Laura Schaffer is the brand-new VP of Growth at Amplitude. Prior to this role, she spent over 10 years leading product management and growth teams at Twilio, Bandwidth, and Rapid.
Podcast
Not Trusting the Process is Product Management
Anna Marie Clifton explains how often process is seen as a hindrance, whereas it should instead be considered as an accelerant to getting things done.
Good Churn vs Bad Churn by MagicLab VP of Product
Miles Norris, VP of Product at MagicLab (Bumble, Badoo, Lumen, Chappy), in today’s episode will talk on retention and whether it’s as relevant as we’re told.
Mastering onboarding | Lauryn Isford (Head of Growth at Airtable)
Lauryn Isford is a product growth leader and practitioner, who most recently led Growth at Airtable, and is about to start something new. In today’s episode, we get into the many tactics Lauryn has learned about optimizing onboarding flows.
Creativity and strategy vs analysis and planning
Welcome back to Giant Talk, the world’s first OKR podcast. In this episode we are joined by Mike Goitein, an Enterprise OKR, Agile, and Product coach at KeyBank, a top-20 US bank. Mike, who has a background in IT consulting, now supports KeyBank’s ongoing Agile transformation.
Understanding the role of product ops | Christine Itwaru (Pendo)
Christine Itwaru is a longtime product operations leader at Pendo and more recently has taken on the larger role of Principal Strategist there. Before leading product ops, Christine spent 12 years in product management. In this episode, we delve into the rapidly growing field of product ops and discover how Christine is part of shaping the role industry-wide. She helps us define the role of product operations, what kind of person would be a good fit for the product ops role, when your company would benefit from product ops, and what red flags to look for if you decide to go down this path.Â
Behind the scenes of Calendly’s rapid growth | Annie Pearl (CPO)
Annie Pearl is the Chief Product Officer at Calendly. Previously, she was Chief Product Officer at Glassdoor, as well as Director of Product Management at Box. She was named one of the most influential women in Bay Area business by the San Francisco Business Times. In today’s episode, Annie shares three paths into product management and advice on how to get your foot in the door.
Mastering onboarding | Lauryn Isford (Head of Growth at Airtable)
Lauryn Isford is a product growth leader and practitioner, who most recently led Growth at Airtable, and is about to start something new 🤫. In today’s episode, we get into the many tactics Lauryn has learned about optimizing onboarding flows. Lauryn describes how overhauling Airtable’s onboarding led to a 20% increase in activation rate, the company’s unique segmentation process, and why North Star metrics are so vital. Lauryn also shares her framework for a PLG growth funnel, and how to use a reverse trial to leverage the benefits of both freemium products and trials. If you’re looking to find growth opportunities within your funnel, this episode is for you.
Leading with empathy | Keith Yandell (DoorDash, Uber)
Keith Yandell started at DoorDash as Chief Legal Officer and during his tenure has also led the HR, Customer Support, Marketing, and now Corporate Development teams. I
Gainsight PX founder Mickey Alon on using your product as a vehicle for growth
As soon as a customer buys your solution, the bulk of the customer journey will be inside the product. Are you taking full advantage of it?
How To Product Manage Expansion Into New Markets
MadKudu’s co-founder Francis Brero on unlocking the keys of product-led growth
You might be all about the user, but are you considering the full spectrum of your users’ preferences? Today, we look into the broader context of product-led growth to understand how you can leverage product data and drive revenue.
Building your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Ravi was previously CPO at Tinder, Product Director at Facebook, and VP of Product at Tripadvisor. Currently, he’s co-founder and CEO of Outpace, a coaching platform designed to help people reach their professional goals. In today’s podcast, we dive deep into Ravi’s product strategy stack framework and how it was used to develop a powerful strategy at Tinder. We also cover his other popular frameworks—the frontier of understanding and exponential feedback—and how both of them can help you grow in your career. We discuss the differences between building product at a startup versus a large tech company, and how Ravi has had to shift his mindset as he’s moved away from a product leadership role into a founder role. Finally, he shares a bit about how Outpace is using AI to amplify coaches and help make them more efficient and effective.
