The creator of WordPress opens up about becoming an internet villain, why he’s taking a stand, and the future of open source | Matt Mullenweg (founder and CEO, Automattic)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Player FM - Internet Radio Done Right

242 subscribers

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Kandungan disediakan oleh Lenny Rachitsky. Semua kandungan podcast termasuk episod, grafik dan perihalan podcast dimuat naik dan disediakan terus oleh Lenny Rachitsky atau rakan kongsi platform podcast mereka. Jika anda percaya seseorang menggunakan karya berhak cipta anda tanpa kebenaran anda, anda boleh mengikuti proses yang digariskan di sini https://ms.player.fm/legal.

Uncuffed

1
S4, E1 - Day One 7:38

6 weeks ago7:38

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7:38

Last summer, something monumental happened. One of Uncuffed's founding producers, Greg Eskridge, came home after more than 30 years in prison. In this episode we’ll bring you back to that emotional day last summer when he walked out of the San Quentin gates, free at last. Our work in prisons is supported by the California Arts Council, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, independent foundations, and donations from listeners like you. Learn more, sign up for Uncuffed news, and support the program at www.weareuncuffed.org Follow us @WeAreUncuffed on Instagram and Facebook Transcripts are available within a week of the episode coming out at www.kalw.org/podcast/uncuffed…

12 days ago 1:34:26

MP3•Laman utama episod

Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, the open source platform powering a staggering 43% of the internet. He also serves as CEO of Automattic—the parent company of brands like WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Tumblr—which is worth over $7 billion, with over 1,700 employees across 90 countries. In this episode, he discusses some of the most controversial topics surrounding WordPress, Automattic, and the broader open source community.

—

What you’ll learn:

• Matt’s response to public criticism

• Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source”

• How his team is turning around Tumblr after acquiring it for just $3 million (after Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion)

• Why he mortgaged his home to fund San Francisco’s iconic Bay Lights project

• Matt’s philosophy: “Don’t just build a product; build a movement”

• Why open source matters: “If the Founding Fathers were around today, they’d be open source advocates”

—

Brought to you by:

• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.

• Loom—The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-creator-of-wordpress-opens-up-matt-mullenweg

—

Where to find Matt Mullenweg:

• X: https://x.com/photomatt

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomatt/

• Website: https://ma.tt/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Matt Mullenweg

(05:10) Matt’s career journey

(11:15) Bay Lights project and philanthropy

(17:28) How Matt got involved with open source

(23:25) Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source”

(27:14) The future of open source and how to get involved

(35:25) Building a successful online community

(39:12) The WP Engine controversy

(50:24) Facing criticism and controversy

(55:29) Addressing community concerns

(01:08:29) Forking Advanced Custom Fields

(01:11:15) The role of social media and public perception

(01:16:43) Acquiring and reviving Tumblr

(01:24:25) Automattic’s acquisition strategy

(01:28:51) Final thoughts and future plans

—

Referenced:

• WordPress: https://wordpress.com/

• Automattic: https://automattic.com/

• CNET: https://www.cnet.com/

• Akismet: https://akismet.com/wordpress/

• Jetpack: https://jetpack.com/

• Toni Schneider on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonischneider/

• WooCommerce: https://woocommerce.com/

• Beeper: https://www.beeper.com/

• Day One: https://dayoneapp.com/

• Simplenote: https://simplenote.com/

• Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/

• Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/

• Audrey Capital: https://audrey.co/

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/

• SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/

• Calm: https://www.calm.com/

• August: https://august.com/

• Daylight Computer: https://daylightcomputer.com/

• Keys Jazz Bistro: https://keysjazzbistro.com/

• Joomla: https://www.joomla.org/

• Drupal: https://new.drupal.org/

• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/

• Wix: https://www.wix.com/

• Squarespace: https://www.squarespace.com/

• Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/

• Gravatar: https://gravatar.com/

• The Bay Lights: https://illuminate.org/projects/thebaylights/

• The Bay Lights 360: https://illuminate.org/the-bay-lights-360/

• Ben Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-davis-sf/

• Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts: https://www.houstonisd.org/hspva

• Jack Dorsey: We’re Losing our Free Will to Algorithms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_8NganZSFI

• Marc Andreessen: https://a16z.com/author/marc-andreessen/

• Bill Gurley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/

• An inside look at X’s Community Notes | Keith Coleman (VP of Product) and Jay Baxter (ML Lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-x-built-the-best-fact-checking-system-on-the-internet

• Llama: https://www.llama.com/

• WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking: https://ma.tt/2024/09/ecosystem-thinking/

• As Wall Street Chases Profits, Fire Departments Have Paid the Price: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/fire-engines-shortage-private-equity.html

• WordCamp Asia: https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/

• Justin Baldoni Hit with Defamation Suit as PR Teams Turn on Each Other over Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends with Us’ Smear Campaign Allegations: https://deadline.com/2024/12/justin-baldoni-defamation-lawsuit-publicist-blake-lively-1236241784/

• How WordPress Hot Nacho Scandal Shapes WP Engine Dispute: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-wordpress-hot-nacho-scandal-shapes-wp-engine-dispute/539069/

• Gutenberg: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

• ClassicPress: https://www.classicpress.net/

• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff

• Mary Hubbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryfhubbard/

• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach

• Founder mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html

• Cow.com: https://www.cow.com/

• David Karp on X: https://x.com/davidkarp

• Marissa Mayer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissamayer/

• Alibaba: https://www.alibaba.com/

• WP Engine Tracker: https://wordpressenginetracker.com/

• Kumbh Mela: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela

—

Recommended book:

• Maintenance: Of Everything (in progress): https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/addenda/page/introduction

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

248 episod

#Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #Lenny Rachitsky

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

The creator of WordPress opens up about becoming an internet villain, why he’s taking a stand, and the future of open source | Matt Mullenweg (founder and CEO, Automattic)

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

242 subscribers

published 12 days ago

Kongsi

MP3•Laman utama episod

—

What you’ll learn:

• Matt’s response to public criticism

• Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source”

• How his team is turning around Tumblr after acquiring it for just $3 million (after Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion)

• Why he mortgaged his home to fund San Francisco’s iconic Bay Lights project

• Matt’s philosophy: “Don’t just build a product; build a movement”

• Why open source matters: “If the Founding Fathers were around today, they’d be open source advocates”

—

Brought to you by:

• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.

