What are common diseases of product teams, and how do you avoid them? Why should you focus less on problem discovery and more on solution discovery? How do you maintain your product mojo? After working as a product leader for over 20 years, Marty Cagan started Silicon Valley Product Group to help product teams operate at a higher level. In this conversation, Marty shares what Steve Jobs can teach you about building product, how to structure your teams for innovation, how to improve your product culture, which trends in PM to ignore, and much more. After this, you’ll never think about building teams the same way. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan-silicon-valley-product-group/#transcript—Where to find Marty Cagan:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cagan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan/• SVPG: https://www.svpg.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Whimsical: https://whimsical.com/lenny• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Modern Treasury: https://www.moderntreasury.com/—Referenced:• The Nature of Product: https://www.svpg.com/the-nature-of-product/• Devolving From Good To Bad: https://www.svpg.com/devolving-from-good-to-bad/• Shreyas Doshi: https://twitter.com/shreyas• The Lost Interview: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Lost-Interview/dp/B01IJD1BES• Continuous Discovery Habits: Discover Products that Create Customer Value and Business Value by Theresa Torres: https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Discovery-Habits-Discover-Products/dp/1736633309• Sprint: How to Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Just Five Days by Jake Knapp: https://www.amazon.com/Sprint-Solve-Problems-Test-Ideas/dp/1442397683• Patrick Collison on User Research: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1443215022029619200—In this episode, we cover:[03:46] The biggest misconceptions about what a good product team does and looks like [07:49] The qualities that separate the best product teams[16:20] The downfall of innovation in great product teams[17:43] The gap between the best and the rest[19:23] The pitfalls product teams can fall into[27:46] The role of user research in building a great product[35:26] What individual contributors can do to shift product culture[41:04] How PMs can set themselves up for success when trying to change product culture[44:06] How product management is changing[55:33] The pitfalls Marty warns to watch out for in product management—Production and marketing: https://penname.co/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

What makes a great brand? After working at Google and Square, Arielle Jackson has spent the past eight years consulting startups on how to create powerful messaging that works. In this jam-packed episode, she shares how to pick a winning name for your company, create a brand purpose that excites your team and customers, and position your company and its products for success. You don’t want to miss this one!—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-of-building-legendary-brands—Where to find Arielle Jackson:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/hiiamarielle• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariellerjackson/• Course: https://maven.com/arielle/startupbrandstrategy—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Unit: https://unit.co/lenny• Athletic Greens: https://athleticgreens.com/lenny—Referenced:• Positioning Your Startup Is Vital—Here’s How to Nail It: https://review.firstround.com/Positioning-Your-Startup-is-Vital-Heres-How-to-Do-It-Right• Three Moves Every Startup Founder Must Make to Build a Brand That Matters: https://review.firstround.com/three-moves-every-startup-founder-must-make-to-build-a-brand-that-matters• What I Learned from Developing Branding for Airbnb, Dropbox, and Thumbtack: https://review.firstround.com/what-i-learned-from-developing-branding-for-airbnb-dropbox-and-thumbtack• Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind: https://www.amazon.com/Positioning-Battle-Your-Al-Ries/dp/0071373586• Alchemy: The Dark Art and Curious Science of Creating Magic in Brands, Business, and Life: https://www.amazon.com/Alchemy-Curious-Science-Creating-Business/dp/006238841X• The Vanishing Half: https://britbennett.com/the-vanishing-half• The Mothers: https://britbennett.com/the-mothers• Nik Sharma’s weekly newsletter: https://www.nik.co/subscribe• How I Built This: https://www.npr.org/series/490248027/how-i-built-this• In Depth: https://review.firstround.com/podcast• Unseen Unknown: https://unseen-unknown.simplecast.com/• Luca: https://movies.disney.com/luca• Encanto: https://movies.disney.com/encanto• Old Enough!: https://www.netflix.com/title/81506279• The Sociology of Business with Ana Andjelic: https://andjelicaaa.substack.com• David Ogilvy: https://www.oneclub.org/hall-of-fame/-bio/david-ogilvy• Rory Sutherland: https://twitter.com/rorysutherland• Seth Godin: https://seths.blog/—In this episode, we cover:[04:04] From making jewelry as a side hustle to launching products for Square: Arielle’s background[12:32] What makes a good name for a product or a startup[19:17] How to come up with a great name[24:59] How to run a naming brainstorm for the best results[31:09] Bad names and naming mistakes[34:17] Arielle’s brand development framework and when founders should implement it[36:02] How do you know when brand development is completed?