
The LaunchNotes Podcast | Product Management, Product Marketing, Product Ops
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Grow your product, your company, and your career alongside the world's best product leaders. Discussions with in-the-trenches practitioners building and launching products at some of the most exciting startups and SaaS companies around.
For everyone working on a product team — whether you’re in Product Management, Product Marketing, Product Ops, or any other supporting function — you'll find battle-tested tips and actionable advice every week.
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Latest episodes

Feb 24, 2023 • 37min
The product strategy framework that changed everything with Chris Mann (LinkedIn, Bizo)
Blake Thorne (@blakethorne - https://twitter.com/blakethorne) of LaunchNotes talks with Chris Mann (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismannlinkedin/), founder of GrokAI and previously of Bizo and LinkedIn, about how to align teams around a product and company strategy.
đź”— Links
Chris on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrismannlinkedin/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Introductions
(09:42) - The "Learning" phase of product strategy
(11:55) - The "Think" phase of product strategy
(16:54) - The "Decide" phase of product strategy
(19:25) - The "Plan to act" phase of product strategy
(28:56) - Preparing for strategy meetings

Feb 23, 2023 • 32min
Office Hours Live 014: When do companies add a second product?
Steve, Adam, and Blake chat about a recent AMA they did with Dave Schools from Hopin, a company known for building and acquiring multiple products. They also discuss other companies that have grown their business on the success of multiple products.
đź”— Links
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Offsite recap
(02:28) - Thoughts on multi-product companies
(17:26) - Examples of companies with multiple products
(29:33) - Our next AMA guest

Feb 22, 2023 • 51min
Unlocking a new phase of growth by going multi-product with Dave Schools (Hopin)
Steve Klein (https://twitter.com/stevenklein) of LaunchNotes talks with Dave Schools of Hopin (https://twitter.com/daveschoools) about Hopin’s journey acquiring and building new products to unlock their next phase of growth.
đź”— Links
Dave on Twitter: https://twitter.com/daveschoools
Dave’s company: https://hopin.com/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Introductions
(06:28) - Acquisitions and building products
(18:56) - Deciding to build a new product
(29:58) - Collaborating across the company on a new product
(38:34) - Product-led growth or enterprise first?
(40:31) - ​​Not sharing code bases across product
(43:52) - How early is too early for a waitlist?
(45:28) - Deciding on a name for a new product
(48:18) - Sizing up the opportunity of a new product

Feb 6, 2023 • 39min
Office Hours Live 013: Product roadmaps!
Blake, Steve, and Jake talk about product roadmaps and some of the anxiety that comes with sharing a public roadmap with customers. They also share some examples of public roadmaps from well-known SaaS companies.
đź”— Links
30 product roadmap examples from real products: https://www.launchnotes.com/blog/product-roadmap-examples
Using product roadmaps as a strategic growth tool: https://www.launchnotes.com/blog/product-roadmap-strategy
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Public roadmaps
(18:43) - Setting expectations around your roadmap
(22:11) - Examples of roadmaps hosted on LaunchNotes

Feb 3, 2023 • 51min
Letting engineers call the product shots with PostHog CEO James Hawkins
James Hawkins, CEO of PostHog, discusses finding product-market fit, supporting 23,000 customers without a dedicated support team, and prioritizing roadmap items. They also talk about balancing performance improvements with new functionality, building an inbound sales engine, and defining company vision.

Feb 1, 2023 • 47min
Office Hours Live 012: What product managers can learn from chefs plus how to get promoted
Blake Thorne (@blakethorne - https://twitter.com/blakethorne) and the LaunchNotes team chat with Josh Herzig-Marx about the similarities between cooking and building products and how frameworks can help you work smarter. They also talk about the career paths of individual contributors vs. managers and share tips for getting promoted.
đź”— Links
Should management be your career path? https://medium.com/smells-like-team-spirit/should-management-be-on-your-career-path-a6aa6b7aad0a
Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaherzigmarx/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Applying cooking lessons to marketing and product management
(10:20) - The value of frameworks
(18:53) - Transitioning from IC to manager
(39:11) - Tips for getting promoted

Jan 31, 2023 • 54min
Nailing the transition from IC PM to product leadership
Steve Klein (twitter.com/stevenklein) talks with Josh Herzig-Marx (linkedin.com/in/joshuaherzigmarx) about the new things you’ll be expected to do when transitioning to a Product Leadership role, and how you can accel at them.
đź”— Links
Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshuaherzigmarx/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Introductions
(05:00) - Why transitioning from IC to leadership is hard
(10:25) - Communicating the product vision
(18:12) - Building out a hiring process
(24:59) - Delivering feedback to direct reports
(30:05) - Career ladders
(35:43) - Prioritizing product work
(37:55) - Differences between an IC and a manager
(39:10) - How to get leadership on board for growing the product team
(41:20) - Growth and promotions as a product manager
(43:58) - The important skill of delegating
(45:39) - Dealing with unclear ownership
(48:08) - Developing junior PMs into seasoned PMs

Jan 27, 2023 • 44min
Office Hours Live 011: How we landed on a company strategy framework
Blake Thorne (@blakethorne - https://twitter.com/blakethorne) and the LaunchNotes team talk about a recent podcast recording with Des Traynor from Intercom. Tyler shares how they landed on their company strategy framework, and they discuss a product that Spotify quietly shut down.
đź”— Links
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - A recent podcast conversation with Des Traynor, co-founder of Intercom
(11:06) - Company strategy frameworks
(32:47) - When Spotify quietly shut down a product

Jan 25, 2023 • 46min
Mastering Async: How to build an all-star remote product team with Justin Gallagher (Trello, Hoop)
Steve Klein (twitter.com/stevenklein) talks with Justin Gallagher (twitter.com/justingallagher) about how synchronous work and communication in a remote company is a recipe for burnout. Teams should work more asynchronously by having better documentation around how to get work done, and by communicating with more intentional long-form written content.
đź”— Links
Justin’s company: https://www.hoop.app/
Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinjgallagher/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Introductions
(04:22) - Pioneering the remote movement at Trello
(08:37) - Remote work and burnout
(11:17) - Defining "remote" and "async"
(11:42) - Providing feedback in a remote setting
(19:14) - Making big decisions as an async remote team
(29:42) - Shifting expectations on response times
(35:28) - Top 3 tools for async communication
(37:51) - How do you collaborate when teams are spread across multiple timezones?
(39:04) - When are meetings actually necessary?

Jan 23, 2023 • 38min
What the C-suite wants from product leaders with Des Traynor (Intercom)
Blake Thorne (@blakethorne - https://twitter.com/blakethorne) of LaunchNotes talks with Des Traynor of Intercom about their successful journey from one product to multiple products, knowing when to sunset a product and what they look for when hiring product leaders. Des also shares his thoughts on the fast-moving adoption of AI in products today.
đź”— Links
Des’ personal website: https://destraynor.com/
Des’ company: https://www.intercom.com/
Des on Twitter: https://twitter.com/destraynor
Des on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/destraynor/
🚀Check out LaunchNotes: https://launchnotes.com
🙏Join Launch Awesome: https://www.launchnotes.com/launch-awesome
📺Follow on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClgMZx0kGDSSBAQG0wkDRyg
Check out the LaunchNotes Podcast: https://launchnotes-podcast.launchnotes.io/
📝 Show notes
(00:00) - Introductions
(02:48) - From a single product to a multi-product platform
(09:29) - The risk of rolling out new products as a mature company vs. a young startup
(14:31) - What Intercom looks for when hiring product leaders
(26:00) - Des’ thoughts on AI
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