• Loom—The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-creator-of-wordpress-opens-up-matt-mullenweg

—

Where to find Matt Mullenweg:

• X: https://x.com/photomatt

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomatt/

• Website: https://ma.tt/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Matt Mullenweg

(05:10) Matt’s career journey

(11:15) Bay Lights project and philanthropy

(17:28) How Matt got involved with open source

(23:25) Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source”

(27:14) The future of open source and how to get involved

(35:25) Building a successful online community

(39:12) The WP Engine controversy

(50:24) Facing criticism and controversy

(55:29) Addressing community concerns

(01:08:29) Forking Advanced Custom Fields

(01:11:15) The role of social media and public perception

(01:16:43) Acquiring and reviving Tumblr

(01:24:25) Automattic’s acquisition strategy

(01:28:51) Final thoughts and future plans

—

Referenced:

• WordPress: https://wordpress.com/

• Automattic: https://automattic.com/

• CNET: https://www.cnet.com/

• Akismet: https://akismet.com/wordpress/

• Jetpack: https://jetpack.com/

• Toni Schneider on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonischneider/

• WooCommerce: https://woocommerce.com/

• Beeper: https://www.beeper.com/

• Day One: https://dayoneapp.com/

• Simplenote: https://simplenote.com/

• Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/

• Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/

• Audrey Capital: https://audrey.co/

• Stripe: https://stripe.com/

• SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/

• Calm: https://www.calm.com/

• August: https://august.com/

• Daylight Computer: https://daylightcomputer.com/

• Keys Jazz Bistro: https://keysjazzbistro.com/

• Joomla: https://www.joomla.org/

• Drupal: https://new.drupal.org/

• Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/

• Wix: https://www.wix.com/

• Squarespace: https://www.squarespace.com/

• Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/

• Gravatar: https://gravatar.com/

• The Bay Lights: https://illuminate.org/projects/thebaylights/

• The Bay Lights 360: https://illuminate.org/the-bay-lights-360/

• Ben Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-davis-sf/

• Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts: https://www.houstonisd.org/hspva

• Jack Dorsey: We’re Losing our Free Will to Algorithms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_8NganZSFI

• Marc Andreessen: https://a16z.com/author/marc-andreessen/

• Bill Gurley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/

• An inside look at X’s Community Notes | Keith Coleman (VP of Product) and Jay Baxter (ML Lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-x-built-the-best-fact-checking-system-on-the-internet

• Llama: https://www.llama.com/

• WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking: https://ma.tt/2024/09/ecosystem-thinking/

• As Wall Street Chases Profits, Fire Departments Have Paid the Price: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/fire-engines-shortage-private-equity.html

• WordCamp Asia: https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/

• How WordPress Hot Nacho Scandal Shapes WP Engine Dispute: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-wordpress-hot-nacho-scandal-shapes-wp-engine-dispute/539069/

• Gutenberg: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/

• ClassicPress: https://www.classicpress.net/

• Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff

• Mary Hubbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryfhubbard/

• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach

• Founder mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html

• Cow.com: https://www.cow.com/

• David Karp on X: https://x.com/davidkarp

• Marissa Mayer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissamayer/

• Alibaba: https://www.alibaba.com/

• WP Engine Tracker: https://wordpressenginetracker.com/

• Kumbh Mela: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela

—

Recommended book:

• Maintenance: Of Everything (in progress): https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/addenda/page/introduction

—

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

—

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe

248 episod

#Tech #Entrepreneur #Business #Lenny Rachitsky

Semua episod

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months—one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder & CEO of StackBlitz) 1:28:51

1 day ago1:28:51

1:28:51

Eric Simons is the founder and CEO of StackBlitz, the company behind Bolt—the #1 web-based AI coding agent and one of the fastest-growing products in history. After nearly shutting down, StackBlitz launched Bolt on Twitter and exploded from zero to $40 million ARR and 1 million monthly active users in about five months. What you’ll learn: 1. How Bolt reached nearly $40M ARR and 3 million registered users in just five months with a team of only 15 to 20 people 2. How Bolt leverages WebContainer technology—a browser-based operating system developed over seven years—to create a dramatically faster, more reliable AI coding experience than competitors 3. Why Anthropic’s 3.5 Sonnet model was the critical breakthrough that made AI-generated code production-ready and unlocked the entire text-to-app market 4. Why PMs may be better positioned than engineers in the AI era 5. How AI will dramatically reshape company org charts 6. Eric’s wild founder story (including squatting at AOL’s HQ) and how scrappiness fueled his innovation — Brought to you by: • Eppo —Run reliable, impactful experiments • Fundrise Flagship Fund —Invest in $1.1 billion of real estate • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons — Where to find Eric Simons: • X: https://x.com/ericsimons40 • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-simons-a464a664/ • Email: Eric@stackblitz.com — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Eric Simons and StackBlitz (04:46) Unprecedented growth and user adoption (10:40) Demo: Building a Spotify clone with Bolt (15:28) Expanding to native mobile apps with Expo (19:09) The journey and technology behind WebContainer (25:03) Lessons learned and future outlook (29:15) Post-launch analysis (34:15) Growing fast with a small team (41:00) Prioritization at Bolt (45:51) Tooling and PRD's (48:42) Integration and use cases of Bolt (52:24) Limitations of Bolt (54:24) The role of PMs and developers in the AI era (59:56) Skills for the future (01:14:18) Upcoming features of Bolt (01:20:17) How to get the most out of Bolt (01:23:00) Eric’s journey and final thoughts — Referenced: • Bolt: https://bolt.new/ • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ • Wix: https://www.wix.com/ • Squarespace: https://www.squarespace.com/ • Dylan Field on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dylanfield/ • Evan Wallace’s website: https://madebyevan.com/ • WebGL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebGL • WebAssembly: https://webassembly.org/ • CloudNine: https://cloudnine.com/ • Canva: https://www.canva.com/ • StackBlitz: https://stackblitz.com/ • Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups • Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/ • Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ • Dario Amodei on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dario-amodei-3934934/ • Linear: https://linear.app/ • Notion: https://www.notion.com/ • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ • Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/ • Photoshop: https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Greenfield projects: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfield_project • Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/ • OpenAI researcher on why soft skills are the future of work | Karina Nguyen (Research at OpenAI, ex-Anthropic): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-soft-skills-are-the-future-of-work-karina-nguyen • Albert Pai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/albertpai/ • Bolt’s post on X about “Bolt Builders”: https://x.com/boltdotnew/status/1887546089294995943 • Sonnet: https://www.anthropic.com/claude/sonnet • ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ • Breaking the Rules: The Young Entrepreneur Who Squatted at AOL: https://www.inc.com/john-mcdermott/eric-simons-interview-young-entrepreneur-squatted-at-aol.html • Imagine K12: http://www.imaginek12.com/ • Geoff Ralston on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffralston/ • AOL: https://www.aol.com/ • Bolt on X: https://x.com/boltdotnew — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder) 1:09:48