[41:17] How long should branding take?[42:42] How to build a brand purpose that ignites excitement[48:51] Specific tactics for building your brand purpose[51:12] How to master your positioning[55:22] Why it’s important to stay niche when you’re mastering your positioning[59:15] The process of positioning and Arielle’s bar test[1:02:38] How to build a brand personality using the five big brand descriptions[1:07:39] Where to put brand and product positioning documents so they’ll actually get used[1:09:14] How startups can get PR[1:14:49] When should you hire a marketer?—Production and marketing: https://penname.co/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Shishir Mehrotra is the co-founder and CEO of Coda, and formerly head of product and engineering at YouTube. In this episode, he shares his insights on growth strategy, how he evaluates talent, a peek at his upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams, why reference checks are the most important step in the interview process, and so much more. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/#transcript—Where to find Shishir Mehrotra:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/shishirmehrotra• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shishirmehrotra/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/— Referenced:• The Rituals of Great Teams Braintrust: https://coda.io/@shishir/join-the-rituals-of-great-teams-braintrust• Bing Gordon: https://www.kleinerperkins.com/people/bing-gordon/• Switch by Chip Heath and Dan Heath: https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752• PSHE diagram: https://coda.io/@shishir/pshe• Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/1627652736• Only Murders in the Building: https://www.hulu.com/series/only-murders-in-the-building-ef31c7e1-cd0f-4e07-848d-1cbfedb50ddf• WandaVision: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WandaVision• Fidji Simo: https://twitter.com/fidjissimo• Daniel Ek: https://twitter.com/eldsjal/• Reid Hoffman: https://twitter.com/reidhoffman?• Mamoon Hamid: https://twitter.com/mamoonha• Quentin Clark: https://twitter.com/quentinclark• Sarah Guo: https://twitter.com/saranormous—In this episode, we cover:[4:13] Shishir’s background at Google and current role at Coda[7:53] How Shishir got on the board of Spotify[8:58] Black loops and blue loops and how Coda uses this internal diagram [9:52] The black loop is how a product is naturally shared[12:15] The blue loop is the emotional loop on why products are shared[14:55] Why you should think in loops instead of funnels[18:20] Mining for your business’s loops by looking at what you tell job candidates[24:37] Shishir’s upcoming book The Rituals of Great Teams [26:30] The 3 golden rituals of teams[27:10] Coda’s golden ritual: Dory and Pulse[31:29] Shishir’s most impactful rituals: Arianna Huffington’s reset, Gusto’s incredible hiring call, and Coinbase’s Rapids[40:38] How you find your own team’s rituals[42:50] How to change things when change is hard[45:01] Airbnb’s unique rituals[46:45] A backstory on YouTube, and valuing consistency over comprehensiveness[53:00] Eigenquestions: What they are, how to use them, and examples[59:05] One of Shishir’s favorite retired interview questions [1:03:11] How to evaluate talent, a story about YouTube, and breaking down PSHE[1:15:20] How to approach reference checks and what questions to ask[1:24:33] Favorite books[1:25:50] Favorite TV shows and movies[1:26:50] Favorite interview questions[1:28:44] Who in the industry Shishir respects as a thought leader[1:30:10] His go-to karaoke song[1:30:40] Where you can find Shishir— Production and marketing: https://penname.co/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Thousands of new products launch each year, but very few make it. Ryan Hoover has seen thousands of products launched over the course of his time running Product Hunt, and through his investing, and in this episode you’ll hear what Ryan has learned about launching products, growing products, and raising capital. Plus, we play a made up game called “What would you rather upvote?” Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-launch-and-grow-your-product-ryan-hoover-of-product-hunt-and-weekend-fund/#transcript—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• RevenueCat: https://www.revenuecat.com/• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Lenny’s Giveaway Bonanza: https://lennyspodcast.com/bonanza—Where to find Ryan Hoover:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/rrhoover• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanrhoover/• Website: https://www.ryanhoover.me/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:[03:23] On being a tech celebrity [09:02] Using Twitter DM’s as a content machine[11:15] The questions most founders ask [14:48] When should you start a company?[18:28] Would Ryan raise money for Product Hunt if he could do it again?[21:48] When should companies launch products?[24:52] What makes a launch successful versus not?[26:27] How to get to the top of Product Hunt[30:01] What skill is most helpful for moving into investing and venture capital?