Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Building your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)

Jan 19, 2023

Ravi Mehta, co-founder and CEO of Outpace, previously held key product roles at Tinder, Facebook, and TripAdvisor. In this discussion, he reveals his product strategy stack framework that shaped Tinder's success. He contrasts product development in startups versus large tech firms and explores innovative strategies that drive user engagement in dating apps. Ravi also shares insights on the application of AI in coaching, enhancing productivity, and how it transforms the coaching landscape, making it more effective than ever.

01:21:25

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Ravi Mehta

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Quick takeaways

Tinder and Hinge have different missions and strategies, with Tinder focusing on influencer marketing and a swipe-based experience, while Hinge prioritizes television ads and creating tools for user profiles.

Understanding the behavior of high-spending Tinder users revealed that they were not necessarily high net worth individuals, but rather people with intense use cases, which led to the creation of Tinder Platinum with personalized features to cater to their specific needs.

The product strategy stack emphasizes the importance of establishing a clear strategy before defining goals, ensuring that goals and roadmaps align with the overall strategy to drive progress towards the desired outcome.

Engaging in one-on-one conversations with users provides valuable qualitative research that helps product teams gain deep insights, optimize the product experience, address user needs effectively, and identify new opportunities for improvement and innovation.

Deep dives

Tinder vs. Hinge: Different Missions, Strategies, and Product Features

Tinder and Hinge, both dating apps, have different missions, with Tinder aiming to make single life fun and Hinge striving to be deleted. Their strategies differ as well, with Tinder relying on influencer marketing and Hinge using television ads. The product strategies align with their missions, as Tinder focuses on a lightweight, swipe-based experience, while Hinge prioritizes creating more tools and engagement on user profiles. Despite similarities in the product roadmap, such as video chat features, each app has unique offerings based on their strategies, like Tinder's refusal to include filters and Hinge's approach for deeper connections through prompts. However, both apps share goals centered around meaningful conversations and matches.

Product Strategy Stack

03:59

The frontier of understanding

02:34

Product Management in Startups vs Big Firms: Latency vs. Velocity

02:37

Key Competencies for Product Managers

04:02

Intro

4min

A Journey Through Tech: From Gaming to Product Leadership

3min

From Corporations to Startups: Navigating Change

22min

The Dynamics of Dating App Strategies

12min

Uncovering the Impact of Product Design on Dating Experiences

2min

Prioritizing Strategy in Product Management

24min

Balancing Leadership in Product Management

6min

AI-Enhanced Coaching: Tools and Insights

9min

Ravi was previously CPO at Tinder, Product Director at Facebook, and VP of Product at Tripadvisor. Currently, he’s co-founder and CEO of Outpace, a coaching platform designed to help people reach their professional goals. In today’s podcast, we dive deep into Ravi’s product strategy stack framework and how it was used to develop a powerful strategy at Tinder. We also cover his other popular frameworks—the frontier of understanding and exponential feedback—and how both of them can help you grow in your career. We discuss the differences between building product at a startup versus a large tech company, and how Ravi has had to shift his mindset as he’s moved away from a product leadership role into a founder role. Finally, he shares a bit about how Outpace is using AI to amplify coaches and help make them more efficient and effective.

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Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-your-product-strategy-stack

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for supporting this podcast:

• Merge—A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app: http://merge.dev/lenny

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Where to find Ravi Mehta:

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

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

• Website: https://www.ravi-mehta.com/