20 Product: The No 1 Metric You Need To Look at When Building Product | Why the Best in Product Have No Domain Experience | Why You Should Not Hire From Incumbents & The Difference Between Good vs Great PMs with David Lieb, Visiting Group Partner @ Y Comb
David Lieb, a product visionary with a rich background at Google and Y Combinator, shares invaluable insights on product management. He discusses common mistakes startups make regarding product-market fit and stresses the importance of individual user data over aggregate statistics. David reveals his journey from founding Bump to leading Google Photos, emphasizing the need for authentic team dynamics and the right hiring practices. He also explains how product management should balance customer feedback with a clear product vision.
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question_answer ANECDOTE
Accidental Product Journey
David Lieb's path to product leadership began accidentally while trying to solve a simple problem: sharing contact information.
This led to Bump, Google Photos, and now Y Combinator.
insights INSIGHT
Defining Product-Market Fit
True product-market fit is evident when user demand dramatically exceeds expectations.
Founders often mistake initial resonance for true product-market fit.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Mission-Driven Product
Define a clear and focused mission for your product.
This helps attract the right team members and guides product decisions.
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David Lieb is one of the product OGs of the last decade. As the founder of Bump David pioneered how over 150M users shared data, contacts and more before the company was acquired by Google. At Google, David took this one step further by creating Google Photos, which he has led with immense success for the last 9 years. In the last few weeks, David announced his latest move, to join Y Combinator, one of the world's leading accelerators as a Visiting Group Partner. If that was not enough, David also has a stellar angel portfolio with the likes of Rippling, Flexport, Tally, Maven and many more.
In Today's Episode with David Lieb We Discuss:
1.) Entry into Product:
How did an idea at business school turn into Bump and ultimately the creation of Google Photos?
What are the single biggest mistakes David made with the early Bump product?
What does David know now that he wishes he had known at the start of Bump?
2.) Scaling the Team Alongside the Product:
What is product-market fit to David? What is it not?
What are the single biggest mistakes founders make when they think they have it?
What should founders do first and most importantly, when they do have it?
Why does David believe individual user data is more important than relying on data?
3.) Product: Art or Science:
Why does the description we have for product managers need to change?
How does David determine when to act on customer feedback vs stick to the current product plan?
What is the right way to do customer discovery? What questions are best to ask? Where do founders make the biggest mistakes in customer discovery?
Ultimately, is product more art or science? Is this changing with ever-increasing data?
4.) Product: The Process:
How does David conduct product reviews? What are the biggest mistakes founders and product leaders make when managing product reviews?
Who is invited? Who sets the agenda? Who determines who is accountable for what?
How do product reviews change in a world of Zoom? What is better? What is worse? What can product leaders do to build culture in remote worlds?
How can product leaders make everyone feel safe and comfortable to share how they feel, regardless of seniority, in product reviews?
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