During the first half of his career, the speaker focused mainly on product, pricing, packaging, and go-to-market strategies. However, he now believes that these aspects only represent 1% of success. The remaining 99% is about people - your team, investors, community, and market. Mastering these aspects is incredibly difficult but essential. The speaker dismisses the importance of studying SaaS metrics, emphasizing that it is more valuable to study books by authors like Sam Walton and Daniel Kahneman. They provide numerous book recommendations for different types of people.