Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky
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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

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

  1. The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH)

    3 DAYS AGO

    The ultimate guide to founder-led sales | Jen Abel (co-founder of JJELLYFISH)

    Jen Abel is the co-founder of JJELLYFISH, where she and her team have worked with over 300 early-stage founders to learn how to sell, do early customer discovery, and set up a repeatable sales motion on the way to their first $1M ARR. In our conversation, Jen shares: • Why founder-led sales is so crucial early on • The sales process, step by step • How to craft effective outreach messages • Where to find leads • What three channels work best for outreach • What to say on your first call • How to maintain momentum • Strategies for navigating procurement and closing deals • Common pitfalls in the sales process and how to avoid them — Brought to you by: • Brave Search—A smarter way to search • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/master-founder-led-sales-jen-abel — Where to find Jen Abel: • X: https://x.com/jjen_abel • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/earlystagesale — 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) Jen’s background (02:20) The importance of founder-led sales (08:24) The steps of a sales cycle (12:01) Tactics for effective cold outreach (16:47) Conversion rate vs. win rate (20:20) The time it takes to find product-market fit (23:06) Identifying and engaging prospects (30:58) Nailing the first phone call (34:14) Buying vs. selling (38:08) Testing the questions to ask (41:57) Avoiding common sales questions and securing the second call (43:08) Co-authoring with customers (45:06) Time-boxing service contracts (49:20) Why you should avoid demos on the first call (51:05) Dealing with procurement (54:22) The power of enterprise sales (58:14) Getting a signature (01:00:15) Choosing a focus and overcoming sales challenges (01:02:19) General timelines (01:04:27) Final thoughts and advice (01:13:32) Working with Jen — Referenced: • Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/ • JJELLYFISH: https://www.jjellyfish.com/ • Clay: https://www.clay.com/ • A guide for finding product-market fit in B2B: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-product-market-fit • Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Vanta: https://www.vanta.com/ • Christine Cacioppo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccacioppo/ • Glengarry Glen Ross: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104348/ • A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting • Sales Pitch: How to Craft a Story to Stand Out and Win: https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Pitch-Craft-Story-Stand-ebook/dp/B0CHY6BNDN • Sprig: https://sprig.com/ • Zip: https://zip.co/ — 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

    1h 16m
  2. Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO)

    6 DAYS AGO

    Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO)

    Amjad Masad is the co-founder and CEO of Replit, a browser-based coding environment that allows anyone to write and deploy code. Replit has 34 million users globally and is one of the fastest-growing developer communities in the world. Prior to Replit, Amjad worked at Facebook, where he led the JavaScript infrastructure team and contributed to popular open-source developer tools. Additionally, he played a key role as a founding engineer at the online coding school Codecademy. In our conversation, Amjad shares: • A live demo of Replit in action • How Replit’s AI agent can build full-stack web applications from a simple text prompt • The implications of AI-powered development for product managers, designers, and engineers • How this might reshape companies and careers • Why being “generative” will become an increasingly valuable skill • “Amjad’s law” and how learning to debug AI-generated code is becoming ever more valuable • Much more — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Persona—A global leader in digital identity verification • LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad — Where to find Amjad Masad: • X: https://x.com/amasad • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amjadmasad/ • Website: https://amasad.me/ — 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 Amjad Masad and Replit (02:41) The vision and challenges of Replit (06:50) Replit’s growth and user stories (10:49) Demo of Replit’s capabilities (16:51) Building and iterating with Replit (25:04) Real-world applications and use cases (30:13) The technology stack (33:48) The evolution of Replit and its capabilities (39:36) The future of AI in software development (44:04) Skills for the future: generative thinking and coding (47:26) Amjad’s law (50:36) Replit’s new developments and future plans — Referenced: • Replit: https://replit.com/ • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com • Aman Mathur on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aman-mathur/ • Node: https://nodejs.org/en • Claude: https://claude.ai/ • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ • Wasm: https://webassembly.org/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Codecademy: https://www.codecademy.com/ • Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/news • Paul Graham’s website: https://www.paulgraham.com/ • Jevons paradox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jevons_paradox • Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ • Open AI: https://openai.com/ • Amjad’s tweet about “society of models”: https://x.com/amasad/status/1568941103709290496 • About HCI: https://www.designdisciplin.com/p/hci-profession • Taylor Swift’s website: https://www.taylorswift.com/ • Andrew Wilkinson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/awilkinson/ • Haya Odeh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haya-odeh-b0725928/ • Amjad’s law: https://x.com/snowmaker/status/1847377464705896544 • Ray Kurzweil’s website: https://www.thekurzweillibrary.com/ • God of the gaps: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_the_gaps — 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

