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Velocity over everything: How Ramp became the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time | Geoff Charles (VP of Product)

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Aug 6, 2023

Guest

Geoff Charles

Geoff Charles, VP of Product at Ramp, shares insights from his experience building one of the fastest-growing SaaS startups. He discusses how a culture of velocity drives Ramp’s success and how effective writing enhances clarity and creativity. Geoff emphasizes empowering product teams through context sharing and encouraging a first-principles approach to problem-solving. He also reveals unique hiring strategies that contribute to Ramp's innovation and offers advice for those looking to break into product management.

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Episode notes

insights

INSIGHT

Velocity is Key

Velocity is the core of Ramp's culture, influencing product development, incentives, and hiring.
High velocity de-risks decisions, attracts talent, and enables iterative impact.

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ANECDOTE

Ramp's Rapid Growth

Ramp built a competitor to Amex in three months with a small team of eight engineers.
Six months later, they built a competitor to Expensify and hit $100M ARR with under 50 R&D staff.

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ADVICE

Single-Threaded Teams

Create single-threaded teams with one clear goal to avoid distractions.
Shield these teams from organizational chaos and provide necessary resources.

Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode

Exploring Ramp's Remarkable Growth in Fintech

04:43 • 2min

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Velocity at Ramp: The Key to Success

06:20 • 6min

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Empowering Teams in a Fast-Paced Environment

12:02 • 25min

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Navigating Chaos: Strategy and Growth in Startups

36:34 • 2min

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Strategic Planning Evolution

38:32 • 10min

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Empowering Product Management Through Writing and Strategy

48:31 • 21min

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Talent Dynamics at Ramp

01:09:14 • 4min

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Enhancing Product Development and Team Engagement through Effective Tools

01:13:30 • 3min

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When Breath Becomes Air

E. Z. - Reader

In this profoundly moving memoir, Paul Kalanithi chronicles his transformation from a medical student to a neurosurgeon at Stanford, and finally to a patient confronting his own mortality. Diagnosed with stage IV lung cancer at 36, Kalanithi grapples with fundamental philosophical questions about what makes a life worth living in the face of death. The book is a reflection on the challenge of facing death and the relationship between doctor and patient, written with eloquence and intelligence. Kalanithi's writing delves into his lifelong love of literature and his attempt to connect the sciences and humanities to gain a greater understanding of humanity.

Getting Things Done

David Allen

Getting Things Done (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen. The book provides a detailed methodology for managing tasks, projects, and information, emphasizing the importance of capturing all tasks and ideas, clarifying their meaning, organizing them into actionable lists, reviewing the system regularly, and engaging in the tasks. The GTD method is designed to reduce stress and increase productivity by externalizing tasks and using a trusted system to manage them. The book is divided into three parts, covering the overview of the system, its implementation, and the deeper benefits of integrating GTD into one's work and life[2][3][5].

Brought to you by Ezra—The leading full-body cancer screening company | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs | Attio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups

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Geoff Charles is VP of Product at Ramp—the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time, Fast Company’s #1 Most Innovative Company in North America, and a company I believe we should all study for how they operate, execute, and hire. At Ramp, Geoff has led the product team from the early days, including the development and release of 60+ products and features in the past year alone. He has been building financial services for over a decade, and his interview in Lenny’s Newsletter quickly became one of the most widely read newsletter issues of all time. In today’s podcast, we will discuss:

• How velocity is at the heart of Ramp’s culture and success

• How writing can unlock clarity, creativity, and rapid problem-solving

• How to empower your product team through context sharing

• How to practically approach problems from first principles

• How Ramp approaches hiring in a unique way

• Suggestions for breaking into the world of product management

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/velocity-over-everything-how-ramp-became-the-fastest-growing-saas-startup-of-all-time-geoff-charl/#transcript

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Where to find Geoff Charles:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/geoffintech

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrey-charles/

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Where to find Lenny:

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

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

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

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Geoff’s background

(04:49) An overview of Ramp

(06:20) The importance of velocity at Ramp

(08:50) Single-threaded goals and how to keep teams away from distractions

(13:20) Setting lofty goals

(15:17) How Ramp empowers teams

(17:37) How Geoff’s management style has evolved at Ramp

(19:55) The product design process at Ramp

(21:19) Ramp’s system for sharing feedback

(23:07) How Ramp handles bug fixes

(24:15) Advice for PMs who want to move faster

(29:29) Why velocity and impact can help protect against burnout

(32:33) Planning vs. doing

(37:54) Ramp’s strategy documents

(40:55) Finding your unique positioning

(42:46) OKRs

(44:53) The importance of first-principle thinking

(48:53) How to use writing to think through problems

(51:46) How Geoff carves out time for deep work

(54:05) How Geoff manages tasks and stays organized

(57:15) Why other roles share the PM load at Ramp

(1:00:30) PM responsibilities at Ramp

(1:01:46) Identifying A+ talent

(1:06:02) The skills Ramp looks for when hiring

(1:07:33) Advice for people wanting to break into product management

(1:10:37) Lightning round

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Referenced:

• How Ramp builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ramp-builds-product

• Bill: https://www.bill.com/

• Expensify: https://www.expensify.com/

• Concur: https://www.concur.com/

• Coupa: https://www.coupa.com/

• Nicole Forsgren on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-measure-and-improve-developer-productivity-nicole-forsgren-microsoft-research-github-goo/

• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/

• Getting Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563

• When Breath Becomes Air: https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp/081298840X

• The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f

• Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/

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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.

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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