5 days ago1:09:48

1:09:48

Anton Osika is the co-founder and CEO of Lovable, which is building what they call “the last piece of software”—an AI-powered tool that turns descriptions into working products without requiring any coding knowledge. Since launching three months ago, Lovable hit $4 million ARR in the first four weeks and $10 million ARR in two months with a team of just 15 people, making it Europe’s fastest-growing startup ever . — What you’ll learn: 1. Why you need to be in the top 1% of AI tool users 2. Watch Lovable build a functional Airbnb clone in 30 seconds—complete with working features and modern design 3. The unconventional hiring approach that helped build a 15-person team capable of extraordinary execution 4. How traditional product development will look with AI 5. What skills will matter most to product teams going forward 6. How Anton’s team discovered a breakthrough in AI “unsticking itself” — Brought to you by: • Sinch —Build messaging, email, and calling into your product • Persona —A global leader in digital identity verification • Fundrise Flagship Fund —Invest in $1.1 billion of real estate — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika — Where to find Anton Osika: • X: https://x.com/antonosika • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonosika/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Anton and Lovable (05:12) Lovable’s rapid growth (09:39) Live demo: Building an Airbnb clone (18:34) Tips for mastering Lovable (21:42) The origin story (26:50) Scaling laws and getting AI unstuck (33:20) Reliability and unique features (36:25) The vision and future of Lovable (38:14) Skills and job market evolution in the age of AI (40:30) Hiring philosophy and team dynamics (46:21) Building in Europe (48:02) Prioritization and product roadmap (51:38) Tools and work environment (53:17) Tactics for moving fast (54:37) Advice for building product teams (57:11) Empowering non-technical founders (58:31) Future developments and user support (01:01:23) Failure corner (01:05:20) Final thoughts and advice — Referenced: • Lovable: https://lovable.dev/ • Lovable Launched: https://launched.lovable.app/ • Cloudflare: https://www.cloudflare.com/ • Supabase: https://supabase.com/ • GPT engineer: https://github.com/gpt-engineer-org/gptengineer.app • Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com/chats/cmFw8dTsGU8D6b9siqQ6U • Fabian Hedin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabian-hedin-2377b0144/ • Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad • Replit: https://replit.com/ • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com • Bolt: https://bolt.new/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • Lane Shackleton on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laneshackleton/ • FigJam: https://www.figma.com/figjam/ • Linear: https://linear.app/ • Sana Labs: https://sanalabs.com/ • Duolingo: https://www.duolingo.com/ • Claude: https://claude.ai/ • ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ • Lovable on X: https://x.com/Lovable_dev — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Notion’s lost years, its near collapse during Covid, staying small to move fast, the joy and suffering of building horizontal, more | Ivan Zhao (CEO and co-founder) 1:12:18

8 days ago1:12:18

1:12:18

Ivan Zhao is the co-founder and CEO of Notion. Ivan shares the untold story of Notion, from nearly running out of database space during Covid to finding product-market fit after several “lost years,” and the hard-won lessons along the way. — What you’ll learn: 1. Why you sometimes need to “hide your vision” behind something people actually want—what Ivan calls “sugar-coating the broccoli” 2. How Ivan and his co-founder persevered through multiple product resets and complete code rewrites 3. Why Notion prioritized systems over headcount, keeping the team small and focused even at scale 4. Why Ivan believes in craft and values as the foundation for product development, balancing technical excellence with aesthetic sensibility 5. The surprising story of how Notion nearly collapsed during Covid when their single database almost ran out of space with only weeks to spare 6. Community-led growth tactics 7. Ivan’s unique journey from a small town in China 8. Much more — Brought to you by: • Eppo —Run reliable, impactful experiments • Airtable ProductCentral —Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development • Sinch —Build messaging, email, and calling into your product — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-notion-ivan-zhao — Where to find Ivan Zhao: • X: https://x.com/ivanhzhao • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivanhzhao/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Ivan Zhao (04:41) Ivan’s early life and education (07:46) Discovering the vision for Notion (10:49) The lost years of Notion (13:56) Rebuilding and perseverance (17:14) Layoffs and company morale (18:53) Advice for startup founders (25:08) Product-market fit (29:56) Staying lean and efficient (34:27) Creating a unique office culture (37:20) Craft and values: the foundation of Notion’s philosophy (38:44) Navigating tradeoffs in product and business building (41:24) Leadership and personal growth (49:11) Challenges and crises: lessons from Notion’s journey (51:08) Building horizontal software: joys and pains (01:02:40) Philosophy of tools and human potential (01:06:17) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Ürümqi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Cr%C3%BCmqi • Notion: https://www.notion.com/ • SpongeBob SquarePants : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpongeBob_SquarePants • Augmenting Human Intellect: https://web.stanford.edu/class/history34q/readings/Engelbart/Engelbart_AugmentIntellect.html • Alan Kay: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Kay • Ted Nelson: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ted_Nelson • Steve Jobs on Why Computers Are Like a Bicycle for the Mind (1990): https://www.themarginalian.org/2011/12/21/steve-jobs-bicycle-for-the-mind-1990/ • Xerox Alto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerox_Alto • React: https://react.dev/ • Simon Last on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-last-41404140/ • Magna-Tiles: https://www.magnatiles.com/ • Design on a deadline: How Notion pulled itself back from the brink of failure: https://www.figma.com/blog/design-on-a-deadline-how-notion-pulled-itself-back-from-the-brink-of-failure/ • Bryan Johnson on X: https://x.com/bryan_johnson • Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook • Smalltalk: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smalltalk# : • Lisp: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisp_(programming_language) • DeepSeek: https://www.deepseek.com/ • Shana Fisher: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/shana-fisher • LAMY 2000 fountain pens: https://www.jetpens.com/LAMY-2000-Fountain-Pens/ • Macintosh 128K: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K • Toshiba rice cooker: https://www.toshiba-lifestyle.com/us/cooking-appliances/rice-cooker • Transistor radio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transistor_radio • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Salesforce: https://www.salesforce.com/ • HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/ • Zendesk: https://www.zendesk.com/ • Misattributed McLuhan quote: https://mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/2013/04/01/we-shape-our-tools-and-thereafter-our-tools-shape-us/ • Phin Barnes on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/phineasbarnes/ • Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/ • Pablo Picasso quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/629531-good-artists-copy-great-artists-steal#:~ • Connections with James Burke on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.484e32c5-60bd-4493-a800-e44fd0940312 • The Enneagram Institute: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/ — Recommended book: • The Romance of the Three Kingdoms : https://www.amazon.com/Romance-Three-Kingdoms-Luo-Guanzhong/dp/024133277X — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
The creator of WordPress opens up about becoming an internet villain, why he’s taking a stand, and the future of open source | Matt Mullenweg (founder and CEO, Automattic) 1:34:26

