Product Talk

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. S...

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 startu...

What are the qualities you look for in a great product manager? Today, my guest David Fradin shares his thoughts on what makes a successful, innovative product leader. David is a classically trained Product Manager, now coach, that worked with Steve Jobs at Apple and worked for David Packard at HP—all in all, he's been in the product management industry for over 47 years across 27 different organi...

How can "game thinking" help strengthen long-term engagement with your users? Today, on this episode, my guest Amy Jo Kim discusses how she helps entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life with game thinking to help accelerate early product design.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself to help build your personal brand? On today's podcast, you'll hear Dorie Clark discuss her books, what keeps her committed to helping people get their ideas heard, how she uses the 3-word exercise to start the branding process, and much, much more.

Are you telling the big-picture story that'll influence change? What is the structure of belonging in the digital age? These are just a few questions the CEO and Founder of Get Storied , Michael Margolis, asks on today's episode. Michael has a background in cultural anthropology, and he works with people who are changing history; people who are doing things that have never been done before. On thi...

Founder and CEO of Product School, Carlos González de Villaumbrosia, talks about his insights into what makes a great product manager in this episode. Carlos started his career in software development in Spain—but he knew he always wanted to be in Silicon Valley because he was very excited about technology. Carlos mentions to me that in addition to engineering, he also went to business school. Bot...

Founder of Portigal Consulting, Steve Portigal, talks about user research, books, and how much there is to learn about people on today's episode. Located just outside of San Francisco in Pacifica, CA, you'll find Steve's consultancy. Here, he aims to help companies harness the strategic power of user research. In this episode, Steve provides his expertise and thoughts on how to uncover compelling...

Founder and CEO at WorkFusion, Max Yankelevich, talks about his desire to build products people use. Max provides his thoughts on the AI revolution and its future. He also gives advice to entrepreneurs who want to work in the B2B space, provides a glance into a typical day at WorkFusion, and stresses the importance of being a customer-focused business. His advice: don't postpone the first contact...

On this podcast, I interviewed Adam Lasinky about his bestselling book,"Wild Ride, Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination". He discusses why he chose to take a close-up look at Uber's rise as a global tech business phenomenon. Adam reveals his brief stint as an Uber driver and how the drivers have made the company what it is today. He talks about the brilliance of Uber capitalizing on driver's a...

Head of Product at Amplitude, Justin Bauer, talks about his non-traditional path to becoming a rising star in Silicon Valley's Product Management scene. Justin provides some insightful advice on analyzing data to make an outstanding product. He also talks bout being distinctive in your product management career, a typical day at Amplitude, and the importance of listening to customer needs.

In this episode, Gaurav Hardikar talks about the future of e-commerce. He discusses how to design products that provide an efficient shopping process for consumers, how he drives engagement at Shopkick, and the need to balance stakeholders needs with needs of consumers. He also talks about the qualities needed to be a great Product Manager and what it is like being a minority in Silicon Valley.

In this compelling conversation, Jules Walter discusses his role at Slack to drive user growth. He talks about Slack's unique, transparent culture and how Slack uses its own product within the company. He reveals how Slack makes decisions and increases productivity by communicating internally with their own product. He also discusses his perspective on the future of mobile, the best qualities of a...

In this interview, Katherine Kornas talks about Pandora's commitment to both culture and innovation. She talks about the importance of using simplicity and inspiration to inspire growth. She also delves into how Pandora listens deeply to its consumers to understand their habits through qualitative and quantitative measurement techniques. By doing so, Pandora is committed to personalization of thei...

I've had the chance over the past few months to interview 5 product gurus: Marty Cagan, Teresa Torres, Jeff Gothelf, Rich Mironov and Dan Olsen. This podcast compiles the best moments of those interviews including their views on what makes a great product, what makes a great product manager and more

Patricia Roller talks about balancing the art + science of product management based on her experience as Co-CEO at frog design inc. In this conversation, Patricia delves into the importance of teamwork as a product manager. She also explains how to navigate the balancing act of handling so many moving parts by focusing on the end goal of meeting customer needs.

On this episode, former FBI High Stakes Negotiator Chris Voss shares the nine effective principles to become more persuasive in both your professional and personal life. He discusses how to gain a competitive edge by using counterintuitive strategies and tactics including emotional intelligence. He also emphasizes the need for highly effective communication (which includes highly effective listeni...

Joyce Solano talks about her experience learning how to reinvent of Adobe from a software co. to marketing co. She also talks about empathy, brand positioning, and how defining company goals to create your brand story.  

Jeff Gothelf talks about the shift in mindset needed to scale your business. He makes the case that you must think about yourself in the software business. Secondly, he says we need to shift into thinking about how to manage all the departments and roles within a software business. He discusses why leaders need to rethink the way that tech businesses are managed so they can innovate and drive thei...

In this podcast, Anneka talks about understanding the art and science of customer relationships, risk/reward ratio for businesses, and how to build your network through leveraging the people around you.

Clara Nam talks about her passion for product design. She speaks about her job in Silicon Valley as a Product Designer on the Growth team at Yelp. She shares her experience on iterating the Yelp mobile app and finding design solutions to make a successful product. She also discusses using metrics to predict product growth and what it's like being a women in tech.

Thought leader Sally Thornton discusses how to create ownership of your career while finding work/life balance. She discusses how to create your ideal career through a system and framework that motivates you. She also discusses how to create a human-centered work culture that benefits individuals and the companies they work for.

Serial tech entrepreneur Sachin Rekhi talks about his journey in Silicon Valley to take his products from the idea stage to being sold to a top social media company. He candidly shares his experience on the challenges of working in Silicon Valley in 2016 and gives advice on building great products by learning what type of product manager you are.

Silicon Valley Product Management veteran Rich Mironov discusses his experience in the product manager role and shares some tips to be successful and move up the ladder in your career. He discusses critical aspects of the job such as cross functional communication and the role of incentives.

Marty Cagan discusses the importance of focusing on impact when designing great products. He emphasizes that it is essential that product managers put the customer first to build products that people love. Additionally, he points out how the culture of a business can have a great effect on whether a product can be successful.