
How to build your product team from scratch, attract top product talent, go multi-product, and more | Rohini Pandhi (Mercury, Square)
Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
Engaging with the Mercury Team and Exclusive Banking Opportunity
This chapter emphasizes the value of product feedback and invites listeners to connect with the Mercury team. It also highlights job openings and offers podcast listeners a special opportunity to access Mercury's personal banking services directly.
Rohini Pandhi is a product leader at Mercury, and previously spent over seven years at Square/Block leading product work on Square payments, invoicing, and the Bitkey hardware Bitcoin wallet. Sheâs also the co-founder of the startup bootcamp Transparent Collective and is an active angel investor. In our conversation, we discuss:
âą Key indicators that itâs time to hire PMs
âą How to build your early PM team
âą Why founders should initially take on the product manager role themselves
âą How to attract top PM talent
âą What sheâs learned about going multi-product
âą A case for investing in quality
âą More
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Skip the Mercury Personal waitlist: https://mercurytechnologies.typeform.com/lenny
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-build-your-product-team-from-scratch-rohini-pandhi
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Where to find Rohini Pandhi:
âą X: https://x.com/rohinip
âą LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohinipandhi
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Where to find Lenny:
âą Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
âą X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
âą LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Rohiniâs background
(05:00) The role of product managers at Mercury
(09:51) Key indicators that itâs time to hire PMs
(13:18) Building the product team at Mercury
(19:53) Why you should avoid hiring PMs too early
(22:26) The different flavors of product management
(26:15) How to attract top talent
(35:59) Advocating for quality in product development
(44:10) Going multi-product
(46:37) Organizational structure for multi-product success
(50:57) Organizational culture for multi-product success
(52:07) Customer obsession and product development
(57:36) More lessons from going multi-product
(01:05:57) Transparent Collective: supporting underrepresented founders
(01:09:54) Lightning round
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Referenced:
âą Immad Akhund on X: https://x.com/immad
âą Mercury: https://mercury.com
âą Square: https://squareup.com
âą Product management career ladders: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-career-ladders
âą Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners [Wardley]: https://orghacking.com/pioneers-settlers-town-planners-wardley-9dcd3709cde7
âą Jason Zhang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-zhang-5645a860
âą What is âDogfoodingâ?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/business/dogfooding.html
âą Mercury Bill Pay: https://mercury.com/bill-pay
âą Zip: https://zip.co
âą Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
âą The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan
âą 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: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/gokul-rajaram-on-designing-your-product
âą Gokul Rajaram on X: https://x.com/gokulr
âą Transparent Collective: https://www.transparentcollective.com
âą 16 Reading Tips from Naval Ravikant: https://alexandbooks.com/archive/16-reading-tips-from-naval-ravikant
âą Shrinking on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/shrinking
âą Bad Sisters on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/bad-sisters
âą Slow Horses on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/slow-horses
âą Severance on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance
âą Presumed Innocent on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/presumed-innocent
âą Waymo: https://waymo.com
âą Adam Robinson on X: https://x.com/IAmAdamRobinson
âą Cyan BanisterâFrom Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More): https://tim.blog/2024/11/28/cyan-banister
âą Bobby Matson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbymatson
âą Jobs at Mercury: https://mercury.com/jobs
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Recommended books:
âą Vectors: Aphorisms & Ten-Second Essays: https://www.amazon.com/Vectors-Aphorisms-Ten-Second-James-Richardson/dp/0967266890
âą The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314
âą Pachinko: https://www.amazon.com/Pachinko-National-Book-Award-Finalist/dp/1455563927
âą Cutting for Stone: https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Stone-Abraham-Verghese/dp/0375714367
âą The Song of Achilles: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Achilles-Novel-Madeline-Miller/dp/0062060627
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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