27min chapter

Billion dollar failures, and billion dollar success | Tom Conrad (Quibi, Pandora, Pets.com, Snap, Zero)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

notes

CHAPTER

The Importance of Trusting Your Instincts and Learning from Product Disasters

In this chapter, the speakers discuss the significance of getting a sense of the people you will work with before joining a company and trusting your instincts. They also delve into notable product company disasters like pets.com and Quibi, highlighting the lessons learned from these experiences.

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Transcript

Episode notes

Tom Conrad is the CEO of Zero and on the board of Sonos. He began his career in engineering at Apple, where he helped build key features that remain in iOS today. Tom was previously the VP of Product at Snap and the chief technology officer of Pandora. He also held leadership positions at notable tech flops Pets.com and Quibi, giving him a unique perspective not only on what it takes to build a successful company but also on lessons from failure. In today’s conversation, we discuss:

• Lessons learned from the infamous failures of Pets.com and Quibi

• Lessons learned from the successes of Apple, Pandora, and Snap

• Advice on choosing where to work

• Understanding the math formula of a business

• How to avoid burnout

• Why Tom says not everyone needs to be a founder

• What he’s building now

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/billion-dollar-failures-and-billion

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Where to find Tom Conrad:

• X: https://twitter.com/tconrad

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomconrad/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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