Google's James Phillips and Former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson on PLG and Scaling in the Face of Stiff Competition
Jul 26, 2023
auto_awesome
Former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson and Google's James Phillips discuss modern app development, data analytics, and scaling amidst competition. They explore the advantages of Power BI as a SaaS service, building products from scratch, addressing data challenges, and share parting advice for building successful companies and solving customer problems.
Tableau's success came from expanding the definition of an analyst, while Power BI excelled by offering an easier experience.
Building products requires a balance between passionate conviction about the problem and the ability to listen and adapt based on feedback.
Deep dives
Tableau's Magic: Expanding the Definition of Analyst and the Role of Dashboards
Tableau's success in the market came from expanding the definition of an analyst, providing dashboards that could be consumed by anyone in the organization. This was the sweet spot where Power BI, Tableau's competitor, excelled. Power BI became a powerful dashboard creation tool, focusing on a SaaS service that offered an easier experience. The advantage of coming second allowed Power BI to avoid concerns about desktop installation and on-premises deployment. However, Power BI's success didn't solely stem from competing against Tableau, but from Microsoft's mammoth presence in the market, creating challenges for both companies.
Building Products: The Importance of Fast Iteration and Conviction
Building products requires a balance between having a passionate conviction about the problem and the target audience, while actively listening to feedback and iterating based on that feedback. Getting to market quickly to gather real feedback and make incremental improvements is crucial. Conviction about the problem to be solved is necessary, but equally important is the ability to listen and adapt. It is essential to find the delicate balance between passion and receptiveness to evolve the product based on empirical feedback.
Product-Led Growth: Leveraging a Scalable Model with the Right Timing
Product-Led Growth (PLG) can be a successful strategy, but it is not universally applicable to every product or market. PLG is effective when individuals can pick up a product, get immediate value, and become advocates for it, leading to viral growth. However, PLG may not be suitable for every product or organization. The timing and readiness of the product, as well as the ability to scale, should be carefully considered. Founders should focus on building a culture of empirical learning and scalability instead of prematurely investing in a large go-to-market machine.
The Future of Data Analytics: Linguistic Models and the Power of Interpretation
Advances in linguistic models, such as GPT-3 and Jenny I, offer exciting possibilities in the data analytics space. Large language models (LLMs) provide a powerful tool for interpreting and understanding unstructured data. They can enhance data cleansing, entity extraction, and enterprise search capabilities. By utilizing LLMs, entrepreneurs can innovate in areas related to messy data, ETL processes, and data preparation. Additionally, the human-machine interface will play a crucial role in leveraging these advancements to empower humans with automated insights while maintaining human intellect and decision-making.
This week, investor Aseem Datar is possibly making app dev and product development history with his guests. We've got former Tableau CEO Mark Nelson and James Phillips, the former president of Microsoft who drove the creation of many of the company's most successful products, including, of course, Tableau's number one competitor — Power BI. James was also just named the VP of Google Cloud. Mark and James are both part of the Madrona family, as venture partner and strategic director respectively. And today, we have the rare treat of them together sharing their learnings and experiences about modern app development, data and analytics, product-led growth, and scaling in the face of stiff competition. You won't want to miss this.
You can read a transcript of this episode here: https://www.madrona.com/james-phillips-mark-nelson-produce-led-growth-and-scaling/
Get the Snipd podcast app
Unlock the knowledge in podcasts with the podcast player of the future.
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode
Save any moment
Hear something you like? Tap your headphones to save it with AI-generated key takeaways
Share & Export
Send highlights to Twitter, WhatsApp or export them to Notion, Readwise & more
AI-powered podcast player
Listen to all your favourite podcasts with AI-powered features
Discover highlights
Listen to the best highlights from the podcasts you love and dive into the full episode