The Startup Podcast

If using your product becomes an ingrained habit for your users, you’re well on your way to massive success. But how do you make your product habit-forming? On this episode of The Startup Podcast Yaniv talks to Nir Eyal, the world’s leading behavioural designer and author of the bestselling book Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. Nir and Yaniv talk about what types of products can benefit from habit formation (it’s broader than you think!) and how you can implement the four-step “Hooked model” to make your customers reach for your product now and into the future. Buy Hooked: https://www.nirandfar.com/hooked/ (the audiobook is great) Check out Nir’s work at https://www.nirandfar.com/ Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Without a clear communication path back to leadership, creating autonomous teams doesn’t lead to an empowered organisation… it just leads to chaos. Escalation is that clear communication path. Far from being a minor practice, escalation is the nervous system that allows multiple empowered teams to still act as a single cohesive organisation. In this episode, Chris and Yaniv explain what escalation is, why it’s important, and how to create a culture of effective escalation within your organisation. Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

It is nearly impossible for a startup to succeed if its leaders do not have a clear sense of conviction about the direction they are going. But what is conviction? Why is it so critical? And what are the ingredients that are necessary in building and maintaining that sense of conviction as a leader? In this episode, Chris and Yaniv break down this sometimes murky topic into a clear set of criteria and steps that allow any leader to map out what it takes to build and maintain a sense of conviction at their startup. Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Amir Shevat was in charge of Twitter's developer platform, until he was fired (along with his whole team) by Elon Musk. Twitter no longer has a developer platform. In this episode, Amir talks with Chris and Yaniv about Twitter’s deep but troubled history with its developer platform, and what that history teaches us about how and when startups should build a developer platform. And yes, he tells us what he really thinks about Elon Musk and how takeover of Twitter. Amir Shevat has been deeply involved in creating or evangelising just about every iconic developer platform in recent years, from Slack and Twitch to Google and Microsoft. He is the author of two books. As well as telling us the Twitter story, Amir shares his wisdom on developer platforms more generally. Follow Amir on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amirshevat/ Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

The great disruptors of Silicon Valley are nearly all product led. In this episode, Chris and Yaniv dive deep on how a product-led organisation works, what is necessary for it to be successful, the various responsibilities of Product Managers and their counterparts, and most importantly: what it takes to transform any organisation into one that is truly product-led. It’s not easy, but it is worth it! This episode helps guide the way. This is Part 2 of a 2-part series on transforming into a product-led organisation, designed to work as a companion to Chris’s recent presentation on the same topic. We strongly recommend listening to Part 1 first. You can access the rest of Chris’s “Scaling Startups” series at https://www.chrissaad.com/startupscale Article on the W Framework by Lenny Rachitsky and Nels Gilbreth: https://review.firstround.com/the-secret-to-a-great-planning-process-lessons-from-airbnb-and-eventbrite Turn the Ship Around! By L. David Marquet: https://www.amazon.com/Turn-Ship-Around-Building-Breaking/dp/1591846404 Our interview with Marty Cagan: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/v6ZD6YOHTwb Our episode on Alignment: https://spotifyanchor-web.app.link/e/oMrMJU2HTwb Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

The great disruptors of Silicon Valley are nearly all product led. In this episode, Chris and Yaniv explain what a product-led organisation looks like, how it thinks, and why it is the right model for massive disruption at scale. They then discuss common alternative models to being product led, and the risks and dysfunctions of these various alternatives. This is Part 1 of a 2-part series on transforming into a product-led organisation, designed to work as a companion to Chris’s recent presentation on the same topic. Next week, we will dive deep into the “how” of becoming product led. You can access the rest of Chris’s “Scaling Startups” series at https://www.chrissaad.com/startupscale Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

All season, Chris and Yaniv have talked about the mindset that is needed to succeed at venture-backed startups. For the final episode of Season 1, we tie it all together with an analogy: tournament poker. It is amazing how many things poker and startups have in common, so in this episode we use the lens of poker to discuss the big picture of how to approach building a successful startup. We dive into each of the following aspects of commonality between poker and startup life: Iterative Cash-burning Making decisions based on uncertain information Progressive learning Resulting Relatively low probability of a successful outcome (and that’s OK!) We were inspired by the book Thinking in Bets, by former pro poker player Annie Duke. Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Mike Scott is a serial entrepreneur who found himself working at a large tech unicorn when they acquired his business. As newly-minted Head of Product Partnerships, Mike has questions! Luckily, Yaniv and Chris have (some) answers. This ended up being a bit of a personal discussion and coaching session, and we thank Mike for opening up. In this Office Hours episode, topics discussed include: The transition from entrepreneur to employee. What is the Product Partnerships function? Measuring the impact of your function in a cross-functional setting. How “small business thinking” can help bigger companies move faster. The unique role and cadence of partnership functions at a product company. Moving from an enablement function to a value driver. Mike has an awesome podcast of his own, How To Be Moderately Successful: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/how-to-be-moderately-successful/id1535553116 Connect with Mike Scott on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeadamscott/ Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

Alignment is about making sure that everybody in an organisation is working in such a way that their efforts build on each other, rather than cancelling out. If you’re not aligned, it doesn’t matter how hard you work—you’re not going to get anywhere. In this episode, Chris and Yaniv discuss: What does it mean to be aligned? Alignment at different levels and across different time spans Encouraging alignment at a cultural level Surfacing hidden assumptions The importance of writing things down Why meetings are important (yes, really!) Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/

This bonus episode is a collaboration with Yan Kruger’s fantastic Growth Ripples podcast. Startups can survive a bad culture to achieve product-market fit, but once they reach the scale-up stage the effects of poor culture hinder growth. In this episode, Yan and Yaniv discuss what culture is, why it’s so important, and when is the right time to start investing in it. Why culture matters. What is culture? Common warning signs for a bad culture. What does it mean to design a culture? Why startups are like poker, making the transition to being a founder Connect with Yan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yankruger/ Yan’s Growth Ripples podcast: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCthdrOh5Ce439ppCwGHzovg Follow the Startup Podcast on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-startup-pod/ Follow us on Twitter Yaniv Bernstein @ybernstein Chris Saad @chrissaad Please rate and Review The Startup Podcast on your podcast app. Ask questions for future Listener Q&A episodes: https://forms.gle/NZzgNWVLiFmwvFA2A Listen on Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/the-startup-podcast/id1612757016. Listen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5C6oN1uFj29A4jHZn57lNO. Listen on Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy84NjhlNWEwNC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw A bit about our hosts: Chris Saad: Independent Startup Advisor and Angel Investor, who helps startups and entrepreneurs fast-forward company’s growth. Chris consults on developer platforms & ecosystems, future of media, data portability, on-demand economy,  and the Silicon Valley ecosystem. Visit http://chrissaad.com/advisory/ or connect with Chris on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissaad/ Yaniv Bernstein: Founder and COO of Circular, a subscription e-commerce platform with sustainability at its heart. By focusing on customer experience while reducing waste and underutilization, Circular provides subscriptions to premium devices at affordable prices and with unmatched flexibility. Visit Circular https://www.nowcircular.com/ and connect with Yaniv on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/ybernstein/