Products Podcast

SBSS Madhav
  • 5.0 (1)
  • ENTREPRENEURSHIP
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Learn from history's greatest products. Every week I dive deep into the making of an insanely great product and find ideas you can use, because .... "Ultimately it comes down to taste, to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and bring those things to what you are doing. Good artists copy, great artists steal. We wanted to pull in best from other fields into our products. Take the best and spread it around so that everybody grows up with better things! One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. And you never meet the people, you never shake their hands, you never hear their story or tell yours, but somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there. And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation." -- Steve Jobs

Episodes

  1. FEB 15

    #11 Dyson Against the odds

    Dyson's Dual Cyclone The Product Builder’s Manifesto (Against the Odds)  1. Be Different Before You Try to Be BetterDo not compete inside crowded categories. Create your own. If you look like everyone else, you are invisible. If you work differently, people will notice—even if they resist first. 2. Build Because Something Is BrokenInnovation does not begin with ideas. It begins with irritation. Use the thing. Hate the thing. Then fix the thing. 3. Trust the Evidence of Your Own EyesIgnore opinions. Ignore experts. Ignore market research that explains the past. Build. Test. Break. Rebuild. Change one thing at a time. Reality is the only judge that matters. 4. Form Follows Function—AlwaysBeauty is not decoration. Beauty is clarity. When something works better, it looks better. If it looks like everything else, it probably works like everything else. 5. Prototype RelentlesslyThere are no breakthroughs—only persistence. Make one. Then make another. Then thousands more. What looks like genius from the outside is usually exhaustion from the inside. 6. Qualifications Don’t Matter—Conviction DoesYou do not need permission, degrees, or credentials. You need obsession. Millions are qualified. Very few care enough. 7. Own the “Odd Thing”Protect what makes you uncomfortable, unusual, or misunderstood. That is the source of your edge. The world does not reward conformity—it rewards courage. 8. Build the Product You Want to ExistDesign for yourself first. If it delights you, it will delight others. Do not poll your way to mediocrity. 9. Let the Product Do the TalkingNo discounts. No gimmicks. No false promises. Win because it is intrinsically better. If incumbents attack you, you are doing something right. 10. Sell One Clear TruthYou cannot say everything. Say the one thing that matters most. Explain what is broken in the old world—then show why yours fixes it. 11. Design, Engineer, Build, and Sell—YourselfDo not hand your vision to intermediaries. If you make something, you must know how to explain it, defend it, and stand behind it. Doing it all is not inefficient—it is essential. 12. Exclude the NoiseBells and whistles are the enemy of greatness. Remove parts. Remove steps. Remove distractions. What remains is the essence. 13. Believe Longer Than Anyone ElseMost ideas die not because they are wrong—but because their creators quit. Stubbornness is not a flaw. It is the price of originality. 14. Build for the Long TermDo not optimize for quarters. Optimize for decades. Make things that people would miss if they disappeared. 15. Make Things That MatterThis is not about business. This is about craft. About leaving behind objects that improve lives. About making something worthy of being passed on. Doggedness over cleverness. Difference over dominance. Products over pitches. Belief over permission.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    1h 3m

  2. 09/26/2025

    #10 IKEA - Most things still remain to be done - a glorious future!

    Top Product LessonsStart small with what you know - Ingvar began with selling matchboxes, seeds, and pens before gradually moving into furniture⁠⁠​Distribution is key to product success - Ingvar focused on eliminating middlemen and creating direct channels to customers through catalogs and physical stores⁠⁠​Find your unique angle - The self-assembly concept was born from a practical need to save space during transportation⁠⁠​Balance quality, design and price - "Democratic design" meant creating products that were both functional and affordable⁠⁠​Learn from customer complaints - Quality issues that emerged during price wars helped IKEA realize they needed to focus on quality to build trust⁠⁠​Don't sacrifice quality for price - When competing on price led to quality issues, IKEA refocused on maintaining standards while still keeping prices low⁠⁠​Create transparent pricing - Clear, simple pricing became a core value at IKEA, helping build customer trust⁠⁠​View problems as opportunities - When suppliers boycotted IKEA, they were forced to design their own furniture, which became their competitive advantage⁠⁠​Build strong organizational culture - Ingvar emphasized values like thrift, humility, and responsibility, creating a family-like atmosphere⁠⁠​Start in a small market before expanding globally - IKEA established itself in Sweden before carefully expanding internationally⁠⁠​Think long-term - Keeping IKEA private allowed for sustainable development and a long-term approach⁠⁠​Stay true to your mission - "Create a better everyday life for the many people" remained central to IKEA's purpose⁠⁠​Small experiments lead to major innovations - IKEA's approach was incremental, testing concepts before major launches⁠⁠​Physical experiences matter - Creating exhibition spaces where customers could touch and see products built trust and excitement⁠                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    43 min

