Podcasts

Shishir Mehrotra

Guest: Shishir Mehrotra - Co-founder and CEO of Coda. Shishir previously led YouTube's product engineering and design teams at Google and spent six years at Microsoft. He is also on Spotify's board and is known for his deep, first-principles thinking. Key Takeaways: Reference Checks: Shishir values reference checks over interview signals, as they provide insights from people who have worked with the candidate for years. Black Loops and Blue Loops: These frameworks describe how Coda spreads: Black Loops through team sharing and Blue Loops through public publishing, akin to YouTube's content model. Rituals of Great Teams: Shishir is writing a book on team rituals, emphasizing that rituals are a mirror of culture and can significantly impact team dynamics. Eigenquestions: These are pivotal questions that, when answered, resolve many subsequent questions. They help in making strategic decisions more efficiently. Evaluating Talent: Shishir uses a framework called PSHE (Problem, Solution, How, Execution) to evaluate talent, focusing on the ability to identify and solve the right problems. Topics Covered: Reference checks, Black Loops and Blue Loops, team rituals, eigenquestions, evaluating talent, product management frameworks, decision-making processes, company culture.

Crystal W

Guest: Crystal Widjaja - Chief Product Officer at Kumu. Crystal has led product and growth teams at major Southeast Asian consumer businesses, including Gojek, where she built and led the growth team, contributing to its success as the largest super app in the region. Key Takeaways: Scrappy Growth Tactics: Embrace unconventional methods like Gojek's stadium hiring event for drivers and using WhatsApp groups for subscription tests. These approaches can validate ideas quickly without heavy investment. Retention Insights: Focus on the step right before conversion to improve retention. Understand the user's journey and address specific barriers like trust or friction points. Effective Experimentation: Even with small sample sizes, running experiments can yield valuable insights. Prioritize actionable data over vanity metrics. Instrumentation for Insights: Properly instrument data to capture user context and behaviors, enabling actionable insights rather than just observations. Growth Team Structure: Initially, growth teams can focus on filling gaps left by core product teams. As the company scales, integrate growth PMs into product teams to drive specific outcomes. Topics Covered: Growth strategies in Southeast Asia, scrappy growth tactics, retention improvement, experimentation with small data sets, effective data instrumentation, structuring growth teams, Generation Girl initiative.

Ken Norton

Guest: Ken Norton - Executive Coach. Ken Norton is a former Google product leader who played a key role in developing products like Google Docs, Google Calendar, and Google Maps. He now specializes in coaching product leaders. Key Takeaways: Creative vs. Reactive Mindset: Leaders should strive to operate from a place of openness and curiosity (creative) rather than fear and defensiveness (reactive). This mindset is positively correlated with success. Inner Work for Leadership: Effective leadership often requires internal growth and understanding one's values and purpose, rather than just acquiring new skills or following frameworks. People Over Product: Senior product roles often focus more on managing people and relationships than on the product itself. Developing soft skills is crucial. Imposter Syndrome: Recognize and manage inner critics by understanding their intentions and reframing negative self-talk. This is common among product managers due to the cross-functional nature of the role. Hiring Product Managers: Focus on the intangibles and ensure alignment on the role's expectations. The interview process should assess whether a candidate can truly perform the job, not just pass the interview. Topics Covered: Creative vs. reactive leadership, imposter syndrome, executive coaching, hiring product managers, mindset shifts in leadership, importance of soft skills in product management.

Casey Winters

Guest: Casey Winters - Former Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite. Casey is a renowned figure in the growth and product community, having advised and worked with top companies like Pinterest, Reddit, Canva, and Airbnb. Key Takeaways: Frameworks as Tools: Frameworks should be seen as tools to be used when relevant, not as rigid processes that stifle creativity and risk-taking. Founder Intuition vs. Team Expertise: Founders should direct until team members demonstrate they can make better decisions, but employees should signal when they are ready to take over. Network Effects: Understand the different types of network effects (direct, cross-side, data) and how they can evolve over time to strengthen a business. Consumer Subscription Challenges: Consumer subscription models lack the net dollar retention of B2B SaaS, making them harder to sustain without network effects or unique growth loops. Marketplace Dynamics: Grubhub's disruption by DoorDash highlights the importance of reacting to market changes and the potential need to overreact to existential threats. Topics Covered: Product management frameworks, founder intuition vs. team expertise, network effects, consumer subscription challenges, marketplace dynamics, Grubhub vs. DoorDash case study.

Nickey Skarstad

In this episode, Nickey Skarstad, a seasoned product manager with experience at companies like Airbnb and Duolingo, shares her insights on translating vision into actionable goals and maintaining product quality. She emphasizes the importance of understanding the end consumer experience and adapting to remote work challenges, while also recommending valuable resources for aspiring product managers.

Gokul Rajaram

Guest: Gokul Rajaram - Product and Business Leader at DoorDash. Gokul is a seasoned leader with experience at Google, Facebook, Square, and as a board member at Coinbase and Pinterest. He is also a prolific angel investor, known for his deep understanding of product management and startup ecosystems. Key Takeaways: Hiring First PM: Hire your first PM when you have about 8-10 engineers. Ideally, promote from within to ensure cultural fit and trust. Product Development Process: Start with weekly plans at early stages, and evolve to quarterly and annual plans as the company grows. Keep tools simple and focus on solving customer problems, not just shipping features. Building a Product Team: Ensure PMs report to a functional product leader once the team grows to four or five PMs to maintain a strong product culture. Hiring Leaders: Identify best-in-class companies in your space and target their lieutenants for leadership roles. This approach leverages proven expertise and cultural fit. Angel Investing: Focus on founder-centric investments. Look for authenticity in the founder's motivation and their ability to attract talent. Topics Covered: Product development process, hiring first PM, building product teams, hiring leaders, angel investing, career growth, operational excellence at DoorDash, importance of serendipity and paying it forward.