Product Talk

With more choices than ever before, it's easy to get lost in the app store. How do you build products that stand out? Ovia Co-Founder Gina Nebesar talks about building customer empathy, creating successful prototypes and how to stay ahead of the competition with growth products.

Every product manager thinks about leadership opportunities - and the first question is, "how do I get there?" Acorns Product Director Paige Conrad talks about how to sell yourself, promoting inclusion in the workplace and what it takes to make great products.

studiored Founder Philip Bourgeois is my guest on this week's podcast episode. Learn about his processes for developing digital and physical interactions throughout the development process, that have made his firm the leading producer of wearables and bio-tech hardware in Silicon Valley. Learn more at ProductsThatCount.com.

My guest on this episode is Michael Katz, CEO & Co-Founder of mParticle. He talks about the culture and practices that have allowed him to build product-focused teams that continually execute, deliver value, and leave a legacy. About the Guest: Michael Katz is Co-Founder of mParticle and serves as its Chief Executive Officer and Director. He is responsible for creating and overseeing the execution of mParticle's vision of becoming the premier mobile data solution. He is formerly the Vice President of Optimization & Analytics at Yahoo via the acquisition of Interclick, a company he founded, organically grew to $140M in revenue, and sold to Yahoo for $270 million in 2011. Learn more at ProductsThatCount.com

In this podcast interview, I sit down with security guru Rene Kolga for a chat about building security products. He talks about how it's different from building for any product, yet how it's similar. Learn more at ProductsThatCount.com.

"Today, our phones and camera are trying to take us into another reality"...and that reality is AR/VR/MR. On this episode, I interviewed Wevr Head of Product Sami Ramly to share with us why and how to build for this new paradigm. Learn the thought-processes Sami uses at Wevr to tackle the world of augmented and virtual reality.

In order to be nimble, you need to have a great team that grows with your organization's technology and culture. Join Patty Mccord and I on this podcast epsiode about how you should tackle team development and management as a Product Manager. Patty headed up HR at Netflix for 14 years and helped develop the Netflix Culture Deck, which is still a staple onboarding document for companies today. Her book "Powerful: Building a Culture of Freedom and Responsibility," focuses on how the high-performing culture at Netflix was formed — advocating complete honesty and using challenges as motivation rather than incentives.

Building "products that count" involves more than just developing a great product, it's about creating a memorable user experience from beginning to end. Sure, making sure your infrastructure is technically solid and functioning is integral, but how do you make this process inspiring? How do you create a process that encourages the user to integrate your product into their daily life? and share it with their friends and peers? In this month's podcast episode, I chat with Box CPO Jeetu Patel about how you can begin building the user experience in early development and how you can have the biggest customer impact at scale.

Why would anyone want to hire a middleman, like someone to get your groceries, especially if you have time to take care of the planning and shopping yourself? On today's episode, my guest Marina Krakovsky discusses her book The Middleman Economy. Marina shatters old stigmas about middlemen of yesteryear, explaining why some middlemen have disappeared while many others have gained in importance. She offers clear suggestions about what today's businesses must do to make technological progress work for them, not against them. On the show, you'll hear Marina's opinion that despite predictions that the internet would destroy the need for middlemen, she argues they're more valuable than ever though their roles have changed.

How is technology making a difference in your life today? On today's episode, my guest Selina Tobaccowala discusses her newest startup Gixo and how she plans to help consumers lead healthier lives. You'll hear Selina compare and contrast her experiences with Evite, the company she co-founded; SurveyMonkey, the company she helped grow and scale to 200 million users; and Gixo, her current-day startup that she co-founded with Al Lieb. Selina also shares insight into what makes a great Product Manager and how to take your career to the next level. It starts with carving your own path, a lot of success starts with you taking on more responsibility—be proactive and ask for more from your manager instead of waiting for them to come to you. Selina also tells me that PMs are the glue that makes all the pieces work and it's important to know the answers to the following: What are the important areas of feedback that helps drive your product? What are the business metrics? What are the strategic goals? How do you make sure you have a great engineering partner (or team)? Selina's Recommended Readings Reid Hoffman No Sweat To learn more about Selina, visit gixo.com or her Medium page.