Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Thinking beyond frameworks | Casey Winters (Pinterest, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Tinder, Canva, Reddit, Grubhub)

Mar 30, 2023

Casey Winters, a legendary advisor in the product and growth space with experience at Airbnb and Eventbrite, shares his insights on breaking free from conventional frameworks. He discusses the pitfalls of the 'zero interest rate phenomenon' for product managers and emphasizes the balance of intuition and expertise in startups. Listeners will learn about leveraging network effects and the challenges of consumer subscriptions, along with Casey's contrarian approach to hiring product managers and thoughts on AI's role in the future of product management.

01:17:44

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Episode guests

Casey Winters

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Highlights

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Quick takeaways

Founder intuition is crucial in decision-making and should be asserted until team members demonstrate superior decision-making abilities.

Network effects play a significant role in marketplace and SaaS businesses, with direct, cross-side, and data network effects enhancing value.

Grubhub faced disruption from companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats, highlighting the importance of recognizing and responding to potential disruptors.

Deep dives

Overview of the Podcast Episode

The podcast episode features an interview with Casey Winters, a renowned figure in the growth and product community. The episode discusses various topics, including the zero interest rate phenomenon in product management, the role of instincts versus team insights, leveraging different types of network effects, and the disruption faced by Grubhub from companies like DoorDash and Uber Eats. The interview provides insights into the challenges and strategies employed in product management and marketplace dynamics.

The Importance of Process

02:23

Paid acquisition on top of a freemium model is doomed to fail

00:52

The Importance of Being a Brainiac in a Startup

01:08

The Different Types of SaaS Marketplaces

01:42

Intro

4min

Navigating the CPO Journey

23min

Balancing Intuition and Expertise in Startups

12min

Understanding Network Effects in Business Models

4min

Marketplace Evolution and Competition Insights

22min

Navigating Consumer Subscription Challenges

9min

Pop Culture Favorites and Product Development Insights

2min

Musical Recommendations and Podcast Closing Thoughts

2min

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Casey Winters is a longtime and legendary advisor and operator. He’s worked with companies like Airbnb, Faire, Canva, Whatnot, Thumbtack, Tinder, and Reddit and until recently was the Chief Product Officer at Eventbrite, where he managed the PM, design, research, and growth marketing teams. Before Eventbrite, he led growth and product teams at Pinterest and Grubhub. In today’s episode, we discuss what Casey calls the “zero interest rate phenomenon” product manager and how to avoid becoming one. He provides valuable insights on thinking outside popular frameworks, shipping products efficiently, and avoiding overreliance on user research. We explore the three types of network effects, how to leverage them, and how to break someone else’s network effect. Finally, Casey shares his contrarian approach to interviewing product managers and his thoughts on the future of PM roles with AI.

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Find the full transcript at: Zhttps://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/thinking-beyond-frameworks-casey

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Where to find Casey Winters:

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/onecaseman

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/caseywinters/

• Blog: https://caseyaccidental.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/