20 Product: Lenny Rachitsky on The 3 Key Roles of the Product Manager, 5 Skills All The Best PMs Have, When To Hire Your First PM, How to Structure the Hiring Process for PMs & What Leaders Can Do to Make Their PMs Successful
Lenny Rachitsky, a product leader with over seven years at Airbnb, shares invaluable insights on product management. He discusses the evolving role of product managers and identifies essential skills for success, such as balancing customer feedback with intuition. Lenny also elaborates on when to hire your first PM and common mistakes founders make during the hiring process. He reflects on his own experiences, including pivotal lessons from Airbnb's missteps, making this a treasure trove for aspiring product leaders and startups.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Lenny's Path to Product
Lenny Rachitsky's career began in engineering, leading to a startup acquisition by Airbnb.
He transitioned into product management, working on supply growth, reviews, and the Superhost program.
insights INSIGHT
Airbnb's Product Philosophy
Airbnb's success stems from high standards and a focus on the ideal user experience.
They work backwards from the ideal, exemplified by storyboarding the entire guest journey.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Three Core PM Jobs
Product management involves shaping the product, shipping the product, and synchronizing the team.
PMs use customer insights, data, and stakeholder input to define and prioritize what to build.
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How to talk to customers and learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you
Rob Fitzpatrick
This book emphasizes the importance of asking the right questions to customers to gather genuine data and avoid wasting resources. It advises entrepreneurs to focus on understanding customers' problems and current solutions rather than pitching their own ideas. The book provides practical advice on how to conduct effective customer conversations, avoid biased feedback, and transition into sales. It is widely recommended for entrepreneurs seeking product market fit and is used in various educational and entrepreneurial programs[3][4][5].
Lenny Rachitsky is one of the OGs of product, having spent over 7 years at Airbnb as a product lead he left to start his newsletter, find it here. This has scaled to thousands upon thousands of readers and is one of the most popular newsletters on Substack. Lenny is also an extremely active angel investor with a portfolio including Figma, Sorare, Clubhouse, Vanta, WhatNot and many more incredible companies. If that was not enough, Lenny also has the best course on product management, check it out here.
In Today’s Episode with Lenny Rachitsky You Will Learn:
1.) Origins in Product:
How did Lenny make his way iunto the world of product management at Airbnb?
What were some of his biggest takeaways from his time at Airbnb on product?
What mistakes did he make on product at Airbnb? How did it impact his product thinking?
2.) Product Management: 101
How does Lenny define product management today? How is the role of PM changing?
When is the right time to hire your first PM as a startup?
What is the difference between Head of Product and CPO? When do you hire each?
What are the biggest mistakes founders make when hiring their first product hires?
3.) The Hiring Process:
How should founders breakdown the process of hiring for their first in product?
What does the interview process look like? How should founders structure it?
What core questions should teams ask of prospective candidates?
What are red flags when interviewing potential product hires?
4.) The Onboarding Process:
How should founders structure the onboarding process for new product hires?
What can founders do to make PMs successful in their first 30 days?
Where do many product hires make the biggest mistakes in the first 30 days?
What can product hires do to build trust with their new team?
Items Mentioned in Today's Episode with Lenny Rachitsky
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch 
