Kevin Niparko is the VP of Product @ Twilio. Kevin joined Twilio through the acquisition of Segment where he spent an incredible 8 years in numerous different roles including as Head of Product. Before entering the world of product, Kevin was a Management Associate at the world-renowned, Bridgewater Associates.
In Today's Episode with Kevin Niparko We Discuss:
1. From Bridgewater to Head of Product:
- How Kevin made his way from the world of asset management and analytics to leading product teams?
- What are 1-2 of Kevin's biggest takeaways from his time at Bridgewater with Ray Dalio?
- How did the 8 year journey with Segment leading to their $3BN acquisition impact his approach to product?
2. What Makes a Great Product Person:
- Does Kevin believe that product is more art or science? If he were to put a number on it? What would it be out of 100?
- Why does Kevin believe that all product people should learn to write?
- Why does Kevin believe that the best product people are generalists and not specialists?
- Why does Kevin think that analytics is an insanely good start for product people?
3. How to Hire the Best Product People:
- How does Kevin approach the hiring process for product hires today?
- What are the non-obvious traits of hires he looks for? How does he test for them?
- Does Kevin use case studies? Where do many fall down? What do the best do?
4. Product Reviews: Good vs Great:
- How often does Kevin do product reviews? Who is invited?
- How have product reviews changed in a world where the company is now fully remote?
- What is the difference between good and great product reviews?
- What is the single best product decision Kevin has made? What did he learn?
- What is the worst product decision Kevin made? How did that change his approach?
