If you build it, they will come.

That sums it all up.  Every company needs a good marketing strategy, winner team, a clever business model, long-term partnerships, imaginative PR, great management, effective administration, a strong buzz, great technology experts, driven sales force, good quality assurance, and, if possible, a great atmosphere in the office.

But there’s nothing like a great product.  If a product is good, if it brings value to the people who use it – they’ll come and use it.  This principle is so simple, yet so powerful.  Therefore, I believe that the product should be in the center of the company’s vision and mission statement.  Because, ultimately, people like good products.

This blog is all about products and the value they provide.  Here, products are both reviewed and compared, and discussed and checked for value and meaning.

About me

My name is Ofir Shahar, and I love products.

I love watching them work, and I love making them work.  I love to see how they give value to people and to work constantly in order to give value to people through my products.  I strongly believe that good products are the core of every business, and even though companies may succeed without them, they are the true reason for actually working on something.

I’m a former product marketing executive, and did plenty of product related work for Israeli companies.  I originally come from a technical background, but found the creative process of product marketing, development and design to be more thrilling and fascinating than algorithms and data structures.  So I combined my art background with my technical knowledge, along with a fairly basic understanding of human needs, moved to the product realm and never looked back.

I’m involved with several startups, both here in Israel and abroad, as a product marketing and development advisor.  I may review products that I’m involved in, but will do my best to stay neutral.  In any event, I’ll make sure everybody knows of this involvement.

My interests are (in no particular order): web and internet-related products, history, cooking, music (classical and jazz), art, great food, philosophy, literature, web development, film, the study of myths and religions, reading, and meeting interesting people.

I currently live in Israel.