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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-your-product-strategy-stack-ravi-mehta-tinder-facebook-tripadvisor-outpace/#transcript
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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:
• Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny
• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny
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Where to find Ravi Mehta:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/ravi_mehta
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ravimehta/
• Website: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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Referenced:
Disclaimer: Lenny is an angel investor in Ravi’s company, Outpace
• Reforge’s Product Strategy Program created by Casey Winters and Fareed Mosavat: https://www.reforge.com/programs/product-strategy
• Matt Mochary on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary/
• Indie Hackers: https://www.indiehackers.com/
• Everything Marketplaces: https://www.everythingmarketplaces.com/
• The Product Strategy Stack: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/product-strategy-stack/
• Balsamiq: https://balsamiq.com/
• Set better goals with NCTs, not OKRs: https://www.reforge.com/blog/set-better-goals-with-ncts-not-okrs
• Ravi’s product manager’s competencies framework: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/product-manager-roles/
• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/0241184835/
• Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595
• Ian McAllister on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/videos/what-it-takes-to-become-a-top-1-pm-ian-mcallister-uber-amazon-airbnb/
• The Ezra Klein Show podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ezra-klein-show/id1548604447
• Ezra Klein’s AI episode: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-skeptical-take-on-the-a-i-revolution/id1548604447?i=1000592835492
• Andor on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/star-wars-andor/3xsQKWG00GL5
• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/
• Superhuman: https://superhuman.com/
• Descript: https://www.descript.com/
• Outpace: https://www.outpace.co
• Unlock Your Product Manager Potential: https://www.outpace.co/guides/unlock-your-product-manager-potential
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Ravi’s background
(04:24) Why Ravi left Tinder, and what he’s been up to recentlyÂ
(08:05) Differences between working at an established tech company vs. a startupÂ
(12:45) Why founders should network with “early-stage” folks
(14:29) Why you need to do some research and relationship-building before starting your company
(17:49) What the product strategy stack is and how to use it
(22:08) Mission vs. vision
(23:37) How Ravi developed his strategy framework at TripadvisorÂ
(26:43) Why PMs should understand design, UX, and UI
(28:20) Examples of the product strategy stack in action
(32:42) Why Tinder resisted adding filtersÂ
(34:10) Monetization features at Tinder and the “whales” who spend the most
(38:18) How customer feedback led to new features at Tinder
(42:28) Why goals come after roadmap in Ravi’s framework
(44:30) Tripadvisor’s strategy for increasing bookings
(47:25) How to set goals that drive outcomes
(50:24) The four buckets of the frontier of understanding
(51:38) Different methods for trying to hit goals
(53:08) Understanding why you hit or missed your goal
(54:34) The product management competencies framework
(1:02:08) The exponential feedback framework
(1:04:25) Why you should ask for feedback—and graciously accept it
(1:06:05) How to determine the right amount of leadership your team needs
(1:09:40) What selective micro-management is
(1:12:25) How Outpace uses AI to assist in coaching
(1:15:24) Lightning round
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Get full access to Lenny’s Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
What differentiates the highest-performing product teams | John Cutler (Amplitude, The Beautiful Mess)
John Cutler writes the popular and beloved product newsletter The Beautiful Mess. For many years, he was a Product Evangelist at Amplitude, which led him to meeting and working with a large number of product teams around the world.
An inside look at how Figma builds product | Yuhki Yamashita (CPO of Figma)
Leveraging mentors to uplevel your career | Jules Walter (YouTube, Slack)
Jules Walter is a product leader at YouTube and co-founder of both the Black Product Managers Network and Codepath.org. Previously, he led monetization and mobile growth teams at Slack. He’s also a very well-known leader in the broader product community. In today’s episode, we discuss the skills that matter most to PMs, and how to build those skills. We also spend quite a bit of time talking about the importance of finding mentors to help you learn new skills, how to nail your next job interview, barriers to entry for underrepresented people, and some of the most common paths into product management.