Insightful interviews with startup founders and product makers (product managers, designers, developers, marketing experts), sharing how they approach product growth and management at their organisations. Tactical tips and strategic advice from some of the best digital product minds in the startup world. For people interested in product management, user experience, and product-led growth. Hosted by Desi Velikova from Pony Studio.
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© 2023 The Product Show
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- Amount of episodes
- 22
- Subscribers
- 130
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- episodic
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- Last upload date
- April 27, 2022
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- January 26, 2023 2:45 PM
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- Pony Studio
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- © 2023 The Product Show
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- Scaling High-Performing Engineering Teams - Alex Rashkov, Engineering Manager at MetaNo matter if you’re in web2 or web3 , as you scale your products to cater to thousands of users, you’re faced with one of the most common challenges for technology startups - how to scale your engineering team fast. Scaling is not just about rapidly hiring people, it’s about building resilient systems and effective team structures that will help the talent you hire thrive and deliver outstanding results. Put a brilliant person in the wrong environment and you can expect nothing but frustration and disappointment. We discussed the topic with Alex Rashkov, Engineering Manager at Meta. Alex has also held senior engineering roles at HSBC, Moo,com and a few smaller startups. He spent years setting up and leading dev teams and he shared with us his vision on how to build a high performing engineering team. We also talked about effective team collaboration and building cross-functional teams, how to motivate your team to improve their performance, how to measure the results of their work and the key qualities that excellent engineers have in common.2 comments2
- The future of the Metaverse - Dr Mark van Rijmenam, International Speaker, Author and StrategistIs “complete decentralisation” possible any time soon? Can human nature handle it? When are we going to have a really immersive, organic Metaverse experience (as opposed to just having fun with our lookalike avatars in a clumsy virtual environment)? What shall we do to avoid the mistakes we did with web2 and avoid tech giants swallowing us up again? We discussed the future of the Metaverse with Dr Mark van Rijmenam, international speaker, strategist and book author on the future of tech, blockchain and the metaverse. He’s recently finished his latest book “Step into the Metaverse” and as part of his writing journey he has discussed these topics with over 250 metaverse experts and tech visionaries, so he has a pretty good guess where space is heading. Enjoy our latest episode. Follow Mark on Twitter and LinkedIn Check out his website, TheDigitalSpeaker.com You can also preorder his book, Step into the Metaverse.0 comments0
- How Brands Should Enter the Metaverse & NFT Space – Diego Borgo, Metaverse & NFT Strategist and AdvisorIf you’ve been thinking how to bring your company into web3, this episode is for you! We’re back with a set of super interesting episodes dedicated to web3. Diego Borgo is a Metaverse native, Web3 ambassador, NFT collector and advisor to global brands. Diego's mission is to help mainstream adoption of blockchain and NFT technology. He does that by: 1. Advising major global brands on how to enter the space in the right way. 2. Consulting Metaverse & NFT projects, and acting as a member of advisory boards. 3. Offering education through conference keynotes, workshops and on-demand content. As a brand & marketing strategist, Diego's last work was helping adidas bring "Into the Metaverse" to life. In this episode we discussed: Why every brand should be thinking about their presence in the Metaverse and how to approach the process; What’s in the NFTs’ DNA that makes them so powerful from a community building perspective; How to launch a successful NFT campaign (or what you should do instead!); Most important distributions channels; Many marketers think NFTs are a “pointless fad” - why this mindset is dangerous; The market is about to crash (and why this is good news! You can connect with Diego on LinkedIn and Twitter. You can also meet him in June at the Met Ams event in Amsterdam.0 comments0