[31:39] What Ryan would do differently if he could re-build Product Hunt[38:57] What matters most in life[43:13] Which ideas Ryan would upvote[48:05] What founders of consumer companies do to succeed[55:33] Deciding to serve a niche or broad market[58:03] The surprising parts of angel investing[1:02:12] Advice for folks wanting to get into angel investing Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Do you put as much time into your career planning as you do into your product planning? Deb Liu has had an extraordinary career path, from Ebay and PayPal, to Facebook, and now Ancestry. She’s sat in on, mentored, and managed hundreds of product managers. In this episode, she shares poignant advice on how to intentionally find growth opportunities and drive your career forward. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-own-your-career-growth-and-become-a-powerful-product-leader-deb-liu-ancestry-ex-facebook-paypal/#transcript—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Makelog: https://www.makelog.com/lenny—Where to find Deb Liu:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/debliu_• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deborahliu/• Substack: https://debliu.substack.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Referenced:• Take Back Your Power: 10 New Rules for Women at Work (Deb’s Book): https://www.amazon.com/Take-Back-Your-Power-Rules/dp/031036485X• How To Change Your Life Through Resolutions: https://debliu.substack.com/p/resolve-to-progress—In this episode, we cover:[04:32] What it was like when eBay acquired PayPal[07:31] Quirky culture clashes as the companies merged[09:46] How incentives drive employee behavior[14:43] How Deb took on a product management role at a young age[17:51] PayPal’s hiring strategy for early growth[20:03] How to succeed as an introverted leader[25:29] What sets successful Product Managers apart from one’s who plateau[27:09] Specific tactics for unlocking growth in your Product Management career[32:06] How to find and create mentorship circles[36:30] The most important skill for early Product Managers to focus on[43:58] How to grow your confidence in communication[46:55] Deb’s upcoming book "Take Back Your Power"[50:35] One tactical tip from Deb’s upcoming book on how to improve your Product Management[52:09] How to get involved with Women In Product[57:11] How companies can recruit more diverse Product Managers[1:00:04] How Deb built Facebook marketplace from scratch[1:06:03] The blessing and curse of gaining a lot of users quickly Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

You don’t need lots of employees to achieve impressive growth—but you do need a unique approach to hiring and structuring your team, and accurately measuring your growth efforts. Crystal Widjaja has used scrappy tactics to unlock massive success for Gojek (a wildly successful ride-share app in South East Asia) and is currently the Chief Product Officer at Kumu. In this episode, she shares the exact strategies she’s used as a product leader to hack growth, hire the best, and perfect data collection. Join us.Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-hire-for-measure-and-unlock—Where to find Crystal:• Website: https://www.crissyw.com/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/crystalwidjaja• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crystalwidjaja/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Referenced:• Generation Girl: https://www.generationgirl.org/• Experiment Design Question Example: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1tSrEGpvg19OMKrRg45HGvsZBGz8BkeVc/edit#gid=1841057518—In this episode, we cover:[00:00] Crystal’s path to product[09:40] How Crystal decided to join a risky startup [11:31] Why haven't super apps emerged in the U.S.? [13:15] What startups in the U.S. can learn from companies in Asia[16:35] How to get intentionally scrappier in your organization[18:28] How to get and utilize scrappy and small data sets [21:26] How to increase retention[22:28] What does and doesn't work in growth?[25:01] The conversion rates Crytsal looks for to determine viability and success[28:03] How founders should think about approaching growth[32:44] Figuring out how to grow and the resources you have at your disposal[34:53] Optimizing the funnel to make growth happen faster[37:40] Crystal's biggest lessons on unlocking growth[40:07] Why most analytics efforts fail and how to avoid failure[44:24] Signs your organization is getting analytics wrong[46:17] The best resources for figuring out how to do analytics right[47:05] Crystal's recommendations for metric tracking stacks.[48:37] How you should set up your growth team originally[51:38] Integrating growth teams or separating them?[52:43] Who should be the first growth hire?[53:55] How to hire a great growth person for your organization[56:55] How to help women and young girls get into STEM (a non-profit that you started)[1:02:07] Where to reach Crystal  Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Every company wants to develop a winning strategy—but what are signs your strategy isn’t working, and how do you change course? Melissa Perri has worked trained PMs and product leaders at nearly all the Fortune 100 companies, and in this conversation shares how to reset a struggling strategy, align your team, and build winning strategy. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/how-to-create-a-winning-product-strategy-melissa-perri/#transcript—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• RevenueCat: https://www.revenuecat.com/• Makelog: https://www.makelog.com/lenny—Where to find Melissa:• Website: https://melissaperri.com/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lissijean• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajeanperri/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Referenced:• Melissa’s Book: https://melissaperri.com/book—In this episode, we cover:[00:00] What to expect with guest Melissa Perri[02:57] Melissa’s incredibly vast experience working with product manager’s [04:20] Melissa’s current focus: training and education of PM’s[05:59] The most common problems that product teams face[09:48] When to hire your first CPO[14:27] What to do before hiring a CPO[16:16] When to bring an interim CPO consultant like Melissa[21:26] Signs your team doesn’t have a strategy[22:59] Identifying your vision, strategy and intentions as a company[27:48] Signs you’re doing a bad job as a PM[30:30] The process of defining strategic visions[33:28] How to hone your craft as a PM[43:55] Melissa’s Book — Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value [48:43] How to avoid burnout [52:19] Where to find Melissa Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Advancing as a product leader requires new skills and a new mindset. Ken Norton is an executive coach who works with some of the top people in product to help them get unstuck and find creativity again in their approach to problems and their careers. After 14 years as a Product Manager at Google, Ken brings deep experience in leadership and shares with us the lessons he most often offers his clients to unlock growth. Join us.Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Lenny’s Job Board: https://www.lennysjobs.com/talent• Unit: https://unit.co/lenny—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-unlock-your-product-leadership—Where to find Ken Norton:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/kennethn• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kennethnorton/• Product Leadership Coaching: https://www.bringthedonuts.com/coaching/—Where to find Lenny:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—Books and Resources Recommended By Ken:• Dare To Lead by Brene Brown  • 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership • Mastering Leadership by Bob Anderson • Immunity to Change by Robert Kegan • Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome • Innovator’s Dilemma by Clayton Christensen —In this episode, learn:[00:00] What to expect in this episode with Ken Norton[03:10] Why Ken will never get tired of donuts[05:05] Ken’s career path and what he does with executive coaching now[08:00] What Ken learned from his own executive coach[12:02] Driving a car and the metaphor of learning a new skill[16:20] How Ken’s helping leaders shift their mindset[19:41] Creative vs reactive leadership mindset[22:15] How your underlying beliefs impact your leadership style[33:50] Mindset and authenticity and their role within leadership[39:00] What you can do if you can’t spend a lot on coaching[42:05] Resources Ken recommends (linked in notes)[44:22] Biggest blindspots people have[48:10] Why doing the hard thing, may be the best thing[49:20] What to do with imposter syndrome[58:40] Ways to find a coach[1:01:03] 10x vs 10%[1:05:35] Ken’s one piece of advice for hiring a product manager[1:13:00] How to find Ken Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

The people who rise fastest in product know how to sell their ideas to customers, and also to their coworkers. Casey Winters, the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite (previously at Grubhub, Pinterest, and advisor to dozens of companies) shares what it takes to be successful as you rise in the ranks within product. In this episode we’ll talk about how to land presentations, how to win over executives with strategic communication, the skill sets that are most in demand in product, and new growth trends. Join us.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/#transcript— Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: • Coda: http://coda.io/lenny • Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• Whimsical: https://whimsical.com/lenny — Where to find Casey Winters: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/onecaseman• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/— Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, learn:[00:00] What to expect in this episode with Casey Winters [03:23] An overview of Casey’s career  [06:18] A look into the most-fulfilling and challenging roles Casey has energized [06:50] Communicating upward[11:18] How to derisk meetings[13:53] Are you properly preparing for your meetings?[19:09] Striving for perceived simplicity [24:22] Justifying non-sexy product improvements [27:47] Protecting what you’ve built vs continuously scaling [31:03] The downfall of functional ops roles[35:21] The CPO role: what it is and how to get there[40:44] The spectrum of product people[45:11] How to level up your skills[47:01] New growth trends, tactics, and strategies [50:32] Casey’s two stages of growth: kindle strategies and fire strategies[51:51] Under appreciated growth strategies [54:02] Where to find Casey   Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Nickey Skarstad is a Director of Product Management at Duolingo, where she is leading a stealth 0 → 1 product. Prior to Duolingo, she was VP of Product at The Wing, Product Lead at Airbnb, where she led much of the Experiences product team, Product Lead at Shopify, and Director of Product Management at Etsy.