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David Sacks: A Great Product Hook Gets People to the Magic Moment in Seconds

By David Sacks · Product & Building · 1 min read

Sacks says the hook is a simple interaction that users will believably engage in. A tweet. A button that summons a car. If you can't get users to do something simple, adding complexity won't help.

Key Points

The hook is a simple behavior that users will repeatedly engage in
If you can't get users to engage in a simple behavior, adding bells and whistles won't help
Given a choice between a founder with a market need and one with a great product hook, take the hook

Given a choice between a founder who's discovered a market need versus one that has a great product hook, I would rather take the product hook.

The Hook

Sacks: Once you have an idea of what your market need is, you develop the product. The thing I look for is what I call the hook — a simple interaction that users will believably engage in.

Sometimes I see entrepreneurs who have a great idea for a market, they've pointed out some inefficiency, but they haven't been able to productize that insight into something people will actually use. The product is too complicated. It doesn't immediately engage people.

What you're looking for is a simple behavior that users will repeatedly engage in. It could be the tweet — a simple status update. Or you push a button and a town car shows up.

The hook is a simple interaction that users will believably engage in. A tweet. A button and a car shows up.

Simple Before Complex

Sacks: The problem with designing a product that doesn't have a hook is that it's very hard to get users to engage in more complicated behaviors if you can't get them to engage in a simple behavior.

Complexifying your product and adding a whole lot of bells and whistles won't necessarily improve it if there's not a core behavior that users are willing to engage in.

If you can't get them to engage in a simple behavior, adding bells and whistles won't help.

Hook Over Market Analysis

Sacks: Sometimes the hook is just explosive — even to the point where the entrepreneurs didn't know what their market need was. Twitter was kind of like that. It just took off. I'm not sure the creators knew they'd be disrupting the news industry. But they felt like people would use the product.

Given a choice between a founder who's discovered a market need versus one that has a great product hook, I would rather take the product hook — even if they still have to figure out what market they're actually disrupting.

This is why entrepreneurial types tend not to be the super analytical McKinsey consultants or Harvard MBAs. It's the more eclectic, idiosyncratic entrepreneurs who figure this stuff out — because they're able to build a product that has a hook and gets traction.

Given a choice between a market need and a great product hook, I'd take the hook every time.