024 | zaidesanton.substack.com | Anton Zaides |Zach Wilson |Ian Vanagas |Kevin Naughton Jr.

I divided the SQL knowledge into 6 stages. I’m not an SQL expert (you can read my mistakes in ‘How I destroyed the company’s DB’) and I probably missed some stuff, so take it as a generalization: Very basic - select, from, where. Basic - group by and having. Beginners - joins - left/right/outer/inner/self join Intermediate - subqueriesMost people stop after learning this stage, and it’s a shame.
The hidden reason why BC’s startup scene struggles

Oct 17, 2023 | vantechjournal.com | Ian Vanagas

People blame the struggling startup scene in B.C. on many things. Cost of living, brain drain, office space, investors, risk appetite, and more. These are part of the problem, but they aren’t the largest part of the problem. B.C.’s startup scene is in its current position because of a lack of liquidity events. A liquidity event, also known as an exit, basically means a large amount of the company’s capital and investment turns into cash (or equivalent).