—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• Dovetail: https://dovetailapp.com/lenny• Unit: https://unit.co/lenny—In this episode:[3:32] An overview of Nickey’s career[7:39] What she learned from building product at Airbnb[8:42] How to maintain and operationalize product quality[9:44] Metrics that help you maintain quality[20:08] Which company has most informed her product development approach[21:57] How to structure your product org[24:47] Should you go GM vs. functional[27:18] How you set vision, translate that into goals, and then execute on it[32:30] Brainstorming advice[35:04] How to use OKRs effectively[37:57] How to get better at influence as a PM[41:23] How to know if a decision is a one-way or two-way door[42:29] Second-order decisions, and second-order thinking[46:35] Operationalizing principles[47:17] Getting your team on board with your strategy[49:39] Designing a product review meeting[54:08] Tips for working remotely as a PM[56:44] Lightning round—Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/nickey-skarstad-airbnb-etsy-shopify—Where to find Nickey:• Newsletter: https://nickey.substack.com/• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@nickeyskarstad• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickeyskarstad/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/NickeySkarstad—Referenced:• Thinking in Systems by Donella H. Meadows• Anne Helen Petersen• Superhuman• Loom Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Manik Gupta has led two of the most successful consumer products in history—Google Maps, where he was Director of product for the Maps team, and Uber, where he was CPO. After leaving Uber, he spent some time working on a product to help people avoid getting COVID called CVKey, and most recently he took on a role at Microsoft as Corporate Vice President leading many of their consumer efforts.—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny• Unit: https://unit.co/lenny—In this episode, we cover:[3:55] Patterns for career success[7:19] Why it’s valuable to be optimistic about technology[13:54] Challenges and mistakes through Manik’s career[17:28] How you learn the most about yourself through challenges[20:25] What Manik’s learned about building successful consumer apps[26:18] The importance of company-product fit[30:02] “The consumer stack”—what your company needs to have in place to build a successful consumer product[36:22] The path from PM to CPO[39:19] Evolution of CPO role[44:40] What leads to promotions in a PM career[47:58] What creates inflections in one’s PM career [52:05] How PMs shoot themselves in the foot[55:05] What it’s like to work at Google vs. Uber vs. Microsoft[1:01:35] What he wished he built into Google Maps—Where to find Manik:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manikg/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/manikgupta Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Merci Grace has been a founder, an investor (at Lightspeed Ventures), head of product and growth (at Slack), and is now a founder again (Panobi). She’s also one of the co-founders of Women in Product, and Fast Company named her one of the Most Creative People in 2017.—Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:• Dovetail: https://dovetailapp.com/lenny• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups• Whimsical: https://whimsical.com/lenny—In this episode, we cover:[3:41] Merci’s path to Head of Product and Growth at Slack[4:42] What Merci learned from being a VC that helps her be a better founder[6:50] How to tell a compelling story[9:43] What most people don’t know about Slack[10:27] Why Slack hasn’t created a consumer/social product[15:14] How Slack innovated the PLG motion[17:14] Slack’s early growth strategy[19:57] Slack’s activation point[22:10] Why it’s important to find connectors within a company[26:40] Lessons from optimizing Slack’s onboarding flow[32:12] Most common mistakes in going PLG[35:56] Signs you can go PLG[38:10] PLG vs. bottom-up[40:23] Importance of day-zero value in your tool[42:17] When to bring in your first salesperson[44:47] How to hire amazing people [50:21] Storytelling and Slack’s culture[51:04] How and when to build a growth team[52:08] How to build a more diverse team—Where to find Merci:• Panobi: https://panobi.com/• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/merci/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/merci• Website: https://mercigrace.co/• Women in Product: https://www.womenpm.org/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Sanchan Saxena is VP of Product at Coinbase. Before Coinbase, Sanchan was Head of Product and GM at Airbnb, founder and Head of Product of Instagram Shopping, Director of Product Management at Yahoo, and Lead PM at Microsoft.