    1h 4m
  3. Building Wiz: the fastest-growing startup in history | Raaz Herzberg (CMO and VP Product Strategy)

    NOV 17

    Building Wiz: the fastest-growing startup in history | Raaz Herzberg (CMO and VP Product Strategy)

    Raaz Herzberg is the chief marketing officer and VP of product strategy at Wiz. Wiz hit $100 million ARR within 18 months (the fastest growth in startup history) and, five years in, is generating over $500 million ARR. It also serves over 45% of the Fortune 100. Raaz was one of the first five employees at Wiz, joining as the first product manager, and helped the team pivot to what may be the most intense PMF in history. Before Wiz, Raaz led security products at Microsoft, including Azure Sentinel. In our conversation, we discuss: • How Wiz pivoted from their initial idea and found deep product-market fit • What Raaz learned about listening to customers • Why she moved from product to marketing, despite no prior experience • How she thinks differently as a marketer with a product background • Lessons learned from scaling a hypergrowth startup like Wiz • Much more — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Rippling—Automate HR, IT, and finance so you can scale faster • Cloudinary—The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-wiz-raaz-herzberg — Where to find Raaz Herzberg: • X: https://x.com/raazherzberg • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raazh — 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) Raaz’s background (02:54) Early challenges and Wiz’s essential pivot (06:41) Finding product-market fit (11:31) Lessons from early customer interactions (14:54) The power in speaking up when you don’t understand something (17:46) How Wiz pivoted from their initial idea (23:52) Marketing and leadership insights (34:12) The challenges of being a marketing leader (28:05) Following the “heat” in your organization (30:22) How Raaz found success as CMO (34:01) Common CMO mistakes (36:23) Creating noise and standing out (40:28) Embracing failure and taking risks (44:53) The importance of clear communication (48:32) The “dummy” explanation (51:00) Building trust and company culture (53:45) Contrarian corner (56:34) Lightning round — Referenced: • Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/ • An inside look at Deel’s unprecedented growth | Meltem Kuran Berkowitz (Head of Growth): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-inside-look-at-deels-unprecedented • Velocity over everything: How Ramp became the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time | Geoff Charles (VP of Product): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/velocity-over-everything-how-ramp • Assaf Rappaport on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/assafrappaport/ • How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen • Shardul Shah on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shardul-shah-3589062/ • Doug Leone on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/douglas-leone-a2714/ • Jeff Horing on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffhoring2009/ • RSA Conference: https://www.rsaconference.com/ • Microsoft acquires Adallom to advance identity and security in the cloud: https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2015/09/08/microsoft-acquires-adallom-to-advance-identity-and-security-in-the-cloud/ • Imposter syndrome: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/imposter-syndrome • Careers at Wiz: https://www.wiz.io/careers • Setting the Table: The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business: https://www.amazon.com/Setting-Table-Transforming-Hospitality-Business/dp/0060742763 • No Rules Rules: Netflix and the Culture of Reinvention: https://www.amazon.com/No-Rules-Netflix-Culture-Reinvention/dp/1984877860/ • Gong: https://www.gong.io/ • The Wire on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-wire • Raaz’s pen holder recommendation: https://www.paper-republ

    1h 5m
  4. Becoming an AI PM | Aman Khan (Arize AI, ex-Spotify, Apple, Cruise)

    NOV 14

    Becoming an AI PM | Aman Khan (Arize AI, ex-Spotify, Apple, Cruise)

