Manuel Bronstein, the Chief Product Officer at Roblox, shares insights from his impressive journey through tech giants like Xbox and YouTube. He discusses the evolution of Roblox from a gaming platform to a thriving virtual economy with over 85 million users. Manuel emphasizes the importance of rapid execution in product development and the need for clarity and swift decision-making. He also explores the challenges of managing virtual economies and the significance of preserving a startup culture amidst scaling, all while ensuring trust and safety.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Roblox's Evolution and Scale
Manuel Bronstein explains Roblox as a 3D immersive platform where users create and play with friends.
The platform has evolved over 19 years, with millions of creators and over $900 million paid out to them in a year.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Build Fast, Learn Faster
Build fast by breaking big visions into quick MVPs and gather real user feedback.
Avoid long planning phases; start executing and validating assumptions rapidly.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Urgency and Conflict Resolution
Move with urgency, share progress early, and address conflicts directly to align teams.
Avoid delaying decisions for weeks; push for fast alignment and quick resolution.
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In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Manuel Bronstein, Chief Product Officer at Roblox. Roblox is not just a video game—it's a platform that enables people to play, create, and build businesses in immersive virtual worlds. With over 85 million daily active users growing at 20% year-over-year, Roblox has paid out more than $923 million to its creator community in 2024 alone.
Manuel brings extensive experience from leading roles at major tech platforms including Xbox, Zynga, YouTube, and Google Assistant. As Roblox's CPO, he oversees the platform's product strategy and development, focusing on creating tools and systems that empower creators while maintaining trust and safety at scale.
In this episode, we'll explore: - The evolution of Roblox from gaming platform to virtual economy - How Roblox manages its creator marketplace and virtual economy - Manuel's product leadership principles and frameworks - Strategies for maintaining startup culture while scaling - The future of virtual worlds and immersive platforms
Chapters: (00:00) 🎮 Introduction and Career Journey (05:25) 🚀 From Gaming to Platforms: Leadership Lessons (15:30) 💰 Building and Managing Virtual Economies (25:45) 🛠️ Product Development at Scale (35:20) 🔮 The Future of Virtual Worlds (45:10) 💡 Leadership Principles and Team Building
Key Takeaways 👇: - Virtual Economy Management: Manuel emphasizes the importance of building systems that can scale while maintaining trust and safety, particularly in managing a virtual economy with real monetary value. - Leadership Principles: Focus on building fast and learning faster, using first principles thinking, and implementing radical simplification to solve complex problems. - Platform Dynamics: Understanding the unique challenges of managing a platform that serves both creators and users, requiring different approaches to engagement and monetization. - Scaling Culture: Manuel shares strategies for maintaining startup-like innovation and execution speed while growing into a major platform. - Systems Thinking: The importance of designing scalable systems from the start, particularly when dealing with user-generated content and virtual economies.
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Credits: Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia Guest: Manuel Bronstein
The Product Podcast