Brought to you by Writer—Generative AI for the enterprise | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision | Linear—The new standard for modern software development—Josh Miller is the CEO and co-founder of The Browser Company, where he helped build Arc, my go-to web browser. In today’s episode, we get an inside look at the unique structure and values of The Browser Company and how their company culture has helped them land some of the best talent in tech. Josh shares ways that his company embraces experimentation, including their “optimizing for feelings” approach to building, and explains why extreme transparency is at the forefront of everything they do.Special invite link to skip the waitlist: https://arc.net/gift/lennyFind the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/competing-with-giants-an-inside-look-at-how-the-browser-company-builds-product-josh-miller-ceo/#transcriptWhere to find Josh Miller:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/joshm• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-miller-b31259106/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Early access to Arc: https://arc.net/gift/lenny• The Browser Company: https://thebrowser.company/• Arc: https://arc.net/• Hursh Agrawal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hurshagrawal/• Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/• Scott Belsky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbelsky/• Notes on Roadtrips: https://thebrowser.company/values/• Shahed Khan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/_shahedk• Paper by FiftyThree:  https://www.hellobrio.com/blog/digital-drawing-paper-fiftythree• Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/• Peter Vidani on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pter• The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/• Ellis Hamburger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ellishamburger/• Airbnb’s Snow White project: https://uxdesign.cc/how-airbnb-proved-that-storytelling-is-the-most-important-skill-in-design-15d04ac71039• General Magic: https://www.generalmagicthemovie.com/• Linear: https://linear.app/• Raycast: https://www.raycast.com/• Cron: https://cron.com/• Thrive Capital: https://thrivecap.com/• Tuple: https://tuple.app/• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Harold and the Purple Crayon: https://www.amazon.com/Harold-Purple-Crayon-Crockett-Johnson/dp/0062086529• Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-Forgetting-Name-Thing-Sees/dp/0520256093/• God Save Texas: A Journey into the Soul of the Lone Star State: https://www.amazon.com/God-Save-Texas-Journey-State/dp/0525520104• The Last of Us on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us• Adam Curtis documentaries on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLStWlBRkr0N_aYjPmbrrjm_rsstpkUBLc• Notion: https://www.notion.so/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Josh’s background(03:56) Arc and the metrics they use to track growth(04:42) Arc’s retention numbers(08:22) Josh’s product-building philosophy and why he believes in optimizing for feelings(18:57) How The Browser Company’s values create a culture that allows them to ship so quickly(22:46) The “Notes on Roadtrips” doc about values(27:48) How Josh is able to hire such amazing talent(37:29) The good and bad of building in public(45:16) Some of the odd teams at The Browser Company and why Josh calls it a prototype-driven culture(46:01) The membership team(48:07) The storytelling team(52:00) Why The Browser Company doesn’t have traditional PMs(54:07) A case for adding PMs(57:32) The role of data, even in a company that optimizes for feelings(58:30) Airbnb’s Snow White project(1:02:14) How impactful moments in Josh’s life influenced values at The Browser Company(1:03:08) How the film General Magic has inspired Josh(1:04:32) The value of novel names(1:06:50) Why The Browser Company’s approach works for Arc(1:12:47) Why you need to nail latency and why Josh loves Tupl(1:14:33) The shift to cloud computing and the ultimate vision at The Browser Company(1:23:15) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision | Writer—Generative AI for the enterprise—Christina Wodtke is an author, Stanford University professor, and speaker who teaches strategies for building high-performing teams. She’s also the author of Radical Focus, which some consider the de facto guide to OKRs. In today’s episode, we dive into OKRs and how they can be used to help your team achieve better results. Christina shares her expertise on crafting OKRs, how she uses them in her personal life, and common mistakes you should avoid when you sit down to write your own. She discusses effective goal setting and outlines a systematic approach to achieving key results. Finally, Christina gives some specific tips on how to improve your storytelling and drawing skills and explains why it’s smart to set ambitious goals.Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-okrs-christinaWhere to find Christina Wodtke:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/cwodtke• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christinawodtke/• Website: https://eleganthack.com/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• OKR worksheet template: http://eleganthack.