    Aman Khan is Director of Product at Arize AI, an observability company for AI engineers at companies like Uber, Instacart, and Discord. Previously he was an AI Product Manager at Spotify on the ML Platform team, enabling hundreds of engineers to build and ship products across the company. He has also led and worked on products at Cruise, Zipline, and Apple. In our conversation, we discuss: • What is an “AI product manager”? • How to break into AI PM • What separates top 5% AI PMs • How to thrive as an individual-contributor PM • Common pitfalls to avoid when building AI products • The importance of energy and curiosity in product roles • 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 • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-an-ai-pm-aman-khan — Where to find Aman Khan: • X: https://x.com/_amankhan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanberkeley/ • Website: https://amanalikhan.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) Aman’s background (06:16) Understanding AI product management roles (13:29) Getting started as an AI product manager (18:14) Building a portfolio and standing out (22:31) Why product management is not dead (28:56) How to thrive as an AI product manager (35:42) Finding good ideas that are AI-oriented (39:27) Be careful not to automate away every customer experience (42:53) What separates top 5% AI PMs (46:55) Key habits for long-term IC success (52:48) The importance of energy in meetings (57:00) Wandering vs. waiting (01:01:41) Amplifying signal through AI tools (01:03:18) Just have fun (01:05:36) Lightning round — Referenced: • AI Resources and Tools for PMs (Updated Oct 2024): https://open.substack.com/pub/amankhan1/p/ai-resources-and-tools-for-pms-updated • Unlocking the AI PM Dream: Your Roadmap to Success: https://amankhan1.substack.com/p/unlocking-the-ai-pm-dream-your-roadmap • Arize: https://arize.com/ • Ryzen: https://www.amd.com/en/products/processors/business-systems/ryzen-ai.html • NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ • Replit: https://replit.com/ • Excalidraw: https://excalidraw.com/ • Vercel: https://vercel.com/ • v0: https://v0.dev/ • How Airbnb Proved That Storytelling Is the Most Important Skill in Design: https://www.inc.com/yazin-akkawi/the-surprising-technique-airbnb-uses-to-better-sell-an-experience.html • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/ • Dall-E: https://openai.com/index/dall-e-3/ • Introducing the Realtime API: https://openai.com/index/introducing-the-realtime-api/ • Intro to Large Language Models | Andrej Karpathy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjkBMFhNj_g • Watch Me Build an App in 60 Minutes With o1 and Cursor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Zmhe6_T-xU • Greg Isenberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gisenberg/ • Vision, conviction, and hype: How to build 0 to 1 inside a company | Mihika Kapoor (Product at Figma): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/vision-conviction-hype-mihika-kapoor • Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/ • Instacart: https://www.instacart.com/ • How to grow a subscription business | Yuriy Timen (Grammarly, Canva, Airtable): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/transform-your-subscription-growth • When Identifying the Problem Isn’t Enough: Lessons from Boxed Cake Mix by Ann M. Aly, TechFlow Director of Human Centered Design: https://www.techflow.com/when-identifying-the-problem-isnt-enough-lessons-from-boxed-cake-mix/ •

    1h 18m
  5. Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about SAFe and the product owner role | Melissa Perri (author, founder of Product Institute)

    NOV 10

    Everything you’ve ever wanted to know about SAFe and the product owner role | Melissa Perri (author, founder of Product Institute)

    Melissa Perri is the founder of Product Institute, author of Escaping the Build Trap, and host of the Product Thinking Podcast. She has worked with startups, Fortune 50 companies, and everything in between to help them build better products and level up their product teams. In our conversation, we discuss: • The history of the product owner role • The differences between product owners and product managers • How to transition from product owner to product manager • The evolution of and problems with the SAFe framework • How large non-tech companies can improve their product practices • Much more — Brought to you by: • Pendo—The only all-in-one product experience platform for any type of application • OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster • Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-owners-melissa-perri — Where to find Melissa Perri: • X: https://twitter.com/lissijean • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissajeanperri/ • Website: https://melissaperri.com/ • Product Institute: https://productinstitute.com/ • Podcast: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking — 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) Melissa’s background (02:12) The rise of the product owner role (06:37) Understanding Agile and Scrum (08:27) Challenges in Agile transformations (10:41) The history of the product owner role (13:58) The Scrum Guide (15:43) Product owner responsibilities (21:01) Adopting Scrum in organizations (26:21) The origins and implementation of SAFe (35:20) Why Melissa doesn’t recommend SAFe (40:33) Advice for implementing a digital transformation (49:12) An example of SAFe adoption (51:27) The value of experienced product leaders (56:53) Career paths for product owners (01:04:14) Transitioning from product owner to product manager (01:06:41) Be careful relying on certifications (01:11:43) Evaluating existing product owners (01:16:55) Final thoughts on Agile and product management — Referenced: • Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value: https://www.amazon.com/Escaping-Build-Trap-Effective-Management/dp/149197379X • Lean UX: https://leanuxnyc.co/ • Scrum: https://www.scrum.org/ • What is Extreme Programming? https://www.agilealliance.org/glossary/xp/ • Capital One: https://www.capitalone.com/ • The Agile Manifesto: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/manifesto • Ken Schwaber on X: https://x.com/kschwaber • Jeff Sutherland on X: https://x.com/jeffsutherland • Kanban: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban • What is a kanban board?: https://www.atlassian.com/agile/kanban/boards • Ron Jeffries’s website: https://www.ronjeffries.com/ • Jeff Patton on X: https://x.com/jeffpatton • The Scrum Guide: https://www.scrum.org/resources/scrum-guide • OpenSky: https://www.openskycc.com/ • SAFe: https://scaledagileframework.com/ • Dean Leffingwell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deanleffingwell/ • Capital One scraps 1,100 tech positions: https://www.reuters.com/technology/capital-one-scraps-1100-tech-positions-source-2023-01-19/ • Product management theater | Marty Cagan (Silicon Valley Product Group): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-theater-marty • Marty Cagan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan/ • Jeff Gothelf on X: https://x.com/jboogie • Shruti Patel on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shruti-patel-32bb573a/ • Product Thinking Podcast: Mastering Product Focus: Balancing Legacy and Innovation with Shruti Patel: https://www.produxlabs.com/product-thinking-blog/2024/9/25/episode-190-mastering-product-focus-balancing-legacy-and-innovation-with-shruti-patel • Melissa Douros on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadouros/ • Mind the Produc