- Making Insurance Sexy - Martin Schwitzner, VP Product at MarshmallowThe car insurance provider Marshmallow went from an idea to one of the latest UK unicorns in just 4 years! Founded by twin-brothers Oliver and Alexander, and their friend David, the company is turning the centuries-old insurance industryon its head. We spoke to their VP of Product Martin Shwitzner to find out how they’re achieving this phenomenal growth. We discussed: How did they do it? How is Marshmallow different from a traditional car insurance provider? The mechanic and approach to generating over 8,000 (mostly) positive online reviews (4.6 rating on Trustpilot). How can you deepen the relationship with your customer when in reality they don’t want to hear from you; How the role of the VP Product changes when the company moves from series A to series B; The product tweak that turned into a massive win (it involves the mobile app!); What roles the company is hiring for and how they’re assessing the right candidates. Marshmallow is actively hiring at the moment, so make sure you check their Careers page https://www.marshmallow.com/jobs - plenty of exciting opportunities in Product & Tech, Design, Operations, and more! Full transcript and the video version of the episode here: https://pony.studio/design-for-growth/making-insurance-sexy-interview-with-martin-schwitzner-vp-product-marshmallow0 comments0
- How Your Role Changes Depending On the Size and Maturity Of the Company - Raluca Bujoreanu, Product Lead at ZalandoWe spoke with Raluca Bujoreanu, Principle Product Manager at Zalando and instructor at Product School to discuss how the product needs change depending on the size and maturity of the company. Raluca shared with us: Her favourite methods for evaluating product features and continuously uncovering user problems before they become major product issues; How to make sure we work on the “right” thing; What’s the ideal profile for a Head of Product at an early stage startup; The first actions she’d take to understand the customer needs and the opportunities on the market; The books that helped her grow in her career Video version and transcript: https://pony.studio/design-for-growth/how-to-become-a-successful-product-manager-raluca-bujoreanu0 comments0
- How to Build Your Personal Brand - Amelia Sordell, founder and CEO of KlowtPersonal branding expert Amelia Sordell started her personal branding agency Klowt last year and in just over a year they’re a team of 7, serving dozens of clients and growing. How come they’re growing so fast? Well, first - Amelia is absolutely amazing! She’s confident, authentic, interesting. She does what she preaches - she has built a strong personal brand. But also - personal branding has never been more important. Personal accounts on LinkedIn have 10x the reach of company pages. The growing number of people who built their companies on the back of their personal brands is the real proof of why personal branding is the future of branding, or some even say the future of marketing. People buy from people they trust, and having a strong personal brand allows you to have a connection with people you’ve never met before. It’s like networking on steroids. We discussed: Amelia’s playbook to building a successful personal brand; When and how to start if you’ve never invested any effort in building your personal brand; Amelia’s story of how she became a personal branding expert and created Klowt; Why personal branding is the future and why you should be building yours alongside your company brand (especially if you’re a founder or a CEO!) Don't forget to subscribe to our channel for more insightful and actionable content on branding, design, and product growth.0 comments0
- Growth “Hacks” from Dropbox, Wise, Revolut, HubSpot, HotJar and moreThere’s one question we’ve been asking almost all our guests so far - have you ever done a small UX tweak or a product improvement that had a disproportionately high impact on the product, considering the effort it required. Something tiny that turned out to be a big win. In fact, finding out the answer to this question was our main motivation to start this podcast. Can we all learn tactical tips from successful founders and product managers at some of the greatest companies and use them as an inspiration for our own product experiments. Or sometimes even apply them straight away. In today’s episode we’re sharing how 11 of our guests answered Desi’s favourite question - small UX tweaks that turned into big product wins. We have: Callum McKeefery, Founder and CEO of Reviews.io Tessa Pettman, Global Head of Product Marketing at Wise Emeric Ernoult, co-founder of Agora Pulse Faris Aziz, Lead Product Manager at Bloom & Wild Megan Murphy, VP of Product at HotJar Ari Last, CEO and Founder at Bubble Eric Peters, Senior Growth Product Manager at HubSpot Irina Scarlat, ex Global Head of Growth at Revolut Zoe Desmond, founder and CEO at Frolo Matt Lerner, founder of Startup Core Strengths, ex-PayPal and 500 Startups0 comments0
