Supra Insider

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. After Ben shared a fun story on LinkedIn about how he got his first tech job, we thought it would be fun to do an episode about how we landed our first jobs in tech.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇In this episode, we talked about* The story of how Ben joined Life360 as employee #35 through a roadtrip* The story of how Marc joined Asana as their first PM intern* Actionable takeaways from these stories for driven people to find opportunities* And much more!We hope you enjoy listening!If you’d like to watch the video of our conversation, you can catch that on YouTube: Links:* Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbaselga/* Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benerez/If you’re a new subscriber, welcome! Feel free to check out some of the previous episodes you might have missed (Spotify links embed better but you can see all of these on other platforms too from the podcast page on Substack):New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. This time, we’re excited to bring you our conversation with Kelly O'Shaughnessy, Head of Product - Self Serve at Airtable.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇Getting new products off the ground at established companies is notoriously challenging. But when it works, it can meaningfully expand the company’s TAM and introduce new revenue streams.Kelly O’Shaughnessy is one of the earliest members of the Supra community and before her current role at Airtable, she spent four years at Uber focusing on marketplace & pricing dynamics, core consumer experience, and B2B offerings.In this episode, we talked about* Kelly’s experience being recruited into a ”volunteer army” at Uber, ultimately leading to the development of new products worth $1B+* Advice for passionate product leaders to get people excited to join their “volunteer army” for new initiatives through storytelling and data* Why forming tiger teams with cross-functional partners is critical for the success of new initiatives (especially with GTM)* The importance of setting aside ego to inspire people to follow you* And more!This conversation will be particularly useful for listeners at larger companies looking to get new initiatives off the ground. We loved chatting with Kelly and learned a ton. Hope you enjoy listening!If you’d like to watch the video of our interview, you can catch that on YouTube: Links:* Kelly’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyoshaughnessy/New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇 This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Experienced product manager Ben discusses the challenges of transitioning companies from output to outcome-oriented, strategies for PMs in 'feature factory' settings, and contrasts between product leadership aspirations and on-the-ground realities. The episode offers valuable insights for navigating the complexities of product management.

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. This time, Marc and Ben sat down to reflect on the first 11 episodes of the pod.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇In this episode, we talked about* Key decisions we made at the offset and how those have played out* Our runbook for publishing episodes* How we gather and incorporate feedback to make every episode better* Where we’re hoping to go with the pod from here* Why podcast analytics are terrible* And much more!We’re excited to make this type of reflection a habit every few months and hope you enjoy listening!If you’d like to watch the video of our conversation, you can catch that on YouTube: Also, if you’re a new subscriber, we encourage you to check out some of the previous episodes you might have missed (Spotify links embed better but you can see all of these on other platforms too from the podcast page on Substack):Links:* Marc: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcbaselga/* Ben: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benerez/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. This time, we’re excited to bring you our conversation with Jeff Whitlock, CEO at Grain.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇Jeff’s most important job is as a father of three. His second most important job is as the CEO of Grain, a role he took on after holding a few other roles at the company, including President, Head of Product and Head of Operations.Before Grain, Jeff started his career at McKinsey, then joined Vivint Smart Home. He’s held multiple product leadership roles in early stage startups, and co-founded multiple startups of his own (one of which went through YC in 2021).In this episode, we talked about* How the best product teams are using call recording software to bring their team along* Why a product background makes Jeff a more effective CEO* How Grain prioritizes building intuitive software in a crowded space including Jeff’s philosophy on killing features* How Jeff creates space to be a good dad while running a company* The exploding tech scene in Utah* How Jeff builds conviction* And more!We loved chatting with Jeff and learned a ton. Hope you enjoy listening!If you’d like to watch the video, you can catch that on YouTube: Links:* Jeff’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-whitlock/* Grain: www.grain.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. We changed things up for this episode and instead of Ben and Marc interviewing a guest, Ben interviewed Marc.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇In this episode, Marc and Ben dive deep into various aspects of the Supra community, including:* Supra’s founding story* The importance of curating a high-quality, committed member community and matching people into the right groups.* The role of executive coaches in facilitating meaningful discussions and maintaining group engagement.* Challenges faced in scaling the community as a bootstrapped business* The value of in-person events and the desire to organize more of them in the future.* Common career paths & aspirations of product leaders + how Supra aims to help* Potential future opportunities for Supra.If you're a product leader interested in learning more about Supra, reach out to Marc on LinkedIn. In the meantime, enjoy the episode!And if you’d like to watch the video, you can catch that on YouTube: This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. This time, we’re excited to bring you our conversation with Nan Yu, Head of Product at Linear.New to the pod? Subscribe below to get the next episode in your inbox 👇Nan had a super interesting path to his current role: he started his career as a software engineer at Goldman Sachs, then served as the CTO of Everlane for nearly six years before joining Abstract as an engineering manager (where he paired with Ben as his primary PM counterpart). After a couple years at Abstract, Nan joined Mode Analytics initially as interim CTO and then as their full-time VP of Product. In this episode, we went deep on how Linear:* Designs its org and structures its teams* Builds products (and how it uses Linear)* Runs work trials to screen for fit* and much more!We had a blast talking to Nan and learned a ton from our conversation. Enjoy it!If you’d like to watch the video, you can catch that on YouTube:Links* Nan’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu/ This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Former product leader Aakash Gupta discusses the Product Leadership Job Search. Topics include hidden high-paying tech roles, importance of relationships with recruiters and VCs, and strategies for successful job interviews.

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider. This time, Marc and I are excited to bring you our conversation with John Cutler. John writes The Beautiful Mess, a popular Substack newsletter in the product community and frequently posts on LI to his 100k followers. We both learned about John’s work during his time at Amplitude, where he spent 4.5 years as a product evangelist and coach for hundreds of product teams around the globe, giving him a unique vantage point about reality on the ground in many different environments and cultures. John legitimately lives in the “matrix of product management”.Prior to Amplitude, John held product management roles at Zendesk and Pendo, and drove UX research at AppFolio. John recently left his role at Toast, where he focused on product enablement and is enjoying beautiful Santa Barbara while exploring what’s next.In this episode, we covered topics including:* John’s path from product management into product evangelism and the tradeoffs of making that transition* How the role of product management has evolved and where it might go* Why it’s important not to follow frameworks blindly and understand the context* The benefits writing has on John’s thinking and how consistent publishing has allowed him to build a personal brand, creating optionality in his career* John’s take on the great feature factory vs empowered product team debate and Marty Cagan’s episode on Lenny’s Podcast* And much more!John is an extremely nuanced thinker and truth seeker who wants to help bring the product world closer together. We think you’ll love this conversation.Links* John’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnpcutler/* John’s blog (The Beautiful Mess): * Elena Verna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna/John’s post about Marty Cagan’s episode on Lenny (Product Theater): This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit suprainsider.substack.com

Brenton Sellati, VP at Pie Insurance, shares insights on scaling as a product leader: building high trust relationships, creating leverage, clear writing for clear thinking, minimizing dependencies. From managing 4 to 50 teams at Wayfair, his structured thinking shines. A masterclass in product leadership!