Product Pioneering: Strategies for Scaling from Ground Zero

This episode features an interview with Vrushali Paunikar, Chief Product Officer at Carta.

In this episode, Vrushali shares with us:

• Why she’s a disciple of Luca Pacioli
• How to get buy-in from your CEO
• How she secured the green light for what is now a $100 million fund
• And so much more!

Host takeaways:

Kyle: 

• It’s vital to know where your products come from. When Vrushali mentioned Luca Pacioli, my ears perked up! It’s so important to know the material and get into the history of where your products come from and why they matter. This allows you much deeper insight into how users might utilize your products.
• Purpose-built products. Find your product niche and cultivate and validate it through customer feedback. You can create new value from “old” products or ideas through a new verticalization approach.

Lukasz:

• “Nothing beats a small, laser-focused team aligned on a singular vision.” It all comes down to focus and fundamentals, and Vrushali’s team was able to utilize fund accountants within Carta to be laser-focused with her team on what’s working for the product outcome. This allowed Vrushali and her team to iterate and prove out their product very quickly.
• The foundation is key. You don’t want to rebuild products that already exist. Instead, apply it to a different vertical and go from there.
• Product marketing vs product management. Should product managers and product marketers? We’ve been wrestling with that idea for a while, but it’s an interesting topic to discuss across different companies.

Segment Timestamps:

*(00:32) - Ship it or Skip it

*(05:07) - PM Power Moves

*(38:17) - Host Takeaways

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