12 days ago1:34:26

1:34:26

Matt Mullenweg is the co-founder of WordPress, the open source platform powering a staggering 43% of the internet. He also serves as CEO of Automattic—the parent company of brands like WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Tumblr—which is worth over $7 billion, with over 1,700 employees across 90 countries. In this episode, he discusses some of the most controversial topics surrounding WordPress, Automattic, and the broader open source community. — What you’ll learn: • Matt’s response to public criticism • Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source” • How his team is turning around Tumblr after acquiring it for just $3 million (after Yahoo bought it for $1.1 billion) • Why he mortgaged his home to fund San Francisco’s iconic Bay Lights project • Matt’s philosophy: “Don’t just build a product; build a movement” • Why open source matters: “If the Founding Fathers were around today, they’d be open source advocates” — Brought to you by: • WorkOS —Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Vanta —Automate compliance. Simplify security. • Loom —The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-creator-of-wordpress-opens-up-matt-mullenweg — Where to find Matt Mullenweg: • X: https://x.com/photomatt • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattm/ • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/photomatt/ • Website: https://ma.tt/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Matt Mullenweg (05:10) Matt’s career journey (11:15) Bay Lights project and philanthropy (17:28) How Matt got involved with open source (23:25) Why products like Meta’s Llama are “fake open source” (27:14) The future of open source and how to get involved (35:25) Building a successful online community (39:12) The WP Engine controversy (50:24) Facing criticism and controversy (55:29) Addressing community concerns (01:08:29) Forking Advanced Custom Fields (01:11:15) The role of social media and public perception (01:16:43) Acquiring and reviving Tumblr (01:24:25) Automattic’s acquisition strategy (01:28:51) Final thoughts and future plans — Referenced: • WordPress: https://wordpress.com/ • Automattic: https://automattic.com/ • CNET: https://www.cnet.com/ • Akismet: https://akismet.com/wordpress/ • Jetpack: https://jetpack.com/ • Toni Schneider on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonischneider/ • WooCommerce: https://woocommerce.com/ • Beeper: https://www.beeper.com/ • Day One: https://dayoneapp.com/ • Simplenote: https://simplenote.com/ • Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/ • Creative Commons: https://creativecommons.org/ • Audrey Capital: https://audrey.co/ • Stripe: https://stripe.com/ • SpaceX: https://www.spacex.com/ • Calm: https://www.calm.com/ • August: https://august.com/ • Daylight Computer: https://daylightcomputer.com/ • Keys Jazz Bistro: https://keysjazzbistro.com/ • Joomla: https://www.joomla.org/ • Drupal: https://new.drupal.org/ • Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ • Wix: https://www.wix.com/ • Squarespace: https://www.squarespace.com/ • Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/ • Gravatar: https://gravatar.com/ • The Bay Lights: https://illuminate.org/projects/thebaylights/ • The Bay Lights 360: https://illuminate.org/the-bay-lights-360/ • Ben Davis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-davis-sf/ • Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts: https://www.houstonisd.org/hspva • Jack Dorsey: We’re Losing our Free Will to Algorithms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_8NganZSFI • Marc Andreessen: https://a16z.com/author/marc-andreessen/ • Bill Gurley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/billgurley/ • An inside look at X’s Community Notes | Keith Coleman (VP of Product) and Jay Baxter (ML Lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-x-built-the-best-fact-checking-system-on-the-internet • Llama: https://www.llama.com/ • WordCamp US & Ecosystem Thinking: https://ma.tt/2024/09/ecosystem-thinking/ • As Wall Street Chases Profits, Fire Departments Have Paid the Price: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/17/us/fire-engines-shortage-private-equity.html • WordCamp Asia: https://asia.wordcamp.org/2025/ • Justin Baldoni Hit with Defamation Suit as PR Teams Turn on Each Other over Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends with Us’ Smear Campaign Allegations: https://deadline.com/2024/12/justin-baldoni-defamation-lawsuit-publicist-blake-lively-1236241784/ • How WordPress Hot Nacho Scandal Shapes WP Engine Dispute: https://www.searchenginejournal.com/how-wordpress-hot-nacho-scandal-shapes-wp-engine-dispute/539069/ • Gutenberg: https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ • ClassicPress: https://www.classicpress.net/ • Behind the founder: Marc Benioff: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-marc-benioff • Mary Hubbard on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maryfhubbard/ • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Founder mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html • Cow.com: https://www.cow.com/ • David Karp on X: https://x.com/davidkarp • Marissa Mayer on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marissamayer/ • Alibaba: https://www.alibaba.com/ • WP Engine Tracker: https://wordpressenginetracker.com/ • Kumbh Mela: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kumbh_Mela — Recommended book: • Maintenance: Of Everything (in progress): https://books.worksinprogress.co/book/maintenance-of-everything/addenda/page/introduction — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
An inside look at X’s Community Notes | Keith Coleman (VP of Product) and Jay Baxter (ML Lead) 1:47:57

