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Lenny Rachitsky

Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover concrete, actionable, and tactical advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product. 

www.lennysnewsletter.com

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Seth Godin is a legend. He’s a marketer, teacher, entrepreneur, and author of more than 20 books, including Purple Cow, Permission Marketing, and Linchpin. He also writes one of the most popular and longest-running blogs in the world (approaching publishing 10,000 in a row!) and continues to shape how we think about marketing, brand, product, and creating lasting change in the world. In our conversation, we discuss:

• How to build remarkable products that spread

• The four critical strategic choices that determine your future

• How to develop good taste and high standards

• The role of tension in great strategy

• How Seth used Claude to write his newest book

• Much more

—

Brought to you by:

• DX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

• Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/seth-godins-tactics-for-building-remarkable-products

—

Where to find Seth Godin:

• Blog: http://seths.blog/

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sethgodin

• Website: https://www.sethgodin.com

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Seth’s background

(05:17) Understanding good taste and upholding high standards

(08:09) Become the best at whatever you do

(09:48) Seth’s journey as a product manager

(14:09) What people often get wrong when building products

(16:00) Building a brand in the age of AI

(19:04) Using AI to enhance writing

(22:40) Four critical elements for an effective strategy

(27:38) The role of tension in strategy

(29:15) The concept of the purple cow

(33:11) "Safe is risky"

(34:56) The power of systems

(37:07) Better waves make better surfers

(38:10) Rebranding vs. re-logoing

(43:07) Empathetic leadership

(44:14) Conclusion and farewell

—

Referenced:

• Seth Godin on the Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2024/03/20/seth-godin-3/

• Persuasive communication and managing up | Wes Kao (Maven, Seth Godin, Section4): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/persuasive-communication-wes-kao

• Spinnaker: https://spinnaker.io

• Ray Bradbury: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Bradbury

• Arthur C. Clarke: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_C._Clarke

• Isaac Asimov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov

• Roger Zelazny: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Zelazny

• Herbie Hancock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbie_Hancock

• Fahrenheit 451 (game): https://www.filfre.net/2013/09/fahrenheit-451-the-game/

• RTFM: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM#

• Intercom: https://www.intercom.com

• Claude: https://claude.ai

• ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com

• Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com

• Steam: https://store.steampowered.com

• P.F. Flyers: https://pfflyers.com

• Steve Blank’s website: https://steveblank.com

• Marissa Mayer on X: https://x.com/marissamayer

• Jaguar unveils new logo ahead of electric relaunch: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgr0pw00n7qo

• IHOP Becomes IHOb, the International House of ... Burgers: https://www.npr.org/2018/06/11/618844977/ihop-becomes-ihob-the-international-house-of-burgers

• Oreo’s Super Bowl Power-Outage Tweet Was 18 Months in the Making: https://www.businessinsider.com/oreos-super-bowl-power-outage-tweet-was-18-months-in-the-making-2013-3

• Tesla’s New ‘Ludicrous Mode’ Makes the Model S a Supercar: https://www.wired.com/2015/07/teslas-new-ludicrous-mode-makes-model-s-supercar

—

Recommended books:

• This Is Strategy: Make Better Plans (Create a Strategy to Elevate Your Career, Community & Life): https://www.amazon.com/This-Strategy-Better-Elevate-Community/dp/B0D47T8S7N• Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable: https://www.amazon.com/Purple-Cow-New-Transform-Remarkable/dp/1591843170

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Seth Godin's best tactics for building remarkable products, strategies, brands and more

Jackson Shuttleworth is a Group PM at Duolingo, where he leads the retention team and the powerful streak feature. The streak feature, which gamifies consecutive days of learning, has been Duolingo’s most important and innovative growth lever and a key driver of their growth to a $14 billion business with almost 600 million users. In our conversation, we dive deep into the history and lessons of this feature:

• The evolution of the streak feature

• Biggest insights from over 600 streak-related experiments

• Biggest specific wins and misses along the way

• Key principles for building effective streak mechanics

• How to operate a high-velocity product team

• Tips for building engaging notification systems

• Much more

—

Brought to you by:

• Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

• Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-duolingo-streaks

—

Where to find Jackson Shuttleworth:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackson-shuttleworth/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Jackson’s background and an overview of Duolingo’s streak feature

(06:00) The impact of streaks on Duolingo’s success

(09:58) The origin and evolution of streaks

(14:50) Key experiments and insights

(24:38) User psychology and engagement strategies

(28:36) Duolingo’s product review structure

(33:07) Designing for clarity and adaptability

(46:59) Developing the Streak Freeze feature

(50:47) Balancing monetization and retention

(54:08) Notification strategies

(58:15) The Perfect Streak feature

(01:00:40) Enhancing the user experience 

(01:04:47) Team operations and experimentation

(01:18:57) Who can benefit from streaks

(01:21:00) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Duolingo streaks: https://duolingo.fandom.com/wiki/Streak