- Discover Your Startup Core Strengths - Matt Lerner, ex-PayPal and 500 StartupsIf you’re a startup founder, you’ll find our conversation with Matt Lerner super valuable! Matt is the founder and CEO of Startup Core Strengths, a growth accelerator and training for early-stage startups. With 11 years at PayPal and almost 4 years at 500 Startups in his resume, he’s the perfect person to learn from when it comes to startup marketing. He believes that 10% of what you do drives 90% of your growth and he shared with us his advice on how to discover the 10% you should focus on. In this episode of The Product Show, we discussed: What are the 5 core strengths that form the foundation of every successful startup; How does messaging affect your; When is the right time to invest in branding and how much should you invest in it; Is paid marketing right for you and how to discover your best distribution channels; What if you only have one successful acquisition channel; How do you know it’s time to give up - are there any clear signals suggesting you’re not going to “make it”; What’s the biggest mistake founders make when it comes to metrics? Which part of the business an early-stage founder should never outsource or delegate? The industries that will keep growing in the next decade0 comments0
- Building a community app - Zoe Desmond, founder & CEO of FroloZoë Desmond is the perfect example of how the founder’s personal story and pain empowered them to create a product that solves a problem for millions of people. Zoë's app Frolo helps single parents access guidance and support, connect with each other and organise events and playdates. With 3 million single parents in the UK and almost no competition in the space, Zoë knew she was onto something when she became a single parent shortly after her son’s 1st birthdays. As a non-technical solo founder and a young single mum, she’s breaking all stereotypes what it takes to build a community of over 24,000 users. In this episode, we discussed: how the idea for Frolo was born and what were the early signs of customer validation; the importance of building the community before launching a community-based product; how Zoë is planning to monetise the product (would people pay for using a social network?) the key milestones in their user lifecycle the mistakes she made and what she learned from them0 comments0
- Product Management Is a Balancing Act - Marc Abraham, Head of Product Engagement at ASOSAs Head of Product - Engagement at ASOS and with two books and dozens of talks and events in his resume, Marc Abraham has mastered the art of managing growing products with way too many moving parts - from processes and frameworks to people and tools. As he puts it, no two days are the same, and “the job of a product manager is never done unless the decision is made to terminate the product”. His books on product management, “Managing Products = Managing Tension” and “My Product Management Toolkit”, are well worth a read! In this episode, we discussed: how to know when to use your instincts and when to rely on customer validation; effective user research methods for new products (with no users!); how to make sure you’re getting the most out of the customer feedback loop; the rights structure of a product management team; the key ingredients of a successful user interview; what qualities Marc is looking for when hiring product managers for his team the mindset you need to lead a product to success0 comments0
- Bridging the Gap Between the Online and Offline CX - Faris Aziz, Lead Product Manager at Bloom & WildWe get so obsessed with building the perfect digital experience that we sometimes forget that for many products, even if they rely on digital, the magic for the customer happens offline. We’ve been keen to speak to a company that successfully bridges the gap between the offline and online CX and we finally found the perfect product person. Faris Aziz is the Lead Product Manager at Bloom and Wild. Even if you haven’t ordered flowers from them, you probably remember that they pioneered the letterbox flower delivery back in 2013. 8 years later and a few months after their £75M Series D funding round, Faris shared with us: How they bridge the gap between online and offline; How they create demand and retain customers; Insightful findings from recent growth experiments they’ve done internally; His advice on how to grow in product management while growing the product0 comments0
- Achieving Hypergrowth - Irina Scarlat, Former Global Head of Growth at RevolutHow do you define “hypergrowth”? If you google examples of hypergrowth companies, Uber and Revolut would be some of the first examples you’ll see. For this reason and because I think she’s a fascinating product leader, I spoke with Irina Scarlat, who was Global Head of Growth at Revolut until March 2021 and she also let Uber's growth in Romania until 2018. She shared with us her recipe for achieving hypergrowth. In this episode of The Product Show: - What it was to grow Revolut from 20k to 1.5M users in Romania - the strategies that worked in the early days; - How to use product-led growth, community-driven growth, and marketing-driven growth to achieve hypergrowth - The butterfly effect - why small product tweaks and attention to every single detail can take your product far - Why the real proof of product-led growth are non incentivised referrals - How to make sure you’re not rushing marketing-led growth - Why Irina believes that product-led growth can’t take you to be a unicorn - What does it take to land a job at Revolut and Uber?0 comments0
- Trust & Safety as a Key Element of Your Product Strategy - Neil Shah, Head of Product, Identity at LyftTrust and Safety is sometimes everything when it comes to retaining users, yet we don’t discuss this topic enough in the product community. It’s one of those aspects of building a product that we don’t think about in the early days until it becomes a problem. We discussed the topic with Neil Shah, who leads the Trust & Safety efforts at Lyft to find out how they keep their riders and drivers safe. He also had a similar role at Twitter, where he ran a number of projects to fight misinformation, so if you want to learn more about Trust and Safety and where they sit in the project management puzzle, he’s the one to learn from! In this episode of The Product Show, we discussed: - Where do you start from and how do you build a product that users trust? - A couple of interesting projects Neil ran at Lyft and Twitter - How do you measure trust? (this is the hardest part, but Neil’s got an amazing playbook to share!) - The difficult relationship between Growth and Trust & Safety and how to make sure they work in harmony - How to get the buy-in from the rest of the team as a Trust & Safety product manager (given that 99% of the company is focused on growth) Enjoy this episode and if you want to share your feedback, drop me an email at desi@pony.studio0 comments0
- Designing for Growth and Business Impact - Phil Vander Broek, Design Group Lead at DropboxGrowth design is a central part of the way we think about design at Pony and it was an absolute pleasure to discuss the topic with one of the senior design leaders at Dropbox, Phil Vander Broek. He comes with a wealth of experience in growth design and is super excited about the future of this field and how they approach results-driven design at Dropbox. In this episode we discussed: Dropbox’s journey to their organisational model and where Growth sits within their company structure How does Growth exist in companies - is there a one-size-fit-all model How do we create alignment about the overall goals the teams are working on, delivering cohesive user experience and business results Building "awareness - discovery - evaluate - commit” for the user The growth design playbook - an example from the Dropbox kitchen to get you thinking about your approach to growth How to prove the value of design for the overall business Why all designers should do their duty in growth design How to create a win-win situation where great user experience drive strong business results The most important qualities for a designer in 2021 and beyond Is design becoming a commodity? Why designers must always be impact-oriented0 comments0
- Pricing Optimization and Monetization Strategies for Startups - Patrick Campbell, Founder & CEO of ProfitWellPatrick Campbell is the founder and CEO of ProfitWell, a software that helps subscription companies with their monetization and retention strategies. He strongly believes that people should get more comfortable with working on their pricing strategy and should avoid “the path of least resistance”. It’s not easy, but it’s not more difficult than many other aspects of building a successful product and it’s surely one of the most important ones. In this episode we discussed: when is the right time to start thinking about monetization why Brand and Design influence our willingness to pay by up to 25% how to decide what to bundle with your main pricing plan and what to leave as an add-on why you should always lead with Freemium and the data that backs it strategies how to switch to an annual plan why discounts should be offered in “physical” amounts rather than percentages most common mistakes to avoid when it comes to your monetization strategy how often should you review your pricing strategy (it’s more often than you think).0 comments0
- How to Build a Product Team That Delivers - Megan Murphy, VP of Product at Hotjar“Humble Decisiveness” is the Most Important Quality of a Product Manager - Megan Murphy, VP of Product at Hotjar We spoke with Megan Murphy, VP of Product at Hotjar, to find out how they’re growing one of the most successful user research products in the world and how their fully remote team is serving over 700,000 businesses. Megan comes with a wealth of experience in product management, having worked at companies like Skyscanner and N26, so her deep product thinking is nothing short of inspiring. In this episode: How is the product team at Hotjar structured and how they operate How to build a remote corporate culture beyond the posters on the wall (it starts with hiring!) How they use user personas and Jobs to be Done at Hotjar How to balance optimisation and experimentation to make sure you’re delivering towards the business objectives What are the red flags that a product is heading for trouble? Some interesting findings from experiments Megan ran at Hotjar and Skyscanner What are the most important qualities of a good product manager?0 comments0