    1h 24m
  6. Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify)

    NOV 7

    Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify)

    Archie Abrams is the VP of Product and Head of Growth at Shopify, where he leads a 600+ person growth org across product, design, engineering, data, ops, and growth marketing. Shopify powers over 10% of e-commerce in the United States, with $235 billion in GMV in 2023 (roughly the size of Finland’s economy). He previously led Consumer product and growth at Lyft and was at Udemy for 8 years as SVP of Product having joined the company when it was 10 people. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why Shopify optimizes for churn • Why the core product team doesn’t use metrics-based goals • Why they keep multi-year experiment holdouts • How they structure their growth team • The benefits of not having a CMO • Lessons learned about integrating sales into a product-led growth model • The power of discounting as a growth lever • Much more — Brought to you by: • Explo—Embed customer-facing analytics in your product • Dovetail—The customer insights hub for product teams — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shopifys-growth-archie-abrams — Where to find Archie Abrams: • X: https://x.com/archieabrams • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/archie-abrams-b6aa8b6/ — 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) Archie’s background  (02:30) Shopify’s impressive growth (06:17) Shopify’s unique approach to churn and retention (08:43) Monetization model and success metrics (11:08) Long-term experimentation and metrics (23:00) Examples of big wins that Archie’s team has shipped (26:42) Monetary friction (27:14) Metrics (29:47) Shopify’s growth team structure (33:03) Goal setting and forecasting (37:10) Examples of long-term results within Shopify (41:36) Shipping neutral experiments (42:05) Building a hundred-year company (48:04) Why Shopify doesn’t use KPIs (51:30) Shopify’s “Get s**t done” framework (54:30) Cross-team collaboration  (58:48) The importance of an opinionated founder  (01:01:12) Growth and sales integration (01:06:42) Shopify’s marketing structure (01:08:49) Insights on discounting from Udemy (01:11:09) Lightning round — Referenced: • Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ • Tobias Lütke on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiaslutke • Gross Merchandise Value: Calculation and Best Practices: https://www.shopify.com/retail/gross-merchandise-value • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Glen Coates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glcoates • Harley Finkelstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harleyf • Udemy: https://www.udemy.com/ • Scientific Advertising: https://www.amazon.com/Scientific-Advertising-Original-Claude-Hopkins/dp/1640954252 • Four-Minute Mile: https://www.amazon.com/Four-Minute-Mile-Roger-Bannister/dp/1493038753/ • The Sopranos on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-sopranos • Suno: https://suno.com/ — 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

    1h 18m
  7. Just evil enough: Subversive marketing strategies for startups | Alistair Croll (author, advisor, entrepreneur)

    NOV 3

    Just evil enough: Subversive marketing strategies for startups | Alistair Croll (author, advisor, entrepreneur)