  3. 08/02/2025

    #9 Nike Shoe - There is no finish line

    What Modern Product Builders Can Steal from NikeRelentless Ideation & Screening: Flood the funnel with ideas, but rigorously test every hypothesis—even strong ideas that don’t fit can become distractions.Prototype without Restraint: Kill hundreds of bad prototypes to find one moonshot. Innovation is a statistical process—maximize your number of swingsUser-Obsessed Design & Testing: Build products for and with your customers; athlete feedback and data science are equally criticalFail Forward, Fast: Face setbacks with resilience; pivot after failed launches, turn mistakes into future innovations.Empower Missionaries, Not Mercenaries: Design teams made of believers, not just employees, make magic happen.Brand Over Product: Narratives and emotional resonance create true loyalty—don’t just talk specs, tell storiesTechnology as Platform: Use digital tools and direct consumer data for iteration, customization, and building a “living product.”Leadership that Bets Big: Founders and CEOs must set the tone for risk-taking and speed.Adapt & Evolve: What made Nike great in 1972 is not the same as 2025—cultures, markets, and technologies change, and so must youPlay the Infinite Game: “There is no finish line”—the drive to improve, do more, and inspire never stops.Run Your RaceEvery step of Nike’s journey—from the trunk of Phil Knight’s blue Plymouth to the labs of the APCC, to Olympic stadiums and viral digital apps—embodies the lesson: insanely great products and legendary brands aren’t accidents. They are engineered through obsession, grit, and vision that infuses every detail, process, and person.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    59 min

  4. 06/08/2025

    #8 Rolex - The Ultimate Time Telling Machine!

    Hans Wilsdorf was a visionary who was convinced that water resistance would turn the wristwatch into a must-have for everyone, he launched the Oyster in 1926. He tested his watches under extreme conditions in the company of sportspeople and explorers of the 20th century. Rolex’s innovations have indelibly marked the history of global watchmaking and bear witness to its founder’s unending quest for excellence. “We want to be the first in the field and Rolex should be seen as the one and only - the best” Hans Wilsdorf Rolex watches are a result of human ingenuity, craftsmanship and excellence. Customers are not buying a Rolex because they need something to tell the time with, they are buying what Rolex stands for, what it represents, highest symbol of excellence in quality and craftsmanship.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    35 min

  5. 05/05/2025

    #7 Charlie Munger - Mental Models

    Charlie Munger was a month short of 100 years of age when he passed away and throughout his life, he was learning and putting various models he has learned into practice. Four attributes of his success are preparation, patience, discipline and objectivity. Here are some lessons he shared in his talks that we can use in building insanely great products. - Don’t sell anything you wouldn’t buy yourself - Don’t work for anyone you don’t respect and admire - Work only with people you enjoy - Spend each day trying to be wiser than you were when you woke up - Discharge your duties faithfully and well - Step-by-step you get ahead, not necessarily in fast spurts - Three things I found helpful in coping with life’s challenges are:    - Have low expectations, Charlie often quips “That’s how my wife married me”    - Have a sense of humor    - Surround yourself with the love of friends and family                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    51 min

  6. 04/21/2025

    #6 Sony Walkman Made In Japan

    Made in Japan by Akio Morita New innovative product must be reliable, otherwise you will lose trust with consumers. Startups must find a market niche and go after it with new ideas. Consumer products must be simple, utilitarian and economical first. They must also be durable and high quality. Branding is extremely important, protect your brand from day one and fend off cheap knock-offs. It is better to have your own style, however, unique and non-conformist it may be,  in fact, it is better to be different than the same already available in the market. Mottoainai - everything in the world is a gift from the Creator and we should be grateful for it and never waste anything. “Marvelous things are possible if we apply ourselves and we care” “You cannot sell what people do not want to buy” See the future in terms of problems faced by people today solved using technological advances. Advertising and promotion will not sustain a bad product or a product too early for the times                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    57 min

  7. 04/15/2025

    #5 Walmart - Made in America

    * It is not necessary but anger could help launch a trillion dollar business, Sam Walton was angry about Ben Franklin stores not giving him a chance to try out his idea for a discount store which lead him to start his own... Having a clear mission and vision i.e. when customers thought of Walmart, they should think of low prices and satisfaction guaranteed. “Most everything I have done I’ve copied from somebody else” a few lessons for us to take away from Sam's Autobiography  1) Good artists copy, great artists steal. If something is great don’t be shy to take it and implement in your own product  2) Experiment, try a lot of things  3) Expand quickly when you see something is working, go broader with it  4) Jim Collins says “Bullets before Canon Balls”, Sam bought one small store at a time and proved out that the store could be stand alone profitable and then took the model and applied it to the next and the next store. David Glass “Two things about Sam Walton that distinguish from almost everyone else I know.  First he gets up everyday bound and determined to improve something.  Second, he is less afraid of being wrong than anyone I’ve ever known. And once he sees he is wrong, he shakes it off and heads in another direction”                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    39 min

