Market Engineering: Because Markets Don't Build Themselves

by Bruce Cleveland

Products don't fail. Markets do.Every year, startups and enterprises pour millions into building world-class products--only to watch them disappear into obscurity. The problem isn't the technology. It's the inability to capture and then dominate a market.

In Market Engineering, Silicon Valley veteran Bruce Cleveland reveals the discipline behind market-dominating companies like Salesforce, Marketo, and C3 AI. Drawing on decades of experience as an operator, investor, and board member, Cleveland demonstrates how leaders can apply the same rigor to markets that they bring to products.

You'll discover how

Compel markets to come to you instead of chasing themPosition your company so customers get it instantlyBuild messaging and stories that break through the noiseEstablish thought leadership that sets the rules for your industryAdapt to the AI era with Generative Engine Optimization (GEO)Market Engineering is the playbook for founders, executives, and boards who want their companies to lead--not follow.

221 pages, Hardcover

Published June 2, 2026

Reviews

[Keith Raffel]

Whether you are a founder, CEO, general manager, marketing director, or product manager, this is the book for you. Bruce Cleveland, whom I worked with and admired, has laid out exactly what you need for success in this age of AI and technological rupture. Bruce has the insight, savvy, and experience to guide you through all phases of a company’s business in the open, fast-moving, crowded marketplaces of the next decade. As someone who has made the pivot from startup CEO to author, I especially appreciated what Bruce has to say about storytelling being at least as important to a corporate executive as to a bestselling novelist. Spending $12.99 on this book could pay off with the kind of return any venture capitalist would salivate over.

[Steve Brock]

I have selected this book as Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 6/7, as it stands heads above other recently published books on this topic.

[James Newman]

Following up on his Traversing the Traction Gap, another must read for any business professional.