—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Dovetail: https://dovetailapp.com/lenny• Persona: https://withpersona.com/lenny• Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/—In this episode, you’ll learn:[3:50] How Sanchan worked his way up to VP of Product at Coinbase[6:15] Sanchan’s best advice to early-stage PMs[9:41] What to look for in a company to join[12:09] What Sanchan learned from Airbnb[16:40] Behind the scenes of how Airbnb survived the Covid downturn when travel completely stopped[21:49] How Airbnb tactically planned in two-week cycles[25:00] How to keep morale up during a disaster[29:00] What Sanchan learned from Brian Chesky, Brian Armstrong, and Kevin Systrom[36:08] How to know when to trust your gut vs. A/B testing[41:57] How Coinbase makes decisions[46:30] How teams use the RAPID decision-making process[47:00] How to operate in an ambiguous industry like web3[49:00] How to know if you should get into web3[51:46] How to hire and close amazing candidates[54:40] What to look for in product leaders[57:13] Lightning round—Where to find Sanchan:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanchans/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/sanchans Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Teresa Torres is an internationally acclaimed author, speaker, and coach. She teaches a structured and sustainable system for continuous discovery that helps product teams infuse their daily product decisions with customer input. She’s coached hundreds of teams at companies of all sizes, from early-stage startups to global enterprises, in a variety of industries. She has taught over 11,000 product people discovery skills through the Product Talk Academy and hundreds through her coaching practice, and is the author of Continuous Discovery Habits.—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Persona: https://withpersona.com/lenny• Dovetail: https://dovetailapp.com/lenny• Stytch: https://stytch.com/—In this episode, we cover:[3:37] How Teresa is in the top 5 people in the world who’s helped the most PMs.[5:25] What is the “opportunity solution tree framework”?[8:19] What’s an example of an opportunity solution tree, for Netflix?[14:17] Why do we usually approach opportunity finding wrong?[18:10] What should you do if your company is a feature factory?[21:00] What is continuous discovery, and why is it so important?[23:13] What do you do if your leaders tell you there’s no time for user research?[25:55] How can you automate weekly conversations with customers?[29:04] How do you stay unbiased as a PM about a potential solution?[31:23] Should a PM have more say over other functions?[35:33] What are Teresa’s best tips for how to interview customers?[39:57] What’s the most common mistake people make while interviewing customers?[40:25] How does discovery change as your company grows?[43:27] When should you do user research and when should you run an experiment?—Where to find Teresa:• Product Talk: https://www.producttalk.org/• Opportunity solution tree: https://www.producttalk.org/opportunity-solution-tree/• Continuous Discovery Habits: https://www.amazon.com/Continuous-Discovery-Habits-Discover-Products/dp/1736633309• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/teresatorres/• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ttorres Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brandon Chu is VP of Product at Shopify, where he leads the app platform ecosystem, new initiatives group, and M&A investments. Brandon helped scale Shopify’s PM team from five to hundreds, and worked his way up from an IC Senior PM. Prior to Shopify, he was a Director of PM at FreshBooks and, before that, a founder. Brandon might be best known for his writing on the art and science of product management as part of a collection on Medium he calls “The Black Box of Product Management.”—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Stytch: https://stytch.com/• Persona: https://withpersona.com/lenny• PostHog: https://posthog.com/lenny—In this episode, we cover:1) Brandon’s path to VP of Product at Shopify.2) What has Brandon found to be the most important skill set for super-successful PMs?3) What is it like to build product at Shopify?4) How did Shopify adjust after the shock to e-commerce during Covid?5) How did Shopify build a one-click team offsite flight/hotel/activity booking platform?6) How did Brandon motivate himself to start, and keep, writing?7) As a PM, why is writing one of the highest-ROI uses of your time?8) What’s Brandon’s favorite piece of writing?9) What are the biggest surprises, pros, and cons about being a platform PM?—Where to find Brandon:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/brandonmchu• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandonmchu/• Brandon’s writing: https://blackboxofpm.com/• Making Good Decisions as a Product Manager: https://blackboxofpm.com/making-good-decisions-as-a-product-manager-c66ddacc9e2b Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Elena Verna has led growth at some of today’s most successful B2B businesses, including Miro as CMO, Surveymonkey as SVP of Growth, and now at Amplitude as interim Head of Growth. She’s also worked closely with over a dozen companies on growth and product strategy, including companies like MongoDB, Clockwise, and Netlify (where she sits on the board of directors). Elena is undoubtedly one of the smartest people on growth strategy in the world.