- When Your Product is Content - Eric Peters, Product Manager at HubSpot AcademyEric Peters, product manager at HubSpot Academy, shares how offering online education and certification can empower product growth. HubSpot Academy is the worldwide leader in free online training for marketing, sales, and customer service professionals. With over 200,000 customers, it has become the hub for their prospect and existing customers and it’s a product on its own. We discussed: - How they approach the needs of all the different users - existing customers, prospects (unseasoned and seasoned professionals) and content creators - How they identify the Academy users that could turn into Hubspot customers - Retention tactics - How to exceed expectations and create delightful moments - Managing intermediary stakeholders and external contributors that impact your users - Why the “hybrid” model is the future of education For the video version and more conversations on product-led growth, product design and product strategy, visit https://pony.studio/design-for-growth/the-product-show0 comments0
- The Challenges of Growing a Marketplace in the Childcare Space - Ari Last, Founder and CEO of BubbleHow do you build the safest and smartest marketplace in the world? - You add friction. But how do you grow and scale it - you get rid of friction. This is one of the biggest challenges you’d face if you’re building a marketplace in the childcare industry. We spoke with Ari Last, founder of Bubble, to find out the ups and downs of building a marketplace in one of the most sensitive industries. And no, Bubble is not “the Uber for babysitting”. In this episode: Ari’s personal journey to building a platform of 130,000 members How do you drive demand without being too salesy (your child is not a pizza, right?) How is the product addressing the leakage issues? What’s the impact of lower pricing on activation? Why the first-time user experience is everything for consumer products that deal with such a sensitive area What’s the biggest challenge for the childcare industry And of course, the elephant in the room, Covid, and how they’re fighting back0 comments0
- How TransferWise Approaches Product Growth - Tessa Pettman, Global Head of Product MarketingWhat's the role of Product Marketing in the product management puzzle? Tessa Pettman leads the Product Marketing team at TransferWise, one of the most impressive fintech startups in the world! They were founded in 2011 and were recently valued at $5 billion, with over 8M active users around the world. In this interview, Tessa shares: - what are the differences between product marketing and traditional marketing - how they approach product growth at TransferWise - what she believes is the future of the fintech market in the UK - what qualities she's looking for when hiring product marketing managers - the findings from some interesting experiments they've been running internally - what she believes sets TransferWise apart and how they have become one of the world leaders in fintech0 comments0
- In SaaS, You Have to Build a Tool That Users Need on a Daily Basis - Emeric Ernoult, Founder & CEO AgorapulseEmeric Ernoult is the co-founder and CEO of Agorapulse, a social media management tool aiming to be in the Top 3 social media SaaS products in the world for SMBs. He's been through 12 years of failure, according to his words until he and his co-founder Ben finally founded Agorapusle in 2012. As he says, he's "a dinosaur of SaaS". Emeric likes to talk straight, he's French after all, he doesn't believe in quick wins and he has learned how to manage a company. In this interview, you'll learn: - Why, in SaaS, you have to be aiming to be the tool that someone needs on a daily basis to do their job; - What's the basis of a strong experimentation culture - What they learned from A/B testing Facebook ads - Where and how he would spend $1,000 on social media advertising - Why having a simple pricing page would convert much better than "trying to reinvent the wheel" with fancy UX tweaks - Why he didn't inject money in the product, after raising a healthy VC funding round in 20190 comments0
- How AI Will "Fix" Fake News - Dhruv Ghulati, Founder & CEO of FactmataFormer financial analyst Dhruv Ghulati and his team are working on an AI startup with a mission to restore trust in news media. In this episode you will learn: - What should be your strategy if you want to raise funding from world-class investors like Mark Cuban, Biz Stone, and Craig Newmark; - When you should listen to your customers and when you have to lead the market and innovate; - Why you and I are the future of journalism and why we need a product like Factmata to make this happen.0 comments0
- How to Bootstrap a Company to 10M - Callum McKeefery, CEO of Reviews.ioCallum McKeefery is the co-founder and CEO of Rreviews.io, a company offering reviews collection and management solutions. He shared with us how he started the company 10 years ago from his kitchen table with his wife and co-founder Nikki and how they grew to 10M in revenue with no investors funding. In this episode you'll learn: - How rain impacts your conversion rate - What’s the hottest method for customer reviews collection in 2020? - How you can bootstrap a company from 0 to 10M0 comments0
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