Remarkability Principle

Great products must be better along dimensions that matter so much that people can't help but talk about them

Gokul Rajaram
Picking where to work, hiring, investing, and product development

Remarkability Principle

"The product itself ideally needs to have some remarkability. What I mean by that is, it needs to be better than anything else that solves that pain point along a few dimensions that really matter, even if it's worse along other dimensions." - Gokul Rajaram

What It Is

The Remarkability Principle states that successful products must be so notably better along specific dimensions that people naturally want to remark on them - to talk about them with others. This isn't about being better at everything; it's about being dramatically better at the things that matter most to users.

The term "remarkable" is literal: your product should generate remarks. If users don't feel compelled to tell others about your product unprompted, you haven't achieved remarkability. This is especially critical in consumer products where paid acquisition channels are becoming less reliable.

How It Works

What Remarkability Is

  • Being significantly better along dimensions users care about
  • Creating experiences that naturally generate conversation
  • Solving pain points so effectively that users become advocates
  • Building "wow moments" that stick in memory

What Remarkability Is Not

  • Being incrementally better across all features
  • Having the longest feature list
  • Being cheaper than alternatives
  • Spending more on marketing

The Tradeoff

Remarkable products can be worse along some dimensions as long as they're dramatically better at what matters most:

Example Dramatically Better At Acceptable Tradeoffs
Early iPhone Touch interface, design Battery life, features
Square Reader Simplicity, setup Processing fees
Airbnb Unique experiences Standardization

Why It Matters Now

"I'm seeing a lot of consumer companies challenged because they relied on Facebook or paid media to drive customer acquisition, and bunch of young companies are coming to me saying, 'What do we do now?' I'm like, 'Look, the biggest thing you did wrong initially was you didn't pay enough attention to organic growth.'"

As paid channels become more expensive and less reliable, remarkability becomes the difference between sustainable growth and dependence on capital.

How to Apply It

  1. Identify your core value proposition - What specific pain point do you solve?

  2. Find the dimensions that matter - What aspects do users care most about?

  3. Be dramatically better there - Not 10% better, but obviously and notably better

  4. Accept being worse elsewhere - Don't dilute focus by trying to be good at everything

  5. Test for remarkability - Ask users: "When was the last time you told someone about us?"

  6. Design for conversation - Create features and experiences that naturally become stories

When to Use It

  • Evaluating product strategy and positioning
  • Deciding where to invest product resources
  • Assessing product-market fit
  • Planning growth strategy
  • Evaluating acquisition channel mix

The Connection to Growth

Seth Godin popularized this concept, and Gokul reinforces it: remarkable products have built-in distribution. When users naturally talk about your product, you've created an acquisition channel that:

  • Is free
  • Cannot be competed away
  • Compounds over time
  • Builds trust through social proof

Source

  • Guest: Gokul Rajaram
  • Episode: "Picking where to work, hiring, investing, and product development"
  • Key Discussion: (00:16:33) - Product remarkability and organic growth
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

Related Frameworks

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