—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Persona: https://withpersona.com/lenny• Stytch: https://stytch.com/• PostHog: https://posthog.com/lenny—In this episode, we cover:1) How did Elena go from an analyst at Safeway to Head of Product at Amplitude?2) What’s changing in B2B growth?3) What exactly is “product-led growth,” and how can you apply it at every stage of growth?4) How is PLG already transforming itself?5) Why do you need to be both product-led and sales-led?6) Why does PLG often get crushed when you move upmarket, and how do you avoid this?7) What it looks like when your PLG motion is dying.8) Why product-led is the future of sales.9) Why is freemium the way to go, over trial?10) Why should you hire internally for your first growth hire?—Where to find Elena:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna• Twitter: https://twitter.com/elenaverna Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Before getting into teaching full-time, Gibson Biddle was VP of Product at Netflix and CPO at Chegg (a textbook rental and homework help company). He now spends his days speaking, writing, and hosting workshops on product leadership, strategy, and culture. There are very few people in the world who’ve worked with, and had an impact on, more product managers.—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Flatfile: flatfile.com/lenny• Coda: coda.io/lenny• PostHog: posthog.com/lenny—In this episode, we cover:1) Gibson’s career path to VP of Product at Netflix, CPO at Chegg, and eventually teaching full-time.2) The DHM model: The 3 factors of a product strategy for consumer companies, how you can apply it to your product strategy, and how Gibson used this model for decisions made at Netflix.3) Five mini case studies of the DHM model that could be applied to Netflix’s strategy.4) The GEM prioritization model: What are the 3 areas a company can optimize on? What is the fundamental misalignment that destroys startups? 5) How could you start building your product strategy muscle, even when you’re only two weeks into your new role?6) Building your personal board of directors.7) What does it take to become a CPO someday?8) What specifics in a daily routine separate a good product manager from a great product manager?9) What’s the one piece of advice Gibson has for product managers in their early career?—Where to find Gibson:• Ask Gib Product Newsletter: https://askgib.substack.com/• Gibson’s baby website: www.gibsonbiddle.com• Intro to product strategy: https://gibsonbiddle.medium.com/intro-to-product-strategy-60bdf72b17e3 Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Jackie Bavaro is the author of the best-selling books Cracking the PM Interview and Cracking the PM Career. She was most recently at Asana, where she joined as its first product manager and later became the head of product. Earlier in her career, Jackie was a PM at Google and Microsoft, where she worked on high-impact products such as Google Search and Microsoft SharePoint.In this episode, we cover:1. How did Jackie become head of product at Asana? Start writing the best-selling PM books on interviews and the career ladder?2. How and why to find a product coach.3. What are the downsides of being a manager? How do you know if you want to go into management?4. Can you stay an IC vs. becoming a manager?5. What is “strategy”? What are the 3 components of a strategy?6. What makes a good/bad strategy?7. What are some ways to get better at strategy?8. When should you start to invest in building your strategy muscle?9. What are signs that your strategy is off?10. What’s Jackie’s best piece of career advice?11. Why is it smart to join a big company?12. What are some of the most common mistakes PMs make early in their career?13. What is the one thing Jackie thinks every PM should do regardless of their level?Where to find Jackie:- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jackiebo - Books: Cracking the PM Interview and Cracking the PM Career: https://amzn.to/3If6X9U- Medium: ​​https://jackiebo.medium.comReferences:- Jackie’s book rec: Getting Things Done, by David Allen- Current favorite app, Paprika: https://www.paprikaapp.com- Favorite Twitter: https://twitter.com/hels - PEARL framework: https://jackiebo.medium.com/interview-tips-for-senior-pms-2424f7b7c967- Eigenquestions: https://coda.io/@shishir/eigenquestions-the-art-of-framing-problemsThank you to our amazing sponsors:* Flatfile: www.flatfile.com/lenny* Amplitude: www.amplitude.com* PostHog: www.posthog.com/lenny Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Gokul Rajaram serves on the executive team at DoorDash, where he leads the Caviar product line. Previously he worked at Square, where he was also on the executive team and led a number of key product lines, and as a product director at Facebook, where he helped the company transition its advertising business to become mobile-first. Earlier in his career, Gokul was a product director for Google AdSense, where he helped launch the product and grow it into a substantial portion of Google’s business. Gokul also serves on the boards of Coinbase, Pinterest, and The Trade Desk and is a prolific angel investor, having invested in companies like Airtable, Khatabook, and 100+ more.In this episode, you will learn:1. How to navigate your next career - What should you focus on in order to improve your optionality?- What should you consider as you look for your next career adventure?- Why join winners in a space?- Why should people entering the workforce join mid-stage companies?- Why there are many paths to success.2. How to build a product development process at early-stage companies- What does the best product development process typically look like at different company stages? - What are some common pitfalls when building these processes?3. Hiring PMs- When should you hire your first PM? What should you look for?