• How to make learning as addictive as social media: https://www.ted.com/talks/luis_von_ahn_how_to_make_learning_as_addictive_as_social_media?subtitle=en

• Luis von Ahn on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/luis-von-ahn-duolingo/

• FarmVille: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FarmVille

• Royal Match: https://www.dreamgames.com/games/royal-match

• How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth

• You’re on fire! Or, how we brought the streak milestone to life: https://blog.duolingo.com/streak-milestone-design-animation/

• Duolingo Doubles Down on Design and Animation with Acquisition of Hobbes: https://investors.duolingo.com/news-releases/news-release-details/duolingo-doubles-down-design-and-animation-acquisition-hobbes

• Hobbes: https://www.hobbes.work/

• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira

• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/

• Bing Gordon on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/binggordon/

• Peloton: https://www.onepeloton.com/

• Bluey on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/bluey/1xy9TAOQ0M3r

• Emily in Paris on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81037371

• Multi-position ladders at Home Depot: https://www.homedepot.com/b/Building-Materials-Ladders-Multi-Position-Ladders/N-5yc1vZasew

—

Recommended books:

• A Guide to Midwestern Conversation: https://www.amazon.com/Guide-Midwestern-Conversation-Taylor-Phillips/dp/1984861336

• Fate Is the Hunter: A Pilot’s Memoir: https://www.amazon.com/Fate-Hunter-Ernest-K-Gann/dp/0671636030

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Behind the product: Duolingo streaks | Jackson Shuttleworth (Group PM, Retention Team)

Farhan Thawar is the head of engineering at Shopify, where he oversees more than 1,000 engineers and a platform that powers over 10% of all U.S. e-commerce. Before Shopify, he was VP of engineering at Pivotal Labs and Xtreme Labs, and co-founder of Helpful.com. In our conversation, Farhan shares:

• Why choosing the harder path leads to better outcomes

• How to create intensity within your org (without burnout)

• Why every company should be embracing pair programming

• How he hires without interviewing

• How he built the world’s largest internship program

• His mission to create a “crafter’s paradise” for engineers

• Much more

—

Brought to you by:

• DX—A platform for measuring and improving developer productivity

• Persona—A global leader in digital identity verification

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawer

—

Where to find Farhan Thawar:

• X: https://x.com/fnthawar

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fnthawar

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Farhan’s background

(05:38) Choosing the hard path

(09:37) Getting comfortable with looking dumb

(13:20) Lessons from working with visionaries

(19:19) Creating intensity in organizations

(22:06) The power of pair programming

(29:18) Shopify’s culture of intensity

(37:18) Meeting Armageddon: revolutionizing company meetings

(39:46) Reducing distractions

(41:10) Deleting 1M+ lines of code

(49:05) Three buckets of building

(57:45) Remote work and trust battery

(01:00:29) Finding stability in uncomfortable times

(01:03:14) Hiring philosophy

(01:11:41) Internship programs and co-op systems

(01:15:32) Lessons from managing 120 direct reports

(01:20:40) Failure corner

(01:27:46) Lightning round and closing thoughts

—

Referenced:

• The Steve Jobs quote about connecting dots: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/463176-you-can-t-connect-the-dots-looking-forward-you-can-only

• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/

• GitHub: https://github.com/

• Farhan’s “questions to ask” framework: https://x.com/fnthawar/status/1514193402828574721

• Palantir: https://www.palantir.com/

• Joe Liemandt: https://www.linkedin.com/in/liemandt

• Chamath Palihapitya: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chamath_Palihapitiya

• Xtreme Labs: https://www.xtremelabs.io

• Parkinson’s law: https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-parkinsons-law-6674423

• Pair programming: https://dev.to/documatic/pair-programming-best-practices-and-tools-154j

• Cody Fauser on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/codyfauser

• How Shopify builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-product

• Chaos Monkey: We look at Shopify’s new ‘culture of focus’: https://www.siliconrepublic.com/careers/shopify-chaos-monkey-meetings-culture-deann-evans

• Empowering devs with AI: How Shopify made GitHub Copilot core to its culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVKBwcm5dbw&t=2318s

• Tobi Lütke of Shopify: Powering a Team with a ‘Trust Battery’: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/24/business/tobi-lutke-of-shopify-powering-a-team-with-a-trust-battery.html

• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach

• Stop Being Deceived by Interviews When You’re Hiring: https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesleadershipforum/2012/02/07/stop-being-deceived-by-interviews-when-youre-hiring/