    Alistair Croll is the co-author of the best-selling book Lean Analytics and a longtime product manager, entrepreneur, and startup advisor. He was also instrumental in my starting a company, funding it, and helping us exit to Airbnb as part of his Year One Labs incubator. He’s chaired notable events such as O’Reilly’s Strata and UBM’s Cloud Connect and founded FWD50. In our conversation, we focus on lessons from an upcoming book by Alistair and his co-author, Emily Ross, Just Evil Enough, which is set for release in late 2024. We cover: • The importance of subversive marketing strategies in most startups’ growth • 11 specific subversive tactics that successful companies have used • Examples of companies like Netflix, Airbnb, and Tesla that used clever tactics early on • A framework for scanning your market for opportunities • The importance of finding your “zero-day marketing exploit” • How to apply these tactics ethically without actually being evil • Much more — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Hex—Helping teams ask and answer data questions by working together • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security — Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/just-evil-enough-alistair-croll — Where to find Alistair Croll: • X: https://x.com/acroll • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@alistairish • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alistaircroll/ • Website: https://justevilenough.com/ • Substack: https://acroll.substack.com/ • Just Evil Enough on X: https://x.com/evilenough • Just Evil Enough on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/just-evil-enough/ — 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) Alistair’s background  (02:00) The story behind Alistair and Emily’s book Just Evil Enough (06:17) Examples of subversive tactics (07:43) The importance of unfair advantage (10:36) The origin of the title “Just Evil Enough” (14:24) System awareness and novelty (19:16) How to use this thinking successfully  (22:37) Normalizing disagreeable thinking  (25:49) Recon canvas and market scanning (32:43) 11 tactics for subversive marketing (57:01) Implementing subversive strategies (01:05:01) Ethical considerations in marketing (01:08:19) Lightning round — 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

    1h 15m
  8. 4 questions Shreyas Doshi wishes he’d asked himself sooner | Former PM leader at Stripe, Twitter, Google

    OCT 31

    4 questions Shreyas Doshi wishes he’d asked himself sooner | Former PM leader at Stripe, Twitter, Google

    Shreyas Doshi is a former product leader at Stripe, Twitter, Google, and Yahoo. He’s now a full-time advisor and coach to founders and executives. Shreyas is known for his incredibly insightful writing on products, which has garnered him a passionate following in the PM and startup community. Last week, we sat down together at the very first Lenny and Friends Summit in San Francisco for a special live episode. We covered: • Why product leaders often feel overwhelmed with work, and how to combat it • The importance of developing good taste, and how to do it • How to reduce frustration in your product leadership role • The critical skill of truly listening as a leader • Common pitfalls in annual planning and decision-making • Lots of laughs — To learn more from Shreyas, check out these courses: • Improving Your Product Sense: https://bit.ly/product-sense • Managing Your PM Career: https://bit.ly/pm-career-course — Brought to you by: • WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Paragon—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want • Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shreyas-doshi-live — Where to find Shreyas Doshi: • X: https://x.com/shreyas • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shreyasdoshi/ • Threads: https://www.threads.net/@shreyas.threads • Linktree: https://linktr.ee/shreyasdoshi • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ShreyasDoshiVideos — 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 (05:35) Question one: Why am I so busy? (10:08) Annual planning as an example (16:48) Tactical tips for staying less busy (25:20) Question two: Do I actually have good taste? (38:09) Question three: Why does my job feel so frustrating? (43:29) Question four: Am I really listening? (44:35) Closing remarks — Referenced: • 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: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-3-shreyas-doshi • LNO framework: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984 • Time management techniques that actually work: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/time-management-techniques-that-actually • Part 2: Time management techniques that actually work: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/part-2-time-management-techniques • Eisenhower quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/dwight_d_eisenhower_164720 • Stripe Connect: https://stripe.com/connect • Jeff Bezos explains one-way door decisions and two-way door decisions: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxsdOQa_QkM • Spotify Is America’s Most Loved Workplace: https://www.newsweek.com/2021/10/29/spotify-americas-most-loved-workplace-1639982.html • Shreyas on “thinking is cheap”: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/shreyasdoshi_thinking-is-very-cheap-doing-is-very-expensive-activity-7225237421813116929-Qzi3/ • Good Product Strategy, Bad Product Strategy from Shreyas: https://x.com/shreyas/status/1244810075908128768 • Shreyas on annual planning and metrics: https://x.com/shreyas/status/1302423854095036421 https://x.com/shreyas/status/1304628719374544896 • Jensen Huang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang/ • Patrick Mahomes’s website: https://www.adidas.com/us/patrick_mahomes • Virat Kohli: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virat_Kohli • Reversible and Irreversible Decisions: https://fs.blog/reversible-irreversible-decisions/ • Fail fast: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fail_fast • 3 levels of product work: https://twitter.com/shreyas/status/1370248637842812936 • Shakespeare quote: https://nosweatshakespeare.com/quotes/famous/to-thine-own-self-be-true/ • Rick Rubin: Legendary Music Prod

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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

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