- When should you wait longer to hire a PM?- What’s the number one secret for hiring a product leader, regardless of industry? - How much time should you allocate for hiring as a founder?- How might job titles impact your company’s work culture?4. How to start angel investing - How did Gokul start investing in startups? What would he have done differently?- What does he look for in a startup pitch? - How much time should you spend as a part-time investor? - How do you find deals as a new investor?Where to find Gokul:- Twitter: https://twitter.com/gokulr References:- Gokul’s current favorite app, Coinbase Wallet: https://www.coinbase.com/wallet - Favorite book, Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://rogerlmartin.com/lets-read/playing-to-win - TED talk: TEDxConcordia - Lenny Rachitsky - Losing Serendipity —Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Flatfile: https://flatfile.com/Lenny• Productboard: https://Productboard.com/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

April Dunford is the author of the best-selling book Obviously Awesome, a definitive guide to product positioning. She spent 25 years leading marketing, product, and sales teams and now runs her own consulting firm, helping companies of all shapes and sizes nail their positioning. April has worked hands-on with over 200 companies on positioning, including Google, IBM, Postman, and Epic Games.In today’s episode, you’ll learn:1. How does April define positioning?2. How do you assess if your product’s positioning is weak? And strong?3. What are some examples of great products with weak positioning?4. What are the essential five steps to figuring out your product’s positioning?5. What is the difference between positioning vs. messaging vs. branding?6. What’s the difference between segmentation and persona? 7. When should you bring in a professional? 8. Is it essential for a company to always figure out a differentiator and be different?9. How does this concept help you nail sales for enterprise software?Where to find April:Website: https://aprildunford.comTwitter: https://twitter.com/aprildunford LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford Book: Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It April’s guest post: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/positioning—Thank you to our sponsors for making this episode possible:• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Flatfile: https://flatfile.com/Lenny• Productboard: https://Productboard.com/ Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Shreyas Doshi is a treasure trove of knowledge and tactical insights on product, strategy, psychology, leadership, and life. Over the course of his career, he’s PM’d at Google, Twitter, Yahoo, and Stripe, where he joined as its fourth product manager, later becoming Stripe’s first PM manager and helping define and grow its product management function (from ~5 to more than 50 people). Since leaving Stripe, Shreyas has amassed a huge Twitter following in large part thanks to consistent sharing of high-quality insights on the art of product management.—Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/shreyas-doshi-on-pre-mortems-the-lno-framework-the-three-levels-of-product-work-why-most-executio/#transcript—In this episode, we’ll explore five big ideas from Shreyas Doshi:1) How to predict and prevent problems with pre-mortems* How did pre-mortem meetings impact the culture at Stripe?* What are the best practices in running a pre-mortem meeting?2) How to prioritize your time with the LNO framework* What is the LNO framework? How did it change the way Shreyas went about his day?* What is the two-step tactic you can apply to overcome procrastination on important tasks? 3) The three levels of product work* What are the three levels of product work? Which level should you optimize for?* How might these product work levels cause conflict or influence your company culture?4) Most execution problems are not really execution problems * What are the common types of problems hiding behind the execution label? * What are the two traits you need to identify a fake execution problem?5) Why ROI thinking is detrimental to product planning* What is the pitfall of ROI thinking?* What is opportunity-cost thinking and how can you apply it?—References:* Coda template: https://coda.io/@shreyas/pre-mortems-how-a-stripe-product-manager-predicts-prevents-probl* Pre-mortems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1221257568510603264* LNO framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984* Three levels of product work: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1370248637842812936* Execution problems: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1427116991274307588* Opportunity-cost thinking: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1409726218438549514* High agency: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1276956836856393728—Where to find Shreyas:* Twitter: https://twitter.com/shreyas* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi/—Our amazing sponsors:* Coda: https://coda.io/lenny* Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/* Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe