Unsolicited Feedback
Brian Balfour & Fareed Mosavat
Tired of interview podcasts? Us too. That's why we created Unsolicited Feedback - the podcast that should have come out 5 years ago, but we're making it anyway. In this podcast, Brian Balfour (Reforge, HubSpot), Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack) and friends provide unfiltered feedback on the products they actually use, along with key product lessons.Essentially, we're taking the conversations that happen between experts at invite-only happy-hours and delivering them to the podcast platform of your choice.Although no one asked for their opinions, they're sharing them. It's like eating Goodles when you want Kraft Mac n Cheese, or Olipop when you want Pepsi - it feels wrong, yet so right.Each week, they analyze recent announcements, features, and releases across product and growth. The hosts make predictions about where Threads and Twitter will be in a year, and analyze unparalleled growth loops at LinkedIn. They give respect where it's due, but also deliver tear-downs when the writing’s on the wall. Sorry, not sorry!
Episodes
Mentioned books
49 snips
Nov 2, 2023 • 1h 23min
Darius Contractor (Otter.ai) Joins to Unpack Arc's Viral Loops and Show the Slack Redesign Haters They’re Wrong
Darius Contractor, Chief Growth Officer at Otter.ai, discusses Arc's viral loops and defends the Slack redesign. Arc focuses on virality, benefiting both sender and receiver. Arc's niche audience is the tech enthusiast. The podcast explores browser autocomplete and sharing loops, emphasizing the power of viral loops and user growth. The Slack redesign includes improved navigation and easier customization. Harnessing gravity is discussed for achieving goals.
96 snips
Oct 26, 2023 • 1h 17min
Crystal Widjaja (Gojek) Unlocks the Secrets of Unmeasurable Metrics and Extracts Lessons from Convoy's Downfall!
Crystal Widjaja, a data-driven product expert, discusses the challenges faced by data-driven product leaders and the lessons learned from Convoy's failure. They explore unmeasurable metrics, measuring the impact of features on revenue, and the importance of investing in customer vibes.
77 snips
Oct 19, 2023 • 1h 28min
Patrick Campbell (ProfitWell) Joins for a Growth Model Breakdown of Loom, Plus Patrick Campbell’s Pricing Corner
Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of ProfitWell, joins for a growth model breakdown of Loom's acquisition by Atlassian, discussing growth loops and environmental loops. Also, he shares insights on Unity's pricing change, AI's monetization challenges, and the impact of the macroeconomy on software companies.
43 snips
Oct 12, 2023 • 1h 26min
Claire Vo (Color) Tackles Monetization Strategy for AI Businesses and Protecting the Super ICs in Product
Claire Vo, CPO at Color and former CPO at Optimizely, discusses the challenges of monetizing AI products, including the costs associated with AI, value-based pricing, and the advantages of incumbents. The trio also dives into algorithmic challenges in healthcare and the importance of balancing headcount and software investment. They end by exploring the joy of building and celebrating products, and the unique challenges faced by product managers in terms of incentives.
18 snips
Oct 5, 2023 • 1h 37min
Joff Redfern (Menlo VC) Discusses AI's Onboarding Conundrum & Adobe's Web-First Photoshop
Former Chief Product Officer at Atlassian, Joff Redfern, discusses AI's onboarding conundrum and Adobe's web-first Photoshop. He highlights the importance of personalization and eliminating friction in AI applications. The release of Adobe's web-based Photoshop is also explored, including its design process and added features. Additionally, the podcast touches on rural internet connectivity, pursuing a life bucket list, and Joff's career switch to venture capitalism.
203 snips
Sep 28, 2023 • 1h 36min
Elena Verna (Dropbox) Analyzes Airtable's Shift to Enterprise and Slack's Product Roadmap
Elena Verna, former SVP growth at Survey Monkey, discusses Airtable's shift to enterprise and Slack's product roadmap. They debate the dangers of betting on a single growth loop, the importance of layering other growth loops, and the impact of PLG on enterprise wins. They also analyze the challenges of transitioning from simplicity to complexity, selling to different market segments, and scaling product-led growth businesses.
55 snips
Sep 21, 2023 • 1h 28min
Ravi Mehta (Outpace) Analyzes the Switching Costs from Jira to Linear, Plus Unity's Pricing Faux Pas
Ravi Mehta, previously the CPO at Tinder and product director at Facebook, discusses the migration from Jira to Linear, Airtable's move to target the up-market, and Unity's pricing change. They explore switching costs, the power user trap, and the challenges of model overhaul and pricing changes in enterprise software.
51 snips
Sep 19, 2023 • 1h 19min
Casey Winters' (Growth Advisor) Take on HubSpot's Product Announcements, the Creator Economy & the Future of Marketplaces
In this episode, we revisit predictions for Twitter and Threads, uncover a hidden gem in HubSpot's product release, discuss the viability of the creator economy, and understand Casey's perspective on the future of marketplaces.
44 snips
Sep 14, 2023 • 1h 33min
Adam Fishman (Product Advisor) talks Figma for Devs, Zoom’s COVID product strategy, and Twitter's Creator Payouts
Adam Fishman, Growth Daddy from Lyft, Patreon, and Imperfect Foods, discusses Figma for Dev, Zoom's COVID strategy, and Twitter's Creator Payouts. Figma's brilliant move of pricing per editor to capture revenue from engineers. Zoom's new products and declining stock price. Speculations on Zoom's next product and Twitter's potential strategies.
59 snips
Sep 10, 2023 • 1h 15min
Unsolicited Feedback on Twitter/X's Outpouring of Product Changes and the Impact of YouTube Shorts on Its Core Business.
Co-hosts Brian Balfour and Fareed Mosavat discuss Twitter's creator monetization and enterprise verification offerings, as well as YouTube's concern about the impact of YouTube Shorts on their core longer-form content. Critics mention that Twitter's strategy is unpredictable, while LinkedIn aligns better with creator incentives. The discussion also explores the challenges of managing supply and demand, and the potential threat YouTube Shorts poses to long-form content and monetization.
