Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

May 18, 2023

01:02:33

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Quick takeaways

Founders should evaluate their conviction in the problem they’re solving when facing challenges in their startup and consider pivoting if necessary.

To navigate the messy middle of building a startup, focus on making progress, set and celebrate micro milestones, and create a narrative around the team’s journey.

Investors value founders who are passionate about the mission, listen, learn, and are not afraid to shake things up, with a clear object model and belief in the problem being solved.

Deep dives

The Importance of Conviction in Building a Startup

When founders are facing challenges in their startup, it's crucial to evaluate their level of conviction in the problem and solution they are building. Founders with increased conviction despite setbacks are often encouraged to persevere, as they are likely experiencing the messy middle that is common in entrepreneurship. However, if founders find that their conviction has waned and they no longer believe in their solution, it may be time for them to consider pivoting or exploring new opportunities.

Product Leadership and the Art of Reductionism

01:14

Important Attributes VCs Look for in Startups: Team and Product

01:21

The Importance of Playing with Technology

01:34

Creating moments of surprise

01:20

Introduction

5min

Adobe's New Role: Strategy and Corporate Development

2min

Adobe's Chief Product Officer Role

2min

How to Build Product Sensitivity

2min

The Importance of the First Mile for Adobe Product Owners

2min

How to Be More Empathetic in Your Product

2min

How to Optimize for Product Growth

2min

The Future of Consumer Products

3min

The Importance of Network Effects in New Consumer Products

2min

10.

How to Optimize for the Problems You Want to Have

4min

11.

AI and the Future of Product Development

4min

12.

AI and the Product Team

2min

13.

The Disruptive Future of Data Analysts

4min

14.

The Future of Product Development: Bringing Design Upstream

4min

15.

Implications: How to Stay Aware of AI and Not Be Left Behind

2min

16.

The Power of Writing to Help You Think Through Things

2min

17.

How to Survive the Messy Middle

2min

18.

The Importance of Conviction in Entrepreneurship

2min

19.

The Importance of Conviction in a Startup

4min

20.

The Importance of Resourcefulness in Product Design

3min

21.

Adobe's Three Waves of Transformation

2min

22.

The Power of Nature

2min

23.

How to Be a Successful Person

2min

24.

How AI Can Help You Create a Better Presentation

3min

Brought to you by Braintrust—For when you needed talent, yesterday | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Rows—The spreadsheet where data comes to life

—

Scott Belsky is an entrepreneur, author, investor, and currently Adobe’s Chief Strategy Officer and EVP of Design and Emerging Products. He founded Behance, an online platform for creative professionals to showcase and discover work, and served as CEO until its acquisition by Adobe. Scott is an early advisor and investor in several businesses at the intersection of technology and design, including Pinterest, Uber, Warby Parker, Airtable, and Flexport. He is also the author of two nationally bestselling books and founded 99U, a publication and conference focused on productivity in the creative world. In today’s episode, we discuss:

* How to strengthen your product sense

* Why you should only do half the things you want

* What it takes to build a successful consumer product

* Why you are probably underinvesting in onboarding

* The future of AI and how to prepare for it

* Advice for founders and PMs who are feeling stuck

* Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources

* Adobe’s current priorities and their exciting path ahead

—

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-on-building-product-sense

—

Where to find Scott Belsky:

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

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

• Blog: https://www.implications.com/

• Website: www.scottbelsky.com/

—

Where to find Lenny:

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

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

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

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Scott’s background

(04:50) Why Scott shifted roles at Adobe

(08:29) Advice for PMs looking to build product sense

(10:43) The first mile

(13:18) How to develop more empathy

(16:33) How to build consumer products that work

(20:42) Scott’s philosophy that you should “only do half the things you want to do”

(26:15) Scott’s optimism about how the world will look in five years with AI

(29:44) How AI will impact product teams

(32:55) How the PM role will change as a result of AI

(35:09) How Adobe is leveraging AI tools

(36:59) What the term “golden gut” means

(38:15) Advice for PMs to stay ahead of the new AI trends

(41:02) How to start writing more

(41:49) The messy middle

(47:03) What Scott looks for as an angel investor

(50:16) Why resourcefulness will take you further than resources

(52:41) Adobe’s current priorities and the path ahead

(54:58) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Adobe: https://www.adobe.com/

• Behance: https://www.behance.net/

• Casey Winters on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/thinking-beyond-frameworks-casey-winters-pinterest-eventbrite-airbnb-tinder-canva-reddit-grubhub/

• Crafting The First Mile Of Product: https://medium.com/positiveslope/crafting-the-first-mile-of-product-7ed25e8f1027

• Shishir Mehrotra on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-rituals-of-great-teams-shishir-mehrotra-coda-youtube-microsoft/

• Scott’s tweet on only doing half the things you want to do: https://twitter.com/scottbelsky/status/1441469886975279109?s=20

• Matt Mochary on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-fire-people-with-grace-work-through-fear-and-nurture-innovation-matt-mochary-ceo-coach/

• Adobe Firefly: https://www.adobe.com/sensei/generative-ai/firefly

• Howie Liu (CEO at Airtable): https://www.linkedin.com/in/howieliu/

• ChatGPT: https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt

• The Messy Middle: Finding Your Way Through the Hardest and Most Crucial Part of Any Bold Venture by Scott Belsky: https://www.amazon.com/Messy-Middle-Finding-Through-Hardest/dp/0735218072

• Adobe Express: https://www.adobe.com/express

• Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making by Tony Fadell: https://www.amazon.com/Build-Unorthodox-Guide-Making-Things/dp/0063046067

• Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey on Netflix: https://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Cosmos-A-Spacetime-Odyssey/80004448

• Vinod Khosla’s prediction: https://futurism.com/80-of-it-jobs-can-be-replaced-by-automation-and-its-exciting

• Queue: https://www.queue.co/

• Tome: https://tome.app/

• Kevin Kelly on The Tim Ferriss Show: https://tim.blog/2014/08/29/kevin-kelly/

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Importance of Conviction in Building a Startup

Optimizing for Progress and Enduring the Messy Middle

Key Attributes for Successful Startups

The Impact of AI on the Future

The Importance of Resourcefulness and Ingenuity

Product Leadership and the Art of Reductionism

Important Attributes VCs Look for in Startups: Team and Product

The Importance of Playing with Technology

Creating moments of surprise

Get the Snipd
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AI-powered
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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lessons on building product sense, navigating AI, optimizing the first mile, and making it through the messy middle | Scott Belsky (Adobe, Behance)

Podcast summary created with Snipd AI

Quick takeaways

Deep dives

The Importance of Conviction in Building a Startup

Optimizing for Progress and Enduring the Messy Middle

Key Attributes for Successful Startups

The Impact of AI on the Future

The Importance of Resourcefulness and Ingenuity

Product Leadership and the Art of Reductionism

Important Attributes VCs Look for in Startups: Team and Product

The Importance of Playing with Technology

Creating moments of surprise

Get the Snipdpodcast app

AI-poweredpodcast player

Discoverhighlights

Save anymoment

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Discoverhighlights

Get the Snipd
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