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/OKR_Worksheet.pdf• Yahoo’s peanut butter memo: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB116379821933826657• The Five Dysfunctions of a Team: A Leadership Fable: https://www.amazon.com/Five-Dysfunctions-Team-Leadership-Fable/dp/0787960756/• Radical Focus: Achieving Your Most Important Goals with Objectives and Key Results: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Focus-Achieving-Important-Objectives/dp/0996006087• Pencil Me In: https://www.amazon.com/Pencil-Me-Christina-Wodtke-ebook/dp/B075Z8J35G?• The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures: https://www.amazon.com/Back-Napkin-Expanded-Problems-Pictures/dp/1591842697/ref=sr_1_1• The Minto Pyramid Principle: https://www.barbaraminto.com/• Lane Shackleton’s guest post on Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-coda-builds-product• The Product Trio by Teresa Torres: https://www.producttalk.org/2021/05/product-trio/• Ken Norton’s website: https://www.bringthedonuts.com/about/• The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth: https://www.amazon.com/Fearless-Organization-Psychological-Workplace-Innovation/dp/1119477247• The Overstory: https://www.amazon.com/Overstory-Novel-Richard-Powers/dp/039335668X/• Cloud Atlas: https://www.amazon.com/Cloud-Atlas-Novel-David-Mitchell/dp/0375507256• Black Panther: Wakanda Forever: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9114286/• The Team That Managed Itself: A Story of Leadership: https://www.amazon.com/Team-that-Managed-Itself-Leadership-ebook/dp/B07ZG5Y689In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Christina’s background(04:54) How Christina uses OKRs to manage her personal life(07:42) The purpose of OKRs(16:15) Mission, vision, roadmaps, and OKRs(20:57) How strategy ties in(22:39) Why OKRs should be kept simple, and the ideal way to express key results(23:45) The importance of customer satisfaction and why you need a qualitative researcher(24:58) Common mistakes people make when writing OKRs(26:14) An example of writing OKRs for an online magazine about interior design(29:28) The importance of repetition(33:17) The 5 whys(36:40) Why you should start OKRs with your best multi-disciplinary team(38:44) Christina’s book, Radical Focus(40:26) The importance of storytelling and drawing (even badly!)(43:21) Tips to become a better storyteller(44:29) Using the Minto method for storytelling(46:02) The cadence of OKRs and the importance of celebrations(51:09) A different kind of approval process to get OKRs done more efficiently(53:01) Why the focus on learning is more important than grading(54:29) Why you should set ambitious goals(57:47) Where to start(1:00:48) The overemphasis of UX in product management education and the importance of business sense(1:03:01) Advice for people seeking a career in product management(1:05:44) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision | LMNT—Zero-sugar hydration—Aarthi Ramamurthy and Sriram Krishnan are founders, angel investors, and product leaders who host the podcast Aarthi and Sriram’s Good Time Show. They have both held leadership roles at major technology companies including Meta, Twitter, Snap, Microsoft, and Netflix. In today’s episode, we dive into how and why to build your personal brand, how to deal with impostor syndrome, and stories from Aarthi’s time at Clubhouse and Sriram’s time working with Zuck. Aarthi and Sriram share their lessons from past failures, their experience building communities, and their techno-optimism, and Sriram offers his hot take on the Jobs to Be Done framework.Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/hot-takes-and-optimism-from-techsWhere to find Sriram Krishnan and Aarthi Ramamurthy:• Aarthi’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarthir• Sriram’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/sriramk• Good Time Show Twitter: https://twitter.com/aarthisrirampod• Good Time Show website: https://www.aarthiandsriram.com/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Naval Ravikant on Twitter: https://twitter.com/naval• Marc Andreessen on Twitter: https://twitter.com/pmarca• Clubhouse: https://www.clubhouse.com/• Eugene Wei’s Status as a Service: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2019/2/19/status-as-a-service• Kylie Jenner on Snapchat: https://www.snapchat.com/add/kyliejenner• The Rock on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/therock/• Cristiano Ronaldo on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristiano• Charli D’Amelio on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@charlidamelio• Addison Rae on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@addisonre• The founder of TikTok’s speech: https://ludlow.notion.site/Alex-Zhu-TikTok-4631f80fdcc4423a845e145e807d8e2b• Naval’s network tweet: https://twitter.com/naval/status/847134295600746496?lang=en• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/• How Duolingo reignited user growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-duolingo-reignited-user-growth• Hunter Walk on impostor syndrome: https://hunterwalk.com/2023/03/01/imposter-syndrome-is-definitely-misnamed-might-be-a-condition-of-privilege-has-a-fascinating-history/• On Reviews: https://boz.com/articles/reviews• Jobs to Be Done framework: https://jobs-to-be-done.com/jobs-to-be-done-a-framework-for-customer-needs-c883cbf61c90• First-principles thinking: https://fs.blog/first-principles/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Sriram and Aarthi’s backgrounds(04:16) How Sriram and Aarthi got Elon Musk on their podcast(08:47) Reflections on Clubhouse and other social networks(14:14) Why Aarthi and Sriram are optimistic about tech(25:53) Why you should put yourself out there and build your personal brand(27:09) Why you should build a network with authentic relationships, and how to do it(28:56) Sriram’s curated communities(31:20) What you need to get right when starting a community(38:35) Why everyone who wants to should create content(44:22) Why you shouldn’t try to project expertise when you’re still learning(47:54) Dealing with impostor syndrome, and why you should lean into your strengths(54:01) Transitioning to a role of authority(57:30) What Sriram learned about effective management from Mark Zuckerberg(1:01:20) The biggest failure Aarthi had, and why you shouldn’t fall for fads(1:02:08) Sriram’s lesson from building mobile(1:09:21) Why Sriram hates the Jobs to Be Done framework(1:18:06) Advice for immigrantsProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Public—Invest in stocks, treasuries, crypto, and more | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments | Writer—Generative AI for the enterprise—Laura Schaffer is the brand-new VP of Growth at Amplitude. Prior to this role, she spent over 10 years leading product management and growth teams at Twilio, Bandwidth, and Rapid. In today’s episode, we talk about the role of experimentation and data in growth, and Laura shares stories of big wins from her time leading growth teams. She explains how customer insights helped her uplevel her career and how she (surprisingly) thinks about qualitative versus quantitative data. We wrap up our conversation by discussing where the best ideas come from and what you need to know if you’re selling to developers.Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/career-frameworks-ab-testing-counterintuitiveWhere to find Laura Schaffer:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lauraschaffer/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Elena Verna on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-verna-on-how-b2b-growth-is-changing-product-led-growth-product-led-sales-why-you-should-go-freemium-not-trial-what-features-to-make-free-and-much-more/• Bandwidth: https://www.bandwidth.com/• Twilio: https://ahoy.twilio.com/• Jeff Lawson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffiel/• The Surprising Power of Online Experiments: https://hbr.org/2017/09/the-surprising-power-of-online-experiments• Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/• Online Experimentation at Microsoft: https://ai.stanford.edu/~ronnyk/ExPThinkWeek2009Public.pdf• The Simple Path to Wealth: Your Road Map to Financial Independence and a Rich, Free Life: https://www.amazon.com/Simple-Path-Wealth-financial-independence/dp/1533667926• Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones: https://www.amazon.com/Atomic-Habits-Proven-Build-Break/dp/0735211299/• James Clear on The Tim Ferriss Show: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/648-james-clear-atomic-habits-simple-strategies-for/id863897795?i=1000592431628• The Great British Baking Show on PBS: https://www.pbs.org/food/shows/great-british-baking-show/• Hotjar: https://www.hotjar.com/• Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/• Builder: https://www.builder.io/• ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/• Lenny Bot: https://www.lennybot.com/• Segment: https://segment.com/• Senior Growth PM, Monetization, at Amplitude: https://boards.greenhouse.io/amplitude/jobs/6636704002• Lead Growth PM at Builder: https://boards.greenhouse.io/builder/jobs/4814755004?gh_src=30cfda2d4us• Growth PM at Rapid: https://jobs.lever.co/rapidapi/8d2611d1-6463-4919-9817-31f61e730831In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Laura’s background(04:15) How to carve your own career path, and an example from Bandwidth(05:50) Laura’s career growth framework(10:18) The value of customer insights(12:25) The “voice of the customer” report(16:14) Leaning into your strengths(18:16) The experiment that shifted the way Laura thinks about friction(20:20) Questions that improved Twilio’s onboarding and conversion rate(28:53) Thinking about the psyche of your users(31:26) The hot dog analogy for burying “scary stuff”(33:58) Why it’s better to be iterative and why experiments fail(36:21) Saving money by validating fast(41:58) Where the best ideas come from(49:51) Experimentation lessons(52:54) The amount of time a growth team needs to be successful (54:43) The big change at Twilio that led to tens of millions of dollars(58:41) The need for both PLG and enterprise, and how Amplitude plans to tap into PLG(1:05:42) What it’s like to serve developers(1:11:16) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Linear—The new standard for modern software development | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security. | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision.—Claire Hughes Johnson is the former COO at Stripe, which she helped scale from a small startup to the legendary company it is today. She also spent close to 10 years at Google, where she filled several executive roles, including VP of Global Online Sales and Director of Sales and Ops for Gmail, YouTube, Google Apps, and AdWords. Claire shares invaluable insights from her upcoming book, Scaling People, on how to successfully build and scale organizations. We talk about the importance of building self-awareness, and Claire gives tons of tactical advice on how to say things that are hard to say, as well as how to improve your internal communications, and so much more.Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tacticsWhere to find Claire Hughes Johnson:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/chughesjohnson• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/claire-hughes-johnson-7058/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Scaling People: Tactics for Management and Company Building: https://www.amazon.com/Scaling-People-Tactics-Management-Building/dp/1953953212• John Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnbcollison/• Patrick Collison on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickcollison/• Discord: https://discord.com/• Toast: https://pos.toasttab.com/• High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People: https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100• Myers-Briggs personality types: https://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/• Enneagram types: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions• Disc assessment: https://www.discprofile.com/what-is-disc• Conscious Business: How to Build Value through Values: https://www.amazon.com/Conscious-Business-Build-through-Values/dp/1622032020/• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/• Eeke de Milliano on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-foster-innovation-and-big-thinking-eeke-de-milliano-retool-stripe/• Running an effective meeting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIiaFW874q8• Gokul’s S.P.A.D.E. framework: https://coda.io/@gokulrajaram/gokuls-spade-toolkitIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Claire’s background(04:47) How writing Scaling People helped Claire crystallize learnings(07:58) How she got started writing her book(11:11) Advice that changed the way she operates(15:18) The lack of job titles at Stripe(19:01) Scaling your organizational structure(23:46) What founders need to think about in the early days(26:38) Personal operating principles(29:04) How to crystallize your own values to gain self-awareness(34:29) Advice for saying uncomfortable things(37:12) Being an explorer, not a lecturer(43:57) Come back to the operating system(47:17) Organizational structure using Claire’s house metaphor(50:50) Why some chaos is normal(52:45) Founding documents you need(58:30) The components of a company’s operating system (1:01:31) Finding the right cadence(1:04:48) COOs and which types of businesses need them(1:11:30) Advice on scaling quickly(1:13:56) The importance of internal communications(1:16:03) Running effective meetings(1:17:17) Advice for aligning and making decisions as a managerProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Gustaf Alströmer, Group Partner at Y Combinator and former Airbnb growth team member, discusses common reasons startups fail, attributes of successful founders, and the growing space of climate tech. He also shares insights on the unique culture at Airbnb, the benefits of YC office hours, and the rise of climate tech startups. Other topics include interview questions, applying to YC, and cultural norms of Swedish hospitality.

Brought to you by Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life: https://miro.com/lenny | Coda—Meet the evolution of docs: https://coda.io/lenny | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Annie Pearl is the Chief Product Officer at Calendly. Previously, she was Chief Product Officer at Glassdoor, as well as Director of Product Management at Box. She was named one of the most influential women in Bay Area business by the San Francisco Business Times. In today’s episode, Annie shares three paths into product management and advice on how to get your foot in the door. She also gives us an inside look at how Calendly’s product teams are structured, how they transitioned from solely PLG to adding a sales team and unlocking new growth levers, how they do planning, and much more.Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-scenes-of-calendlys-rapidWhere to find Annie Pearl:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anniepearl/• Email: Annie.Pearl@calendly.comWhere to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• How to send a calendar invite with Calendly: https://calendly.com/blog/how-to-send-a-calendar-invite• Google’s APM program: https://careers.google.com/programs/apm/• The 15 Best Associate and Rotational Product Manager Programs: https://medium.com/agileinsider/product-management-digest-apm-3c2631683139• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X/• Confluence: https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence• Aha: https://www.aha.io/• Airtable: https://www.airtable.com/• Loom: https://www.loom.com/• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira• Pendo: https://go.pendo.io/• Tope Awotona on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bawotona/• The Skip podcast: https://www.skip.community/• Skip Community on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skip-community-for-cpos/• Nikhyl Singhal on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl/• Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Great-Some-Companies-Others/dp/0066620996• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products: https://www.amazon.com/Hooked-How-Build-Habit-Forming-Products/dp/0241184835/• 20VC podcast: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/• Sing 2 on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81475311• Miro: https://miro.com/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Annie’s background(03:50) How to send a Calendly invite without feeling awkward(06:04) How to transition to product work from a non-technical