  8. 04/09/2025

    #4 Amazon Letters to Shareholders - We don’t seek to be average

    We don’t seek to be average. We want to be best in class…We won’t be satisfied until we do. If this approach sounds appealing, a natural question is what’s required to get good at it? It’s easier said than done, but here are some components that have helped us: 1/ Hire the Right Builders 2/ Organize Builders into Teams That Are as Separable and Autonomous as Possible 3/ Give Teams the Right Tools and Permission to Move Fast 4/ You Need Blind Faith, But No False Hope 5/ Define a Minimum Loveable Product (MLP), and Be Willing to Iterate Fast 6/ Adopt a Long-term Orientation 7/ Brace Yourself for Failure On the details, we at Amazon are always flexible, but on matters of vision we are stubborn and relentless. To all of you: be kind, be original, create more than you consume, and never, never, never let the universe smooth you into your surroundings. It remains Day 1.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    1h 19m

  9. 04/07/2025

    #3 Amazon.com - Customer obsession made this insanely great product!

    Amazon.com started more than 30 years ago as the Earth’s Biggest Bookstore but today it is a gigantic machine of machine learning models, algorithms, robots that constantly work on behalf of customers to deliver a wide variety of products all around the world. Amazon Web Services, Amazon Bedrock and AI are at the forefront of AI revolution, thousands of enterprises are using these services and foundational models to tap into the power of AI. How Amazon.com Was Built To Be Insanely GreatLong term (very very long term thinking), we are talking decades and not yearsProblem solving, a view of competitive landscape but focus on obsessing over customers, providing free services like shippingBig ambitions, Think Big because thinking small is a self-fulfilling prophecyMechanisms to review key metrics and follow up weekly in Weekly Business ReviewsBe bold, make big calculated betsCustomer obsession “our mission is to raise the bar across industries, and around the world, for what it means to be customer obsessed""We don’t make money when we sell things. We make money when we help customers make purchase decisions” (Absolute gold, customer obsession in action)He swept me off my feet, he was so convinced that what he was doing was basically the work of God and that somehow the money would materialize"That either-or mentality, that if you are doing something good for customers it must be bad for shareholders, is very amateurish"                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    1h 19m

  10. 03/31/2025

    #2 TikTok - Inspiring creativity on a phone near you

    How TikTok Was Built To Be Insanely GreatSolve a real user need (easy, fun content creation & consumption).Leverage AI to enhance engagement (personalization > social graphs).Remove friction in content creation.Encourage virality through shareability and remix culture.Expand globally but localize effectively.TikTok’s PMF wasn’t accidental—it was a masterclass in understanding user psychology, algorithmic efficiency, and viral growth.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    52 min

  11. 03/24/2025

    #1 Tesla Motors - Great products make great companies

    Tesla wanted to build an affordable, high-volume electric SUV that retained the performance, efficiency, and tech of the Model 3 but in a more practical form factor. SUVs dominate global markets, so this was a strategic move to increase EV adoption. "We are not building a toy car for the rich, we are on a mission to accelerate sustainable energy". How the Model Y Was Built To Be Insanely Great🚀 Visionary Design: An SUV that’s both practical and futuristic. 🔧 Engineering Simplicity: Giga casting, fewer parts, and vertical integration. 🔋 Battery & Performance: Leading range and efficiency. 📡 Tech-First Approach: OTA updates, AI-driven driving. 🏭 Scalable Production: Gigafactories worldwide for global reach. The Model Y is a perfect example of Tesla’s strategy: innovation-driven, software-focused, and manufacturing-optimized—all while breaking traditional industry norms.                    ///////// -----o00o---( O  O )---o00o------ Check out other episodes on your favorite pod catcher or on Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav

    1h 3m
  • 11 Episodes

About

Learn from history's greatest products. Every week I dive deep into the making of an insanely great product and find ideas you can use, because .... "Ultimately it comes down to taste, to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and bring those things to what you are doing. Good artists copy, great artists steal. We wanted to pull in best from other fields into our products. Take the best and spread it around so that everybody grows up with better things! One of the ways that I believe people express their appreciation to the rest of humanity is to make something wonderful and put it out there. And you never meet the people, you never shake their hands, you never hear their story or tell yours, but somehow, in the act of making something with a great deal of care and love, something is transmitted there. And it’s a way of expressing to the rest of our species our deep appreciation." -- Steve Jobs

Information

  • Creator
    SBSS Madhav
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    11
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2025 Products Podcast by SBSS Madhav
  • Show Website
    Products Podcast