15 days ago1:47:57

1:47:57

Keith Coleman (VP of product) and Jay Baxter (founding ML engineer), the minds behind Community Notes, reveal how a small, scrappy team inside Twitter/X built the most trusted crowdsourced information system on the internet—one that’s changing the way we understand truth online. What you’ll learn: 1. How Community Notes actually works —a deep dive into the groundbreaking algorithm that rewards “bridging agreement” instead of majority rule 2. The seemingly crazy yet brilliant way this idea survived multiple CEO changes —from Jack to Parag to Elon 3. How this project started with a dumpster fire GIF (literally) —the untold backstory of its early launch 4. The secret to running ultra-fast, high-impact product teams —no OKRs, no Jira; just one Google Doc 5. What Meta’s adoption of Community Notes means for the future of online (mis)information —why this open source system is becoming the industry standard — Brought to you by: • WorkOS —Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Productboard —Make products that matter • Wix Studio —The web creation platform built for agencies — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-x-built-the-best-fact-checking-system-on-the-internet — Where to find Keith Coleman: • X: https://x.com/kcoleman • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keith-coleman-19b12b46/ — Where to find Jay Baxter: • X: https://x.com/_jaybaxter_ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaybaxter/ • Website: http://jaybaxter.net/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Community Notes (06:56) How the “bridging-based” algorithm works (13:33) The impact and scale of Community Notes (17:24) Understanding the note publishing threshold (21:32) Challenges and philosophies (26:26) The effect of notes on re-sharing content (29:41) Origin story (35:46) Embracing small teams for big impact (40:23) The thermal project approach (47:47) Algorithm development and internal competitions (50:34) An inside look at how the team operates (58:56) Working with Elon (01:05:30) Launching Birdwatch (01:10:48) The core principles behind Community Notes (01:26:15) Anonymity and pseudonymity in contributions (01:32:17) Sustaining the project through leadership changes (01:37:57) Future directions for Community Notes (01:42:12) Final thoughts and optimism for the future — Referenced: • Community Notes on X: https://x.com/CommunityNotes • Sign up to be a Community Notes contributor: https://communitynotes.x.com/guide/en/contributing/signing-up • The Making of Community Notes: https://asteriskmag.com/issues/08/the-making-of-community-notes • “Readers added a Community Note to this Tweet”: https://x.com/HelpfulNotes/status/1718103364792205704 • Note-ranking algorithm: https://communitynotes.x.com/guide/en/under-the-hood/ranking-notes#matrix-factorization • Study: Community Notes on X could be key to curbing misinformation: https://giesbusiness.illinois.edu/news/2024/11/18/study--community-notes-on-x-could-be-key-to-curbing-misinformation • Study Finds X’s (Formerly Twitter’s) Community Notes Provide Accurate, Credible Answers to Vaccine Misinformation: https://qi.ucsd.edu/study-finds-xs-formerly-twitters-community-notes-provide-accurate-credible-answers-to-vaccine-misinformation/ • Did the Roll-Out of Community Notes Reduce Engagement with Misinformation on X/Twitter?: https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3686967 • Kayvon Beykpour on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayvz/ • Jack Dorsey on X: https://x.com/jack • “Birdwatch gives me the creeps” tweet: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1589454464611540992 • Blake Scholl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakescholl/ • Creating Truthtelling Incentives with the Bayesian Truth Serum: https://www.eecs.harvard.edu/cs286r/courses/fall12/papers/DW08.pdf • Asana: https://asana.com/ • Spaces: https://blog.x.com/en_us/topics/product/2021/spaces-is-here • Amazon MTurk: https://www.mturk.com/ • Community notes on GitHub: https://github.com/twitter/communitynotes • What do I think about Community Notes?: https://vitalik.eth.limo/general/2023/08/16/communitynotes.html • X’s community-led approach: tackling inaccurate and misleading information: https://blog.x.com/en_us/topics/company/2023/xs-community-led-approach-tackling-inaccurate-and-misleading-information • Linda Yaccarino on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindayaccarino/ • Messi-Ronaldo rivalry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messi%E2%80%93Ronaldo_rivalry • Supernotes paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2411.06116v1 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
How to find work you love | Bob Moesta (Jobs-to-be-Done co-creator, author of "Job Moves”) 1:24:55

19 days ago1:24:55

1:24:55

Bob Moesta , co-creator of the Jobs to Be Done framework, recently published a new book, Job Moves . Drawing from interviews with over 1,000 people about their career transitions, it offers a practical playbook for career development. In our conversation, we discuss: • The four different “quests” that drive career changes • Why job features (salary, title) matter less than experiences • How to identify what gives you energy vs. drains you • The power of taking a “jobcation” • A template for crafting your career story • Tips for hiring and retaining great talent • The importance of prototyping potential careers • Much more — Brought to you by: • Eppo —Run reliable, impactful experiments • Vanta —Automate compliance. Simplify security • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-find-work-you-love-bob-moesta — Where to find Bob Moesta: • X: https://x.com/bmoesta • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobmoesta/ • Website: https://www.jobmoves.com/ • Podcast: https://pca.st/gg6goo1n • The Re-Wired Group: https://therewiredgroup.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Bob's background (05:10) Bob’s new book, Job Moves (09:31) Job features vs. job experiences (11:16) Four reasons people leave jobs (17:20) Energy drivers and energy drains (31:05) Prototyping your next job (34:32) Pushes and pulls (40:01) Understanding that no job is perfect (43:18) Taking a jobcation (51:22) Finding the right next step (55:18) Navigating job applications and interviews (58:28) How to craft your career story (01:04:04) Strengths and weaknesses: leveraging your superpowers (01:06:21) Hiring and writing job descriptions (01:11:20) Self-awareness and founding a startup (01:21:24) Conclusion and final thoughts — Referenced: • The ultimate guide to JTBD | Bob Moesta (co-creator of the framework): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-jtbd-bob-moesta • Ethan S. Bernstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethanbernstein/ • National Geographic : https://www.nationalgeographic.com/ • Radical Candor: From theory to practice with author Kim Scott: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/radical-candor-from-theory-to-practice • Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career • The Story Spine (also known as Pixar’s Story Structure): https://www.storyprompt.com/blog/the-story-spine-also-known-as-pixars-story-structure • Tobi Lütke on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiaslutke • Job Moves resources: https://www.jobmoves.com/resources • Why Employees Quit: https://hbr.org/2024/11/why-employees-quit — Recommended book: • Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career : https://www.amazon.com/Job-Moves-Making-Progress-Career/dp/0063283581 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
A founder’s guide to crisis management | Uri Levine (Waze co-founder, serial entrepreneur) 1:23:45

