Varun Parmar has spent decades as a product leader, helping to define successive waves of category and product innovation at companies like Adobe, Doculus, EMC, Box, and now, Miro. He’s gone from executive to entrepreneur and back again. During his journey, he has observed that “over time, every product either becomes better or worse. It never remains the same.”
It’s an important reminder to build with intention, even when you’re building fast and beating your head against the wall. And it’s one of the many subjects he discusses with Jesse in this episode of Breakthrough Builders. You’ll hear how he helped guide product strategy during Adobe’s successful transition to the cloud, how he developed his own guidelines for making headway in sectors with dominant players, the value he places on staying close to one’s craft, and why he’s confident that Miro will reach its ambitious goal to have 500 million users working together inclusively and seamlessly around the globe.
(2:42) Reflections from helping to lead the SaaS transition at Adobe
(7:06) The role of customer empathy in product design
(13:40) How to determine the right frequency for updates and releases
(15:33) Thriving in a hypercompetitive market: 3 learnings from ‘taking on’ Microsoft
(21:58) On the opportunity to join Miro and the ambition to forge a path toward effective, distributed work for all
(31:33) Advice for builders: Bet on people. Never let go of the craft. Declare the destination.
Guest Bio
Varun is the Chief Product Officer at Miro, the visual collaboration platform with 35M+ users. He has worked in leadership roles at companies with high-growth, category-defining and innovative products such as Adobe (#1 in the world for creative and digital publishing software), Box (#1 in the world for cloud content mgmt. software) and EMC (#1 in the world for storage software and systems). In addition he has deep domain expertise in the collaboration market, enterprise content management and business process & workflow management markets; having spent 20+ years building businesses, including managing cross-functional teams spanning product management, design, engineering, marketing, sales, corporate strategy and business development.
Helpful Links
Computer World: Miro looks to move beyond the whiteboard
Recent appearance: Lessons from uncharted growth territory
Remember Everything You Learn from Podcasts
