Pods and small teams replace large orgs

Tomer Cohen is the longtime chief product officer at LinkedIn, where he’s pioneering the Full Stack Builder program, a radical new approach to product development that fully embraces what AI makes possible. Under his leadership, LinkedIn has scrapped its traditional Associate Product Manager program and replaced it with an Associate Product Builder program that teaches coding, design, and PM skills together. He’s also introduced a formal “Full Stack Builder” title and career ladder, enabling anyone from any function to take products from idea to launch. In this conversation, Tomer explains why product development has become too complex at most companies and how LinkedIn is building an AI-powered product team that can move faster, adapt more quickly, and do more with less.

We discuss:

1. How 70% of the skills needed for jobs will change by 2030

2. The broken traditional model: organizational bloat slows features to a six-month cycle

3. The Full Stack Builder model

4. Three pillars of making FSB work: platform, agents, and culture (culture matters most)

5. Building specialized agents that critique ideas and find vulnerabilities

6. Why off-the-shelf AI tools never work on enterprise code without customization

7. Top performers adopt AI tools fastest, contrary to expectations about leveling effects

8. Change management tactics: celebrating wins, making tools exclusive, updating performance reviews

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Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny

Figma Make—A prompt-to-code tool for making ideas real: https://www.figma.com/lenny/

Miro—The AI Innovation Workspace where teams discover, plan, and ship breakthrough products: https://miro.com/lenny

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Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-linkedin-is-replacing-pms

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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/180042347/my-takeaways-from-this-conversation

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Where to find Tomer Cohen:

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

• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-one-with-tomer-cohen/id1726672498

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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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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Tomer Cohen

(04:42) The need for change in product development

(11:52) The full-stack builder model explained

(16:03) Implementing AI and automation in product development

(19:17) Building and customizing AI tools

(27:51) The timeline to launch

(31:46) Pilot program and early results

(37:04) Feedback from top talent

(39:48) Change management and adoption

(46:53) Encouraging people to play with AI tools

(41:21) Performance reviews and full-stack builders

(48:00) Challenges and specialization

(50:05) Finding talent

(52:46) Tips for implementing in your own company

(56:43) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com

• Cursor: https://cursor.com

• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell

• Devin: https://devin.ai

• Figma: https://www.figma.com

• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com

• Windsurf: https://windsurf.com

• Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan

• Lovable: https://lovable.dev

• Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika

• APB program at LinkedIn: https://careers.linkedin.com/pathways-programs/entry-level/apb

• Naval Ravikant on X: https://x.com/naval

• One Song podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%93-one-song/id1201883177

• Song Exploder podcast: https://songexploder.net

• Grok on Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/support/grok

• Reid Hoffman on X: https://x.com/reidhoffman

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Recommended books:

• Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity/dp/0307719227

• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599

• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359

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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.