• Shopify’s made the Life Story a major part of their interview: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39294140

• Internships at Shopify: https://internships.shopify.com

• Nick Adams on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nick-adams-32b28139

• React Native: https://reactnative.dev

• Swift: https://www.swift.org

• Acquired podcast: The Mark Zuckerberg interview: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-mark-zuckerberg-interview

• The Power of Performance Reviews: Use This System to Become a Better Manager: https://review.firstround.com/the-power-of-performance-reviews-use-this-system-to-become-a-better-manager

• Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/impact-impact-impact-vlad-loktev

• The Secret to a Great Planning Process—Lessons from Airbnb and Eventbrite: https://review.firstround.com/the-secret-to-a-great-planning-process-lessons-from-airbnb-and-eventbrite

• How to do great work: https://www.paulgraham.com/greatwork.html

• Challengers on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Challengers-Luca-Guadagnino/dp/B0CX5MZ9M4

• Halt and Catch Fire on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Halt-Catch-Fire-Season-1/dp/B0CKXZNT96

• Meta Ray-Bans: https://www.meta.com/smart-glasses/shop-all

• Making Meta | Andrew ‘Boz’ Bosworth (CTO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-meta-andrew-boz-bosworth-cto

—

Recommended books:

• The Undoing Project: A Friendship That Changed Our Minds: https://www.amazon.com/Undoing-Project-Friendship-Changed-Minds/dp/0393254593

• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484

• Manna: Two Visions of Humanity’s Future: https://www.amazon.com/Manna-Two-Visions-Humanitys-Future-ebook/dp/B007HQH67U

• Business Adventures: Twelve Classic Tales from the World of Wall Street: https://www.amazon.com/Business-Adventures-Twelve-Classic-Street/dp/1504000021

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

How Shopify builds a high-intensity culture | Farhan Thawar (VP and Head of Eng)

Marc Benioff is the co-founder and CEO of Salesforce, the second-largest software company in the world. He started programming at age 15, selling his first program for $75, and went on to build Salesforce into a company worth more than $300 billion that also owns Slack, Tableau, Quip, and MuleSoft. Marc is known as a marketing legend, and is now leading Salesforce into the era of AI agents. In our conversation, we discuss:

• The importance of maintaining a beginner’s mind

• His approach to product launches and marketing

• Managing through tough times and layoffs

• His relationship with Steve Jobs and lessons learned

• Why Salesforce is betting big on AI agents

• Many stories from his entrepreneurial roller coaster

• Much more

—

Brought to you by:

• Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet

• Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth

• Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff

—

Where to find Marc Benioff:

• X: https://x.com/benioff

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbenioff

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Marc Benioff and Salesforce

(03:54) Marc’s early career and domain names

(05:59) The App Store story and lessons from Steve Jobs

(15:18) Lessons from launching Salesforce

(22:03) The importance of keeping a beginner’s mindset

(29:53) Why Marc calls Salesforce the “25-year startup”

(31:47) Agentforce

(36:09) Why Marc says AI is the defining technology of our lifetime

(40:12) AI’s impact on the workforce

(42:31) Entrepreneurs need to be like conductors

(46:02) Failure corner

(50:32) The future of AI agents

(56:34) Final thoughts and farewell

—

Referenced:

• Bill.com: https://www.bill.com

• App Store: https://www.apple.com/app-store/

• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com

• Oracle: https://www.oracle.com

• Larry Ellison on X: https://x.com/larryellison

• Siebel Systems: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siebel_Systems

• Saba Software: https://talentedlearning.com/lms-vendor-directory/saba-software

• Tom Siebel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomassiebel

• Avon: https://www.avon.com

• Salesforce Chief Has Pulled Some Crazy Stunts: https://www.businessinsider.com/marc-benioff-salesforcecom-chief-has-pulled-some-crazy-stunts-2012-3

• Matthew McConaughey on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/officiallymcconaughey

• Woody Harrelson on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/woodyharrelson

• “Ask More of AI” with Matthew McConaughey: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLnobS_RgN7JaxOsLD8WH0I9E6osK3UrfI

• Marc’s tweet about the ad with McConaughey and Harrelson: https://x.com/Benioff/status/1866175950062239784

• Chris Rock on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrisrock

• Sushi Iwa: http://www.sushiiwa.jp/en/

• Ryoanji Temple Rock Garden: https://www.japan.travel/en/spot/1145/

• Neil Young Archives on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/neilyoungarchives

• Mount Tam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tamalpais

• Spirit Rock: https://www.spiritrock.org

• Jack Kornfield: https://www.spiritrock.org/teachers/jack-kornfield

• Agentforce: https://www.salesforce.com/form/agentforce/demo

• Minority Report on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Minority-Report-Tom-Cruise/dp/B00A2FSSHK