26 days ago1:23:45

1:23:45

Uri Levine is a co-founder of Waze (which was acquired by Google for $1.3 billion in 2013), along with nine other companies (including another company he sold for over $1 billion). He’s also been on 20 boards and has been an advisor to over 50 startups. He recently released a new chapter of his best-selling book Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution , which provides a guide to surviving crises at your company. In this episode, we cover: • The two types of startup crisis and how to handle them • Why speed of action is the most important thing • How to keep your team motivated when things look dire • A framework for deciding whether or not to pivot • What to do when product-market fit disappears • How to approach raising money during a crisis • More — Brought to you by: • WorkOS —Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs • Rippling —Automate HR, IT, and finance so you can scale faster • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-founders-guide-to-crisis-management-uri-levine — Where to find Uri Levine: • X: https://twitter.com/urilevine1 • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uri-levine • Website: https://urilevine.com • Book: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Love-Problem-Solution-Entrepreneurs/dp/1637746601/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Welcome back, Uri! (05:10) The new chapter: navigating crises (08:15) Types of crises founders face (29:10) Navigating cash crises (38:31) The importance of never giving up (46:26) How to keep people engaged through a crises (47:59) Transparency in crisis management (56:58) Navigating product-market-fit challenges (59:27) Deciding when to pivot or shut down (01:13:34) Real-life startup survival stories (01:17:06) Avoiding and preparing for crises (01:21:21) Final thoughts and book promotion — Referenced: • Waze: https://www.waze.com/ • Moovit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moovit • Order Chat: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/order-chat • Fibo: https://finder.startupnationcentral.org/company_page/fibo • Behind the founder: Drew Houston (Dropbox): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-drew-houston-dropbox • TomTom: https://www.tomtom.com/ • Khosla Ventures: https://www.khoslaventures.com/ • WeSki: https://www.weski.com/ • Larry Silverstein: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Silverstein • Oversee: https://oversee.biz/ • Lessons from 1,000+ YC startups: Resilience, tar pit ideas, pivoting, more | Dalton Caldwell (Y Combinator, Managing Director): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-1000-yc-startups • Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook • Harley Finkelstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harleyf/ • Zip: https://zip.co/us • Qualcomm: https://www.qualcomm.com/ • Einstein quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/albert_einstein_148788 — Recommended book: • Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs (updated 2025 version): https://urilevine.com/book/#Pre-order — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
OpenAI researcher on why soft skills are the future of work | Karina Nguyen (Research at OpenAI, ex-Anthropic) 1:14:33

5 weeks ago1:14:33

1:14:33

Karina Nguyen leads research at OpenAI, where she’s been pivotal in developing groundbreaking products like Canvas, Tasks, and the o1 language model. Before OpenAI, Karina was at Anthropic, where she led post-training and evaluation work for Claude 3 models, created a document upload feature with 100,000 context windows, and contributed to numerous other innovations. With experience as an engineer at the New York Times and as a designer at Dropbox and Square, Karina has a rare firsthand perspective on the cutting edge of AI and large language models. In our conversation, we discuss: • How OpenAI builds product • What people misunderstand about AI model training • Differences between how OpenAI and Anthropic operate • The role of synthetic data in model development • How to build trust between users and AI models • Why she moved from engineering to research • Much more — Brought to you by: • Enterpret —Transform customer feedback into product growth • Vanta —Automate compliance. Simplify security • Loom —The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-soft-skills-are-the-future-of-work-karina-nguyen — Where to find Karina Nguyen: • X: https://x.com/karinanguyen_ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karinanguyen28 • Website: https://karinanguyen.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Karina Nguyen (04:42) Challenges in model training (08:21) Synthetic data and its importance (12:38) Creating Canvas (18:33) Day-to-day operations at OpenAI (20:28) Writing evaluations (23:22) Prototyping and product development (26:57) Building Canvas and Tasks (33:34) Understanding the job of a researcher (35:36) The future of AI and its impact on work and education (42:15) Soft skills in the age of AI (47:50) AI’s role in creativity and strategy development (53:34) Comparing Anthropic and OpenAI (57:11) Innovations and future visions (01:07:13) The potential of AI agents (01:11:36) Final thoughts and career advice — Referenced: • What’s in your stack: The state of tech tools in 2025: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/whats-in-your-stack-the-state-of • Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ • OpenAI: https://openai.com/ • What is synthetic data—and how can it help you competitively?: https://mitsloan.mit.edu/ideas-made-to-matter/what-synthetic-data-and-how-can-it-help-you-competitively • GPQA: https://datatunnel.io/glossary/gpqa/ • Canvas: https://openai.com/index/introducing-canvas/ • Barret Zoph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barret-zoph-65990543/ • Mira Murati on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mira-murati-4b39a066/ • JSON Schema: https://json-schema.org/ • Anthropic—100K Context Windows: https://www.anthropic.com/news/100k-context-windows • Claude 3 Haiku: https://www.anthropic.com/news/claude-3-haiku • A.I. Chatbots Defeated Doctors at Diagnosing Illness: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/17/health/chatgpt-ai-doctors-diagnosis.html • Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ • How AI will impact product management: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ai-will-impact-product-management • Lee Byron on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lee-byron/ • GraphQL: https://graphql.org/ • Claude in Slack: https://www.anthropic.com/claude-in-slack • Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama • Jakub Pachocki on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jakub-pachocki/ • Lennybot: https://www.lennybot.com/ • ElevenLabs: https://elevenlabs.io/ • Westworld on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Westworld-Season-1/dp/B01N05UD06 • A conversation with OpenAI’s CPO Kevin Weil, Anthropic’s CPO Mike Krieger, and Sarah Guo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxkvVZua28k • Tuple: https://tuple.app/ • How Shopify builds a high-intensity culture | Farhan Thawar (VP and Head of Eng): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawar — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify) 1:41:42

6 weeks ago1:41:42

1:41:42

Tobi Lütke is the founder and CEO of Shopify, a $130 billion business that powers over 10% of all U.S. e-commerce. Starting as a snowboard shop in 2004, Shopify has become the leading commerce platform by consistently approaching problems differently. Tobi remains deeply technical, frequently coding alongside his team, and is known for his unique approach to leadership, product development, and company building. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why complexity kills entrepreneurship • How to develop and leverage your unique talent stack • How specifically Tobi approaches thinking from first principles • The importance of focusing on unquantifiable qualities like joy and delight • Why Tobi works backward from a 100-year vision • Why metrics should support decisions, not make them • The power of following your curiosity • What Tobi believes it takes to be a great product leader • Much more — Brought to you by: • Sinch —Build messaging, email, and calling into your product • Liveblocks —Ready-made collaborative features to drop into your product • Loom —The easiest screen recorder you’ll ever use — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook — Where to find Tobi Lütke: • X: https://x.com/tobi • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobiaslutke/ • Website: https://tobi.lutke.com/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Welcome and introduction (04:17) The Tobi tornado (07:10) Maximizing human potential (11:05) Education and personal growth (16:47) Operating without KPIs (25:00) First-principles thinking (40:04) Remote work (45:59) Why Tobi never stopped coding (54:46) Embracing disagreement (01:01:27) The 100-year vision (01:09:29) Balancing tactics and positioning (01:17:15) Encouraging entrepreneurship (01:19:34) The power of good UX (01:28:42) The talent stack and unique opportunities (01:34:30) The role of passion in product development (01:36:39) Final thoughts and farewell — Referenced: • How Shopify builds a high-intensity culture | Farhan Thawar (VP and Head of Eng): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-a-high-intensity-culture-farhan-thawar • Breaking the rules of growth: Why Shopify bans KPIs, optimizes for churn, prioritizes intuition, and builds toward a 100-year vision | Archie Abrams (VP Product, Head of Growth at Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/shopifys-growth-archie-abrams • The ultimate guide to performance marketing | Timothy Davis (Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/performance-marketing-timothy-davis • Brandon Chu on building product at Shopify, how writing changed the trajectory of his career, the habits that make you a great PM, pros and cons of being a platform PM, how Shopify got through Covid: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brandon-chu-on-what-its-like-to-build • IRC: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IRC • Goodhart’s law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law • Glen Coates on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/glcoates/ • How Shopify builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-shopify-builds-product • The Last Dance on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/80203144 • Autoregressive Models for Natural Language Processing: https://medium.com/@zaiinn440/autoregressive-models-for-natural-language-processing-b95e5f933e1f • Archimedean property: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedean_property • Tabula rasa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa • Daniel Weinand on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielweinand/ • World of Warcraft: https://worldofwarcraft.blizzard.com • Harley Finkelstein on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/harleyf/ • Monorepo: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monorepo • The Sarbanes Oxley Act: https://sarbanes-oxley-act.com/ • Shopify builds Shopify Balance with Stripe to give small businesses an easier way to manage money: https://stripe.com/customers/shopify • Stanford marshmallow experiment: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_marshmallow_experiment • Brian Armstrong on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barmstrong/ • We are the Web: https://link.wired.com/public/32945405 — Recommended books: • Finite and Infinite Games : https://www.amazon.com/Finite-Infinite-Games-James-Carse/dp/1476731713 • The Infinite Game : https://www.amazon.com/Infinite-Game-Simon-Sinek/dp/073521350X/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Linear’s secret to building beloved B2B products | Nan Yu (Head of Product) 1:21:08

6 weeks ago1:21:08

1:21:08

Nan Yu is the head of product at Linear, one of the most beloved and fastest-growing B2B SaaS products out there today, and the gold standard for high-performing tech teams. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why speed and quality aren’t actually at odds • Linear’s unique approach to product development • Nan’s systematic approach to creativity • Linear’s philosophy on deadlines • The “double triangle” framework for product management • Nan’s approach to landing his dream product roles • Much more — Brought to you by: • Sinch —Build messaging, email, and calling into your product • Paragon —Ship every SaaS integration your customers want • Wix Studio —The web creation platform built for agencies — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linears-secret-to-building-beloved-b2b-products-nan-yu — Where to find Nan Yu: • X: https://x.com/thenanyu • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Nan Yu and Linear (04:54) Survey insights: Linear vs. Jira (07:51) The speed vs. quality myth (09:24) Building and iterating quickly (15:31) Avoiding bloat in enterprise software (23:57) Understanding user needs deeply (30:09) How to approach customer calls (34:10) Creating strong emotional hooks (40:31) Managing the product backlog (44:46) Systemizing creativity (48:16) Demo: Saving drafts in Linear (51:38) Breaking constraints and building at extremes (54:15) Adopting new tools (58:22) The “double triangle” framework for product management (01:04:23) Effective job-hunting strategies for PMs (01:09:15) Thoughts on deadlines (01:14:15) Lightning round — Referenced: • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • Linear: https://linear.app/ • Patrick Collison’s post on X: https://x.com/patrickc/status/1869422495985750459 • Magnus Carlsen on X: https://x.com/magnuscarlsen • Hikaru Nakamura on X: https://x.com/gmhikaru • Geoffrey Moore on finding your beachhead, crossing the chasm, and dominating a market: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/geoffrey-moore-on-finding-your-beachhead • Customer Request feature on Linear: https://linear.app/customer-requests • Everlane: https://www.everlane.com/ • Schlep Blindness: https://paulgraham.com/schlep.html • Linear’s triage tool: https://linear.app/docs/triage • Patrick Collison’s post about mental models on X: https://x.com/patrickc/status/1443215022029619200 • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Unpacking Amazon’s unique ways of working | Bill Carr (author of Working Backwards): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unpacking-amazons-unique-ways-of • Mode: https://mode.com/ • The Diplomat on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81288983 • Sakura Micron pens: https://www.amazon.com/SAKURA-PIGMA-MICRON-ESSENTIAL-COLORS/dp/B07VJFXT3C/ — Recommended books: • Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers : https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 • The Design of Everyday Things : https://www.amazon.com/Design-Everyday-Things-Revised-Expanded/dp/0465050654/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
An operator’s guide to product strategy | Chandra Janakiraman (CPO at VRChat, ex-Meta, Headspace, Zynga) 1:47:22

7 weeks ago1:47:22

1:47:22

Chandra Janakiraman is the chief product officer, executive vice president, and a board member at VRChat. Previously, he was a product leader at Meta, where he led Facebook’s social experience interfaces and Reality Labs’ growth; served as CPO at Headspace, where he helped relaunch the platform, driving a 4x subscriber boost; and was a GM at Zynga, delivering massive hit games that reached hundreds of millions. In our conversation, Chandra shares: • His playbook for developing a product strategy • The difference between “small s” and “big S” strategy • How to run strategy sprints • Who should be involved in strategy work • Common pitfalls in strategy development • The role of AI in future strategy development • More — Brought to you by: • Eppo —Run reliable, impactful experiments • Airtable ProductCentral —Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-operators-guide-to-product-strategy-chandra-janakiraman — Where to find Chandra Janakiraman: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandramohanj/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Chandra’s background (04:47) The importance of strategy (12:40) Defining product strategy (15:42) Developing a winning strategy: an overview (18:51) The preparation phase (30:46) The strategy sprint process (45:51) The design sprint (51:19) Document writing (57:39) Rolling out your strategy (01:01:28) Resourcing and roadmapping (01:04:42) Strategy lessons from Zynga (01:11:34) Strategy lessons from Meta (01:15:55) Big S strategy (01:26:58) AI in strategy formulation (01:38:12) Final thoughts and lightning round — Referenced: • Headspace: https://www.headspace.com/ • Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard • 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin • VRChat: https://hello.vrchat.com/ • Andrew Chen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmandrewchen/ • Template: Working Backwards PR FAQ: https://www.workingbackwards.com/resources/working-backwards-pr-faq • How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen • Making time for what matters | Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (authors of Sprint and Make Time, co-founders of Character Capital): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-time-for-what-matters-jake • Identify your bullseye customer in one day | Michael Margolis (UX Research Partner at Google Ventures): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-your-bullseye-customer-michael-margolis • Chandra’s flow chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SLmQ0oRFadzJnNM3MJetnLUvB18U4W4GXU4KtJ2ujEQ/edit?tab=t.0 • Chandra’s strategy template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNeYUaMnpicvkpVZO-gj9cCxLeHfWN0xtGm_QoxgemE/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.5d3jz6v86yrs • Zynga: https://www.zynga.com/ • David Foster Wallace’s quote about water: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97082-there-are-these-two-young-fish-swimming-along-and-they • Oculus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus • Elon Musk’s quote: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wf8TadbGYok • Concept car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_car • Acquired podcast: The Mark Zuckerberg interview: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-mark-zuckerberg-interview • Armand Ruiz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armand-ruiz/ • What is a multi-armed bandit? Full explanation: https://amplitude.com/explore/experiment/multi-armed-bandit • IF on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/IF-John-Krasinski/dp/B0CW19SCVW • Dune: Part 2 on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/dune-part-two/umc.cmc.363aycnv6vy9qgekvew6fveb9 • Dune Prophecy on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/dune-prophecy-2024/57660b16-a32a-476f-89da-3302ac379e91 • Capybara Go on the App Store: https://apps.apple.com/ph/app/capybara-go/id6596787726 • Bluesky: https://bsky.app/ • Steve Jobs: The Lost Interview on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Steve-Jobs-Lost-Interview/dp/B01IJD1BES — Recommended books: • The Art of War : https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/1599869772 • Competitive Strategy: Techniques for Analyzing Industries and Competitors : https://www.amazon.com/Competitive-Strategy-Techniques-Industries-Competitors/dp/0684841487/ • Good Strategy Bad Strategy: The Difference and Why It Matters : https://www.amazon.com/Good-Strategy-Bad-Difference-Matters/dp/0307886239/ • Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works : https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X • Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day : https://www.amazon.com/Make-Time-Focus-Matters-Every/dp/0525572422 • Sprint : https://www.amazon.com/SPRINT-Jake-Zeratsky-Knapp/dp/0593076117 • Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination : https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disney-Triumph-American-Imagination/dp/0679757473 • Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces That Stand in the Way of True Inspiration : https://www.amazon.com/Creativity-Inc-Expanded-Overcoming-Inspiration/dp/0593594649/ • The Ten Faces of Innovation: Strategies for Heightening Creativity : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0385512074 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
10 growth tactics that never work | Elena Verna (Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, SurveyMonkey) 1:35:10

8 weeks ago1:35:10

1:35:10

Elena Verna is one of Silicon Valley’s most sought-after growth advisors and operators. She previously led growth at companies like Amplitude, Miro, Dropbox, and SurveyMonkey and is currently doing full-time advising for high-growth tech companies. In our conversation, Elena and I discuss: • 10 growth tactics that never work • Her 3 favorite growth frameworks • How to increase your career optionality — Brought to you by: • Sinch —Build messaging, email, and calling into your product • Vanta —Automate compliance. Simplify security • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/10-growth-tactics-that-never-work-elena-verna — Where to find Elena Verna: • Newsletter: https://www.elenaverna.com/ • X: https://x.com/elenaverna • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elenaverna — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Welcome back, Elena! (06:02) Common mistakes growth teams make (08:31) #1: Hiring for growth roles too soon (15:09) #2: Hiring a head of growth to fix your problems (19:20) #3: Doing a rebrand to drive growth (25:11) #4: Obsessing over your competition (34:00) #5: Believing that your problems are unique (42:32) #6: Prioritizing other growth channels above earned channels (50:55) #7: Failing to evolve your growth model (01:01:06) #8: Not hiring advisors (01:05:55) #9: Over-experimenting (01:10:44) #10: Color optimizations, third-party signups, one-email wonders, and removing friction (01:15:00) Elena’s favorite growth frameworks (01:18:50) Contrarian corner: full-time jobs (01:26:05) Lightning round and final thoughts — Referenced: • Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/elena-verna-on-why-every-company • The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-product-led • Six rules of hiring for growth: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/hiring-growth • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Miro: https://www.figma.com/ • Notion: https://www.figma.com/ • Carol Wong on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carol-wong-14133927/ • Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/ • The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs: https://andrewchen.com/the-law-of-shitty-clickthroughs/ • Miroverse: https://miro.com/miroverse/ • GitHub: https://github.com/ • My 9 Favorite Growth Frameworks: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/my-9-favorite-growth-frameworks • Growth Loops are the New Funnels: https://www.reforge.com/blog/growth-loops • