Supra Insider

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!

Welcome to another episode of Supra Insider!In this episode, Marc and Ben are joined by Diana Kimball Berlin, a Partner at Matrix who invests in early-stage B2B SaaS & AI companies, from concept to Series A. Diana also sits on the boards of Accord and Meshcapade. Prior to becoming an investor, Diana spent 5 years at Quip, working up from an IC product manager to VP of Product. Before Quip, Diana was a senior PM at SoundCloud and has held roles at Kickstarter and Microsoft. In our chat with Diana, we cover a lot of ground:* Diana’s path from a liberal arts major to product management and investing* Why Diana likes liberal arts as a background for PMs and investors* How publishing writing has benefitted Diana in her life and career and why people should consider being more open with sharing their thinking (and what leaders can do to support their team in being more public online)* When founders should consider hiring their first product manager* What makes for the best relationships between CEOs and product executives* How product leaders can gauge compatibility with a company* And more!Diana is an extremely thoughtful investor and product leader. We hope you enjoy this conversation and look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for listening!Links* Diana’s LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dianakimball/* Diana’s website: https://dianaberlin.com/* Diana’s Substack* Diana’s post about whether business school is worth it for PMs: https://dianaberlin.com/posts/the-mba-decision-guide-for-product-managers * Lina Colucci: https://www.youtube.com/@Lina_ColucciHosts* 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. Following up on last episode’s discussion of the current PM market (episode 3), we wanted to add a new perspective to the conversation by inviting a product management recruiter to the show. In this episode, Marc and I are joined by James Jordan, the founder of Producto, a recruiting agency focused on PM hiring from ICs all the way to executives. James is coming up on two decades in recruiting and has a wealth of knowledge about the historical product management hiring landscape and the latest trends. If you’re thinking about hiring a PM or are a PM looking for a new role, you’ll love this conversation.In our chat with James, we cover a lot of ground:* James’s read on the current PM hiring market and what’s changed in the last year* Why do companies struggle to define what they want in their first PM hire?* We also discussed how people managers are struggling to break into senior IC roles, how he evaluates ICs vs. execs, and his unique approach to doing references* We conclude our chat discussing how most candidates are not using LI right, sleeping on networking, and where is the role of the Product going in the next couple of years.I hope you enjoy this conversation and look forward to hearing your feedback. Thanks for listening!Links* James Jordan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamesjordanrecruitment* Producto: https://productotalent.com* Product toolkit by Ravi Mehta - https://www.ravi-mehta.com/product-manager-roles/Hosts* 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

Founder of Supra, Marc, and VP Product Gaurav Hardikar and FinTech product leader Andrew Chapello discuss navigating the current product leadership job market. Topics include changes in the PM market, tips for success as a candidate, getting interviews, due diligence on companies, and more.

Josh Doody, a salary negotiation coach, discusses the importance of negotiation, common pitfalls, and strategies for maximizing earning potential. Topics include negotiating without a counteroffer, changing companies for higher salaries, and debunking fears of offer rescinding. Learn how to navigate salary negotiations effectively in the tech industry.