Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons from scaling Uber and Opendoor | Brian Tolkin (Head of Product at Opendoor, ex-Uber)

95 snips

Aug 4, 2024

Brian Tolkin, Head of Product at Opendoor and former key player at Uber, shares insights from his experiences in product management and operations. He discusses the synergy between these teams for effective product development and how to navigate challenges like COVID-19. Tolkin also reveals stories from his time at Uber, including dynamic pricing strategies and the launch of UberPool. He emphasizes the importance of the 'jobs-to-be-done' framework in understanding customer needs and highlights lessons in leadership, decision-making, and collaboration in the tech space.

Ask episode

AI Snips

Chapters

Books

Transcript

Episode notes

ANECDOTE

Manual Surge Pricing

Early Uber surge pricing was manually controlled by GMs in each city.
GMs set parameters and the algorithm optimized within those.

ANECDOTE

UberX Naming

UberX's name originated as a placeholder for a hybrid vehicle product.
The company's rapid growth led to the placeholder name sticking.

ANECDOTE

UberPool Launch in China

Brian Tolkin recalls a stressful UberPool launch in China.
A last-minute fix and a celebratory street food breakfast followed.

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

Get the app

Shoe Dog

Phil Knight

Shoe Dog is a memoir that chronicles the journey of Phil Knight as he builds Nike from its humble beginnings as Blue Ribbon Sports. The book is a personal and detailed account of Knight's experiences, from his early days selling Japanese running shoes out of the trunk of his car to the global brand Nike is today. It highlights his relentless work ethic, the challenges he faced, and the key relationships with his partners and employees that were crucial to the company's success. The memoir also touches on Knight's personal life, including his family and the emotional struggles he encountered along the way[1][3][4].

The Design of Everyday Things

Revised and Expanded Edition

Don Norman

In this book, Don Norman discusses how design should be centered around the user's needs, emphasizing the importance of visibility, natural relationships between controls and functions, and the intelligent use of constraints. He argues that poor design, rather than user ineptness, is often the cause of frustration with everyday objects. The book covers various aspects of design, including affordances, signifiers, and the seven stages of action, providing a comprehensive guide to creating user-friendly products.

Shantaram

Gregory David Roberts

Shantaram is a novel based on the life of the author, Gregory David Roberts. The story follows Lindsay 'Lin' Ford, an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from prison and flees to India. In Bombay, Lin immerses himself in the city's underworld, befriending a local guide named Prabaker and becoming involved in various activities including setting up a free health clinic in the slums, working with the mafia, and experiencing the diverse and vibrant culture of India. The novel is a rich tapestry of emotions, exploring themes of friendship, loyalty, and the human condition, and is known for its vivid portrayal of life in Bombay in the 1980s.

The Black Swan

The Impact of the Highly Improbable

Nassim Nicholas Taleb

David Chandler

Nassim Taleb

The Black Swan is a landmark book by Nassim Nicholas Taleb that investigates the phenomenon of highly improbable events with massive impacts. These events, termed Black Swans, are unpredictable, have a significant impact, and are rationalized after the fact to appear less random. Taleb argues that humans are hardwired to focus on specifics rather than generalities, leading to a failure to consider what we don’t know. The book delves into cognitive biases, the limitations of mathematical models, and the importance of robustness and antifragility in navigating a world filled with uncertainty. The second edition includes a new essay, 'On Robustness and Fragility,' offering tools to navigate and exploit a Black Swan world.