Product Innovation Series with Aram Melkoumov

About Tadas Labudis:Tadas leads the Customer AI team at Playvox. He joined Playvox in 2022 following the acquisition of Prodsight, a text analytics startup he founded to help support teams get deeper insights from their customer interactions. In his free time, he likes to spend time with his wife and baby daughter, play drums and try his hand at perfecting espresso and latte art.SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction to Tadas Labudis1:05 | His transition when Prodsight, his company, was acquired in 2022 by Playvox 2:48 | Contrast between his work at Prodsight and Playvox4:11 | Missing the CEO title at Prodsight6:19 | User Research Methods for Discovery at Playvox9:03 | Tools to track the success of a product released to the market11:07| Validating new features on different products13:10 | Differences between working at Prodsight and Playvox15:41 | What Tadas needs to learn in order to be better at doing discoveries18:00 | Changes in product innovation in big companies20:33 | How to motivate and foster the spirit of innovation in team members24:52 | Q/A session26:22 | Wrap-up QUOTES:“When you build a good product, the rest will come easily. People will find you despite how remote your medium of communication may be.” [2:03] “The core of every company, whether start-up or advanced, is the product.” [3:00] “For any company growing, it’s only natural to do things without much urgency unless there’s fear of losing the company.” [18:42]Resources MentionedThe Mom Test: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H4G2J1U/ Connect with Tadas LabudisPersonal Website: https://labudis.com/Company’s Website: https://www.playvox.comLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tadaslabudis/Twitter: https://twitter.com/tadaslab

We all want to maintain high application quality, but without automation and customer involvement, it would be impossible to reach these goals. Automation plus customer data make your apps scalable, usable, and more efficient for your customers. Create a product and a solution that your customers will love and engage with, not just use. -  Ayal Cohen, Senior Director of Product @ MicroFocus. About AyalAyal is a Senior Director of Products at MicroFocus. He spent more than two decades in the world of automation and is leading the next evolution for automated functional testing. Ayal has helped hundreds of customers build their test automation switches and improve their automation. Experienced with translating customer pains and market needs into working and profitable products based on data analysis and market research. He provides a strong R&D and quality assurance background with proven capabilities in managing large-scale products, projects, and organizations. SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction to Ayal 1:07 | What is functional automation testing, and why his focus is in this area 3:15 | How automated testing works for different products  4:29 | The best customer meeting that Ayal has ever had 7:03 | How to ensure you’re adding maximum value in a customer meeting8:34 | How frequently to hold your customer meetings 11:02| When to consolidate data from customer meetings and do sense-making 12:11 | How the world of products has changed over the years 16:12 | Ayal's biggest product challenge working with big enterprises 18:00 | What Ayal has seen to work in solving customer expectations and requests 20:33 | The definition of enterprise-ready in the product realm 23:21 | The biggest cause of concern and mandate for enterprises today26:33 | Creating product customers will love and engage with, not just use 27:20 | How Ayal determines the success criteria for a product that is going to be loved 28:33 | How to change your product to approach and achieve growth31:48 | Initial foundation levels of success to look at when changing your product33:40 | The last customer engagement syndrome. What it’s and how it works35:37 | Q/A session 38:08 | Key takeaways for the listeners from Ayal  39:07 | Wrap-up QUOTES:“If you want to learn how customers are using your solution and their challenges, it’s very important to be patient, don’t be afraid of awkward silence, give your customers time to answer the question, don’t put words in their mouth.” [7:06] “You need to hear more opinions to make sure you are more educated with different varieties of personas to make the right conclusion from the feedback that you have.” [11:31] “Data is very important and you need to understand how your customers are using your product to understand what is missing and how you can engage more solution.” [31:46]Resources MentionedThe Mom Test: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H4G2J1U/ Connect with Ayal CohenCompany’s Website: https://www.microfocus.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ayalc/

About BurakBurak Kantarci is a Product Manager at Thundra where his main goals are to simplify developers’ daily life and make their workflows more errorless and enjoyable. He lives in Turkey and has a degree in Computer Science.SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction to Burak Kantarci1:17 | Original product at Thundra and the different pivots it has undergone6:24 | Metrics to track as a product leader before pivoting9:31 | How to prioritize products15:52| Burak’s biggest takeaways going from a product designer to a product manager18:04| Current working framework on his role22:51 | How to keep product vision in alignment with other stakeholders25:50 | Key product lessons/ principles Burak keeps coming back to when stuck30:18 | Parting wisdom and golden takeaways32:24 | Wrap-up QUOTES:“Getting your hands dirty is the only way to understand the problem and the solution of a product.” [17:40] “Repetition creates clarity and alignment of a company’s product purpose. Product managers should derive a way of constantly communicating the purpose to the stakeholders. This can be through frequent memos.” [24:30] “Know your superpowers as a product manager, and be aware of the company culture and leadership. It helps you do actionable things” [30:45] Connect with Burak KantarciPersonal Website: https://www.burakkantarci.com/Company’s Website: https://www.thundra.io/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burakkantarci/Twitter: https://twitter.com/kantarciEmail: burakkantarci.08@gmail.com

Manos Kyriakakis is a Head of Product & Growth at Simpler. They’re aiming to allow shoppers all over the world seamlessly checkout from anywhere. In the past, Manos has worked with other VC-backed startups in industries such as insuretech, ad-tech, and travel-tech, including Pricefox.gr, Avocarrot, Market Group, and Welcome Pickups. He has also collaborated with companies as a consultant and co-founded his own company.SHOW NOTES:0:00 | Introduction to Manos Kyriakakis2:05 | Achieving product/market fit for startups3:56 | Metrics that show whether you have hit market fit for your product5:51 | Early challenges in attaining market fit at Simpler9:35 | Knowing if you are on the right track14:07| What Manos has done to ensure product vision is common with all stakeholders17:26 | Confidence, Arrogance, and making Assumptions in products19:43 | Getting rid of ego from the equation21:24 | Product biases that Manos has had to deal with frequently22:44 | The one question Manos desires to be asked as a product manager24:21 | Becoming not entirely data-reliant in decision making25:54 | Wrap-up QUOTES: “To achieve product /market fit, an entrepreneur should be as close as possible to the target audience. This means being in a good market with a product that can satisfy that market.” [3:24] “As a product leader, you are responsible for ensuring the product vision is protected and all stakeholders have a clear grasp before making decisions.” [14:07] “It’s easy for product managers to be arrogant, overconfident, and make assumptions about their products. Such negligence is also easily transferred to the team” [18:32] Connect with Manos KyriakakisPersonal Website: https://manoskyriakakis.com/Company’s Website: https://www.simpler.so/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manoskyr/Twitter: https://twitter.com/manoskyr

Tom and Aram discuss how and why to build an advisory council. They discuss how to ask questions people want to answer, how getting close to your users makes work more meaningful for your team, and why you should never build a product alone. They also explore why you shouldn’t only think about who your customer is and what they need - but who their customers are and what their objectives are. About Tom O’NeillTom is the Founder and CEO of Parallax. He built a stellar product by first building an advisory council because he believes that great products are never built solo, they’re created by great teams. Tom is also the co-founder of Frebella and was previously the CEO of The Nerdery. SHOW NOTES:00:05 | Who is Tom O’Neill?00:38 | How and why to build an advisory council04:15 | How to find product advisors 05:34 | Running advisory council sessions 08:47 | Nobody leaves a banging nightclub… 11:19 | Do advisors become clients? 16:59 | Wrong ways to think about your client 23:49 | How to build ANY product27:27 | He doesn’t want to learn this lesson again 29:47 | Fireside: attitude, crazy features, focus, mentorship Quotes: (03:16) “I think a lot of people enjoy being a part of building something. I think that the idea of being an advisor to a product development team is appealing to them and that's how we positioned it.”Follow Tom O’Neillhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/tomoneill/ 

What happens when you accept that many people can do a better job than you? Why should you treat your company as a product? This founder took what he learned working at Amazon and Siemens and started his own company. About Pierre BrunellePierre Brunelle is the co-founder and CEO of Noteable. Previously, he was a technical product manager at Amazon Europe. He also held a role at Siemens earlier in his career. That said, Pierre has always been an entrepreneur at heart. In fact, he started his first business when he was 15 and it’s still operational today!  SHOW NOTES:00:00 | Who is Pierre Brunelle?02:50 | Being a technical product manager at Amazon04:46 | Amazon EU vs Amazon US07:36 | Starting a furniture business at 15 (it’s still running)11:32 | What’s it like to work at Siemens? 13:35 | Is raising $25M enough? 16:03 | Nothing gets done alone 19:06 | How often should you pivot? OR When should you pivot? 22:43 | How product documents are reviewed at Amazon 28:26 | Copying Amazon’s internal operations30:53 | Creating ownership: dos and don’ts 34:40 | Building a product organization39:14 | How to do boring work41:59 | Why he moved from Amazon to entrepreneurship 44:04 | Do technical product managers need to be technical?Quotes: (16:56) “I always believe that I don't achieve anything by myself - I think as a CEO or co-founder, it's a great mindset to have.”(20:41) “Commit to something. And when you get small signals, change, adapt, and commit to the second thing until you have information to make you change your opinion.”Follow Pierre Brunellehttps://www.linkedin.com/in/brunellepe/  

What do you get when you rely on your intuition instead of just what customers tell you? The iPod. Today we discuss the creative leaps of faith you should and shouldn’t take when developing your product. About Ravi SwaminathanRavi Swaminathan is the CEO of TaskHuman. He believes in egoless leadership. Egoless leadership is about being at peace with not having all the answers today and believing that more answers will come with time. Previously, was President at WiZER and a VP at SanDisk amongst other roles.About Seth Barron Seth Barron is the Head of Product Management at TaskHuman. He thinks new features should only be added if they remove friction from the user experience. His litmus test is asking: will things be simpler for the user after adding this feature? Previously, Seth spent 16 years at Google. He is also a Yogi.SHOW NOTES:00:00 | Who are Ravi Swaminathan and Seth Barron?01:12 | Google, but for people04:04 | Obsessing about consumer experience 07:53 | Egoless product development 11:22 | More than a paycheck 14:46 | Asking your customers vs. following your gut 17:59 | Taking data-driven leaps of faith21:55 | Is the feature good enough yet? (litmus test) 25:49 | Myth of objectivity Quotes: (17:42) “I'd rather follow what people are doing rather than what people are saying.” - Ravi(19:39) “I think a lot of product leaders get lost is they get lost in the data and they don't effectively synthesize the insight. The data is just the observation, The insight is the understanding. So something that I think about all the time is: how do I synthesize the signal from the noise?”Follow Ravi Swaminathanhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/raviswaminathan/ Follow Seth Barronhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/seth-barron-nyc/ 

You can be a product manager and have 0 technical skills. Sound controversial to you? Today’s product director has never written a single line of code - he has played professional soccer though. Find out how not having technical skills makes him a sharper PM. About Mor AviHananMor AviHanan is the Director of Product Management at ZoomInfo. He doesn’t consider himself a technical guy, in fact, he never wrote a line of code in his life. To him, coding is just another language, and communication is not restricted to it or by it. In another life, Mor played soccer for the Israeli national team. He has to leave soccer behind due to an injury. Links We MentionedPep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning: The Biography https://www.amazon.ca/Pep-Guardiola-Another-Winning-Biography/dp/1409129462 Mindgames: Phil Jackson's Long Strange Journey https://www.amazon.ca/Mindgames-Phil-Jacksons-Strange-Journey/dp/0803259980 The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses https://www.amazon.ca/Lean-Startup-Entrepreneurs-Continuous-Innovation/dp/0307887898 SHOW NOTES:00:05 | Who is Mor AviHanan? 01:03 | Do you need to have technical skills as a product manager?05:28 | Talking to developers when you aren’t a technical PM08:20 | Being an athlete vs. being a product manager 12:17 | The secret to running 7 SCRUM teams 16:43 | Running a team of genius minds 19:42 | Book recommendations from sports and tech 21:30 | Saying ‘why not?’ instead of ‘no’  22:22 | Visualizing your ideas and innovations23:17 | Turning sport into a product Follow Mor AviHananhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/moravihanan/ Work with Crowdlinker: https://www.crowdlinker.com/contact 

The way a design team is managed can fuel creativity or stifle it. What happens when you direct ideas too early? How do you challenge your designers without overwhelming them? Today’s guest built his design team in 4 months, this is what he learned. About Mike TownsonMike Townson is the Director of Product Design at Order. When he started at Order, there wasn’t much of a design or product team. It was just him and the VP of product. There, he had to build an internal design team in 4 months. As a leader, he believes that you don’t always have to be right - but you always have to be surrounded by the right people. His approach to building a design team is to set up the team to be self-led and empowered. In another life, Mike would’ve been a tour guide. Links We MentionedOrg Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams https://www.amazon.ca/Org-Design-Orgs-Building-House/dp/1491938404  Turn the Ship Around! A True Story of Turning Followers Into Leaders https://www.amazon.ca/Around-Story-Turning-Followers-Leaders/dp/1591846404 SHOW NOTES:00:05 | Who is Mike Townson? 00:24 | What is Order?01:29 | Becoming a director of product design05:34 | First reality check as a design manager07:48 | Do you have to become a people manager to grow as a designer? 10:10 | The most exciting part of management 14:04 | Building an internal design team from scratch OR Building a design team focused on jobs to be done17:47 | Scaling a design team 20:49 | Why do great designers have impostor syndrome?23:23 | Objectivity of design: is it real? 26:04 | Best ways to track design metrics 30:42 | Leader-leader method  33:49 | Fireside: illustration, VR, design meetings, throwaway work Follow Mike Townsonhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/miketownson/ Work with Crowdlinker: https://www.crowdlinker.com/contact 

When Wrike was a start-up, winning was easy. Its biggest competitor was Excel. Today, it competes with Asana, Monday, Trello, and more. What do you do when your market becomes more competitive? How do you make it impossible for your clients to leave you?About Alex ZhezerovAlex Zhezerov is the Director of Product Management at Wrike. He is also a blogger and newsletter writer who runs a B2B SaaS newsletter for founders and executives. He likes to begin his morning with a thinking routine and is currently looking to establish a stronger personal brand for himself through writing. Alex has a unique perspective when it comes to project management - he runs a product that was once in an easy-to-win market and is now in a heavily competitive one.Links We MentionedThe Mom Test: How to talk to customers & learn if your business is a good idea when everyone is lying to you https://www.amazon.ca/Mom-Test-customers-business-everyone/dp/1492180742 Porter's Five Forces: Understand competitive forces and stay ahead of the competition https://www.amazon.ca/Porters-Five-Forces-ahead-competition/dp/2806270626 7 Powers: The Foundations of Business Strategy https://www.amazon.ca/7-Powers-Foundations-Business-Strategy/dp/0998116319 The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business https://www.amazon.ca/Innovators-Dilemma-Revolutionary-Change-Business/dp/0062060244 SHOW NOTES:00:00 | Who is Alex Zhezerov? 00:23 | B2B SaaS thought leadership and morning thinking routines 03:53 | 3 differentiation strategies 06:28 | Vertical SaaS vs. Horizontal SaaS 08:13 | Should you build a vertical tool with a low budget? 10:06 | Differentiating Wrike from Asana, Trello, and Monday12:03 | Product priorities after market saturation 15:01 | How to make sure people don’t leave you 19:03 | Million-dollar product management question 22:14 | What every product manager must do to win (and 3 must-read books) Follow Alex Zhezerovhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/alexzhezherov/ Alex’s Newsletter: https://zalex.co/ Work with Crowdlinker: https://www.crowdlinker.com/contact