career(09:53) APM programs(10:52) The characteristics of internal-transfer PMs(13:26) How Calendly structures product teams (14:57) Why Annie hired a Head of Design(16:58) How Calendly structures product teams(19:07) OKRs at Calendly(21:02) Changes made at Calendly to improve execution and shipping(22:45) The challenges with narrowing Calendly’s customer base and adding sales (25:21) Where 70% of new Calendly users come from(26:17) The transition from PLG to sales(29:23) How to build a great relationship with your sales team(31:52) Planning and prioritization at Calendly(38:14) Strategy documents at Calendly(39:39) Calendly’s product stack(40:21) How Calendly got their first 1,000 users (43:36) The surprising new growth levers at Calendly(46:05) Fun traditions(48:43) “Focus wisely” and other aspects of Calendly’s culture(52:07) Learnings from Box and Glassdoor(54:57) The Skip Community(58:10) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Amplitude—Build better products: https://amplitude.com/ | OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Upasna Gautam is a product manager at CNN Digital, where she works closely with editorial staff and journalists to build their internal content management system. She is also a longtime meditation coach and a board member of the News Product Alliance. In today’s episode, we delve into how product teams are structured and operate at CNN, how CNN uses OKRs and roadmaps, and the unique challenges and opportunities in designing a digital product for journalists. Upasna also shares a story about her team’s product saving the day during the 2020 elections and gives listeners a free mini lesson on meditation.Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/an-inside-look-at-how-cnn-builds-product-upasna-gautam/#transcriptWhere to find Upasna Gautam:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/UpasnaGautam• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/upasnagautam/• Website: https://linktr.ee/upasnagautamWhere to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Insight Timer: https://insighttimer.com/• News Product Alliance: https://newsproduct.org/• Mindfulness in Plain English: https://www.amazon.com/Mindfulness-English-Bhante-Henepola-Gunaratana/dp/0861719069• How to Win Friends & Influence People: https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034/• The New Product Development Game: https://hbr.org/1986/01/the-new-new-product-development-game• The Mandalorian on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/series/the-mandalorian/3jLIGMDYINqD• Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy• Everything Everywhere All at Once on Showtime: https://www.sho.com/titles/3493875/everything-everywhere-all-at-once• Andor on Disney+: https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/show/andorIn this episode, we cover:(00:00) Upasna’s background(03:13) How Upasna’s meditation background helps her thrive in the chaotic world of product at CNN(08:55) How PMs at CNN build in buffer time and create backup plans when breaking news hits (10:26) How the product team works with editorial staff and journalists at CNN(15:22) The product org structure at CNN Digital (19:02) OKRs at CNN(20:10) How CNN’s product teams do long-term planning(21:37) Why Upasna involves the tech lead in all product discovery/product review meetings(23:51) How to boost morale with remote teams(27:39) Balancing maintenance with building new stuff(29:21) The time CNN.com went down in 2020 and the new platform saved the day(31:21) How the product team rehearses breaking news(34:22) The superpowers Upasna and her team have cultivated(35:50) Why meditation and honing your communication skills help you excel as a PM(42:01) How to get started on the path of meditation(44:39) The work News Product Alliance is doing and how to get involved(51:54) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny | Amplitude—Build better products: https://amplitude.com/ | Dovetail—Bring your customer into every decision: https://dovetailapp.com/lenny—Patrick Campbell is the founder and CEO of ProfitWell, which he bootstrapped and sold for over $200 million. In this special episode, we explore 10 big ideas from Patrick, including tips for hiring employees who align with your company values, creating winning pricing and retention strategies, determining the right time to raise money, and more. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to scale your SaaS business, this must-listen episode offers practical and actionable advice that will help you avoid missteps and think differently.Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-lessons-from-bootstrapping-a-200mWhere to find Patrick Campbell:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/Patticus• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickccampbell/• Email: pc@patticus.comWhere to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Douglas Atkin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/doatkin/• Patrick Campbell’s guest post on Lenny’s Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy/comments• ProfitWell: https://www.profitwell.com/• The Cadence: How to Operate a SaaS Startup: https://medium.com/craft-ventures/the-cadence-how-to-operate-a-saas-startup-436aa8099e8• Edward Snowden on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Snowden• The Flywheel: https://www.hubspot.com/flywheel• High Output Management: https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884• Thinking in Bets: Making Smarter Decisions When You Don’t Have All the Facts: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions/dp/0735216355• Powerful: https://www.amazon.com/Powerful/dp/1939714206/r• The West Wing on HBOMax: https://www.hbomax.com/series/urn:hbo:series:GX5nwgQDNJZ6aoQEAAAHJ• Notion: https://www.notion.so/• Descript: https://www.descript.com/• Coda: https://coda.io/• KTool: https://ktool.io/• Tweet Hunter: https://tweethunter.io/• Apple Watch Ultra: https://www.apple.com/apple-watch-ultra/• Loom: https://www.loom.com/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Patrick’s background(05:12) Building a team(07:38) How ProfitWell handled a conflict using their guiding principle, the most charitable interpretation(10:41) Why new hires need to fit in with the company culture(12:19) The bootstrapping vs. funding debate(13:38) When founders should think about raising funds (18:08) When and how companies should make pricing changes to their products or services(23:46) Strategic retention and tactical retention, and why the latter is often missed (28:48) Why people don’t want to pay for a SaaS analytics tool(29:56) The importance of mission metrics for shipping(34:42) First-principle thinking, the “5 whys,” and Patrick’s alternative approach(40:21) The importance of frequent customer research(43:15) Simple strategies for doing customer research(46:13) Understanding your competitors(51:06) Why veterans make great hires (54:08) Why local strategies are more effective for some companies(59:21) Why the middle of the funnel is the biggest opportunity (1:04:54) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

Brought to you by Amplitude—Build better products: https://amplitude.com/ | Lenny’s Job Board—Hire the best product people. Find the best product gigs: https://www.lennysjobs.com/talent | Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny—Christine Itwaru is a longtime product operations leader at Pendo and more recently has taken on the larger role of Principal Strategist there. Before leading product ops, Christine spent 12 years in product management. In this episode, we delve into the rapidly growing field of product ops and discover how Christine is part of shaping the role industry-wide. She helps us define the role of product operations, what kind of person would be a good fit for the product ops role, when your company would benefit from product ops, and what red flags to look for if you decide to go down this path. Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/understanding-the-role-of-product-ops-christine-itwaru-pendo/#transcriptWhere to find Christine Itwaru:• Twitter: https://twitter.com/christineitwaru• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christineitwaru/• Website: https://theproductheart.com/Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/Referenced:• Ben Williams on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/how-snyk-built-a-product-led-growth-juggernaut-ben-williams-vp-of-product-at-snyk/• Pendo: https://go.pendo.io/• Marty Cagan on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan-silicon-valley-product-group/• Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/• Looker: https://www.looker.com/• Tray: https://tray.io/• Zapier: https://zapier.com/• Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/• Casey Winters on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: https://www.amazon.com/INSPIRED-Create-Tech-Products-Customers/dp/1119387507/• Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t: https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591848016/• The Product-Led Organization: Drive Growth by Putting Product at the Center of Your Customer Experience: https://www.amazon.com/Product-Led-Organization-Putting-Customer-Experience/dp/1119660874• Product Roadmaps Relaunched: How to Set Direction while Embracing Uncertainty: https://www.amazon.com/Product-Roadmaps-Relaunched-Direction-Uncertainty/dp/149197172X/• The Product Experience podcast: https://www.mindtheproduct.com/the-product-experience/• Matilda the Musical: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3447590/• Rise on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/movies/rise/6Yv1uRnw2uAJ• Miro: https://miro.com/• Figma: https://www.figma.com/• Seismic: https://seismic.com/• Gong: https://www.gong.io/In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Christine’s background(02:34) How working with Ben Williams led Christine to Lenny’s Podcast(05:02) The role of product ops in product management(07:31) How 2019 became “the summer of product ops”(11:19) The different ways product ops can assist product teams(15:50) How Pendo used product ops to bring teams together and share data(18:15) Where user research fits in (22:39) How product ops are being utilized—and not exclusively in B2B companies(24:47) How to convince a product leader that you need product ops(27:41) Why customer experience is the core of a PM’s role(29:47) Who is doing the work of the product ops person before that role is created(31:37) Christine’s response to Casey Winters’s take on ops teams(37:40) Signs your company could benefit from a product ops team(30:56) How a lack of transparency led to Pendo adding product ops(46:11) The line between product ops and product marketing(47:30) Who might be a good fit for a product ops role(53:39) Red flags for product ops roles (that apply to any role) (54:08) How product teams are structured at Pendo(57:18) Lightning roundProduction and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe