How I Grew This

On this episode Archie Abrams, Senior Director of Product Management, shares how he thinks about balancing supply and demand at Lyft, even as markets have been forever changed by COVID-19. Before this, he was the 10th employee at udemy. Over the course of his 7.5 years there he helped to scale Udemy from no revenue to hundreds of millions in revenue and over 600 employees. More on Archie’s story, including how perceived value plays into the psychology of your user, why it’s important to utilize the behaviors of your best customers, and why you should reevaluate immediately killing unsuccessful strategies, on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

Grant Ingersoll, Chief Technology Officer of Wikimedia, joined us on the podcast this week to discuss his experience navigating his own career through identity and knowledge equity. He shares the path that led him to his current role and why he chose to take a bet on himself and start his own company. More on Grant’s story, including his beliefs that people’s views of themselves can be blockers for their own personal growth, why he is constantly reinventing himself as a founder, and Wikimedia’s roadmap to make their knowledge base reflect the global community, are shared in this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

Today’s guest is Stuart Jones, the Head of Product at ITV Hub, an on demand streaming service in the UK. Stuart discusses how the pandemic has affected the television industry in many ways, specifically in the lack of available content along with the call for changes to their subscription model. More on Stuart’s story, including his early start as an airplane engineer apprentice, how his experience in various sectors brought him to TV, and his take on changing viewer habits in light of the pandemic are shared on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

Tech professionals, especially those who work in product, are not necessarily the folks who first come to mind when discussing the topic of creativity. However, there is a shifting viewpoint that argues a healthy level of creativity and optimism is essential to these functions due to the responsibility of bringing technological advancements and game-changing content to a global audience. Michael Sippey, Chief Product Officer at Medium, joins the podcast to discuss his ideas regarding the inherent optimism required when creating something to share with the world, whether it’s a new app, a blog article and beyond. More on Michael’s story including his early experience running product at Twitter, the mistake he’s repeatedly made in his career that finally changed his perspective, and why he says product managers should never write an unordered list, are featured on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

When it comes to your career, taking the road less traveled will often serve you well. Knowing exactly what you’re passionate about, what you’re naturally good at and what you want to accomplish on your career path are essential components needed to live a life of intent. Today’s guest is Ana Guillen, the Senior Director of Marketing at TuneIn. She has been intentional about growing her career ever since her first job working at a local music store at 13 years old and utilizes this intent in all aspects of both her personal and professional life. Take a listen to hear more about Ana’s experience working for one of the industry’s leading record labels, her strategy for crafting intentional marketing campaigns that engage valuable lifetime users, and how she finally learned to trust her instincts. Hear all these stories and more on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

The pandemic has certainly brought about many changes to the world - one of them being how companies do business. Since the onset, marketers from various industries have been working to figure out how to stay relevant and continue to appeal to consumers when priorities and advertising systems are constantly evolving. Today’s guest is Jason Wilson, Overstock.com’s Director of Marketing. He shares how he’s led his digital marketing team to success in a time when consumer spending habits have been drastically altered. More on Jason’s story, including how he effectively grew a campaign 44% without having to increase his budget, his take on the four new pillars of digital marketing, and how Overstock.com was uniquely positioned to survive the economic downturn of the pandemic, are featured on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

In the age of increasing levels of automation, it’s easy to get bogged down with the desire to automate as much as possible. However, this isn’t always in the best interest of your product’s users. Chris Yu has worked in various fields, from venture capital to gaming, before landing at Microsoft-acquired productivity app, MileIQ. Chris shares his perspective on the importance of giving your users choice, the ability to trade off product decisions based on a north star metric, and his stance on how mobile has quickly surpassed the web experience. Hear these stories and more on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and more.

During a time of crisis, it’s crucial for companies to focus on maintaining and driving growth. It’s, however, equally as important to continue to find ways to strategically add value to your customers. Mike Antognoli shares with us how he’s led the mobile product team at Allstate during the pandemic, in an industry whose customers typically have more of a hands-off approach. More on that story, how the Allstate app plays into the overall company strategy, Mike’s views on how a company culture built on trust is key to innovation, and what he learned from a failed Allstate experiment with augmented reality, are featured on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher, and more.

Today’s digital climate requires a focus on healthier long-term gains as opposed to easy-short term wins. But where does one start? Fabien shares how a keen act of listening and parsing of the data can inform where to take your digital product next to drive growth. At SmartNews he’s tripled the monthly active usership from when he started. Beyond this, Fabien shares how his feminism has defined everything from career choices to the way he manages his team. That story, running a French presidential campaign, the importance of decentralized systems, and his perspective on the future of jobs in mobile, is shared on this episode of How I Grew This. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcast, Stitcher and more.

Master at building community on the internet, Casey took his passion for user-generated content and built a career on creating sustainable growth strategies for companies like Pinterest, Grubhub, and Airbnb. At Pinterest, he drove an increase in sign-ups from Google by 50%, a tactic today that's still copied by Instagram and LinkedIn. Casey talks how companies can react to coronavirus, the mindset around building growth teams, and shares practical advice on decisions that build fulfilling careers. Hear all this and more on this episode of How I Grew this. Listen now on Apple Podcasts Spotify, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, and more.