• Peter Schwartz on X: https://x.com/peterschwartz2

• UCSF Health: https://www.ucsfhealth.org

• A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/health/chatgpt-ai-doctors-diagnosis.html

• Does AI improve doctors’ diagnoses? Study puts it to the test: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/11/241113123419.htm

• A.I. Will Transform the Global Economy—if Humans Let It: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/special-series/ai-transform-global-economy.html

• Wargames on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Wargames-Dabney-Coleman/dp/B0011EQBOS

• Her on Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Her-Joaquin-Phoenix/dp/B00KATY250

• AI (Einstein) at Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/in/artificial-intelligence

• Salesforce Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Airkit.ai: https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/salesforce-signs-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-airkit-ai

• Salesforce Buys Big Data Startup RelateIQ for Up to $390M: https://techcrunch.com/2014/07/11/salesforce-buys-big-data-startup-relateiq-for-up-to-390m

• Salesforce to cut workforce by 10% after hiring ‘too many people’ during the pandemic: https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/04/salesforce-to-cut-workforce-by-10-after-hiring-too-many-people-during-the-pandemic

• Michael Dell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdell

• Bret Taylor on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettaylor

• Akio Toyoda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Akio_Toyoda

• Kaizen: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaizen

• TRS-80: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRS-80

• CLOAD Magazine: https://archive.org/details/cload_newsletter

—

Recommended books:

• Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Fleet-Novel-Next-World/dp/054470505X

• Behind the Cloud: The Untold Story of How Salesforce.com Went from Idea to Billion-Dollar Company—and Revolutionized an Industry: https://www.amazon.com/Behind-Cloud-Salesforce-com-Billion-Dollar-Company/dp/0470521163

• Trailblazer: The Power of Business as the Greatest Platform for Change: https://www.amazon.com/Trailblazer-Business-Greatest-Platform-Change/dp/1984825194

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Behind the founder: Marc Benioff

Welcome to the very first episode of Lenny’s Podcast!

Every week, Lenny Rachitsky will interview world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover concrete, actionable, and tactical advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Welcome to my new podcast!

Julie Zhuo is the co-founder of Sundial, a company that helps builders make meaningful use of data to fulfill their mission. With over 400K followers across social media, she is one of the most influential leaders in product design, and product thinking broadly.

Julie started her career at Facebook as a product designer and eventually led teams of 100+ designers as the VP of Design. Her experience leading at Facebook motivated her to publish the Wall Street Journal best seller The Making of a Manager in 2019. On the side, Julie shared her thoughts on technology, design, and leadership in The Looking Glass, the blog that inspired Lenny’s Newsletter.—

Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-2-julie-zhuo

—

In this episode, you will learn about:

1) The making of a VP

* How did Julie find her way to product design? 

* How did she navigate through impostor syndrome given the growing responsibilities as Facebook rapidly scaled? 

* What are the challenges she faces as she transitions from VP to founder? 

2) The impact and habit of writing

* What goals was Julie able to achieve through writing?

* What did she do to build a habit of writing?

* Does she think tweeting is better than blogging?

3) How to develop product sense and make better design decisions

* What are the three tried-and-true steps to develop product sense?

* When do you choose intuition over data?

* What’s the secret to facilitating great product/design review meetings?

3) How to take your first steps into management

* What can you do to unblock your path to become a manager?

* What’s the must-know trick in competing for design talent?

Where to find Julie:

* LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-zhuo/

* Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/joulee

* Sundial: sundial.so

* Book: The Making of a Manager, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B079WNPRL2/ref=dp_kinw_strp_1

* Substack: https://lg.substack.com/

* Medium: https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass

Our amazing sponsors:

* Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/

* Productboard: https://www.productboard.com/

* Sprig: https://sprig.com/lenny
 

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Julie Zhuo on accelerating your career, impostor syndrome, writing, building product sense, using intuition vs. data, hiring designers, and moving into management

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

Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, the three levels of product work, why most execution problems are strategy problems, and ROI vs. opportunity cost thinking

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.com

Twitter: 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

April Dunford on product positioning, segmentation, and optimizing your sales process

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

Gokul Rajaram on designing your product development process, when and how to hire your first PM, a playbook for hiring leaders, getting ahead in you career, how to get started angel investing, more

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.com

References:

- 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-problems

Thank 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

Jackie Bavaro on getting better at product strategy, what exactly is strategy, PM pitfalls to avoid, advancing your career, getting into management, and much more

Welcome to my new podcast!

Welcome to my new podcast!

Lyt når som helst, hvor som helst

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