Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Building Anchor, selling to Spotify, and lessons learned | Maya Prohovnik (Spotify’s Head of Podcast Product)

Sep 28, 2023

Maya Prohovnik, Spotify’s Head of Podcast Product and employee #1 at Anchor, shares her journey in transforming podcasting. She discusses 'dogfooding' as a way to empathize with creators and the balance between data and intuition in decision-making. Maya reveals strategies for maintaining a startup culture in a corporate setting and offers tactical tips for public speaking. She reflects on the impact of Spotify’s acquisition of Anchor and emphasizes the importance of community engagement in nurturing new podcasters.

01:07:35

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Episode guests

Maya Prohovnik

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Quick takeaways

Anchor successfully integrated into Spotify by aligning with the company's vision and mission, democratizing podcasting.

Operating within a larger company presented challenges, but Anchor maintained its startup mindset by eliminating unnecessary obstacles.

Founders and early employees often experience depression and existential crisis after an acquisition, highlighting the importance of addressing personal feelings and transitioning successfully.

Deep dives

Integration and cultural fit within Spotify

Anchor successfully integrated into Spotify by aligning with Spotify's vision and mission, as well as building strong relationships with different teams within the company. The acquisition was driven by a shared goal to change and democratize podcasting. Anchor remained true to its core values and maintained its startup mentality, while also embracing Spotify's culture. The team worked towards helping Spotify maintain its fast-moving mindset and teaching others within the company how to move quickly. This alignment and collaborative approach facilitated a successful integration.

Passionate Preparation for Public Speaking

03:15

Get people to Scale - Do things that dont Scale

03:40

How to Approach Challenging Conversations in Management

01:01

Transitioning from Anchor 1.0 to 2.0: Balancing User Feedback and Business Goals

01:18

Intro

4min

Spotify's Emergence as a Dominant Podcasting Platform

2min

Empathy in Podcasting: The Power of Dogfooding

27min

Driving Growth Through Remarkable Innovation and Strategic Integration

6min

Navigating Change: From Startup to Corporate

24min

Finding Joy in Everyday Discoveries

3min

Engaging Listeners and Feedback in Podcasting

2min

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Maya Prohovnik is currently Spotify’s Head of Podcast Product. She was employee #1 at Anchor, which was acquired by Spotify in 2019 and now powers more than 80% of all new podcasts created in the world. In 2023, Maya was named one of the Most Important People in Podcasting by The Hollywood Reporter. In today’s episode, we discuss:• How Maya operationalizes “dogfooding”• How to balance data-driven decision-making and intuition• Strategies for preserving startup culture in a large organization• Tactical tips to improve at public speaking• How Radical Candor and the Eisenhower matrix transformed her approach to managing people• What’s next at Spotify for Podcasters

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-anchor-selling-to-spotify

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Where to find Maya Prohovnik:

• Threads: https://www.threads.net/@mayafish

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

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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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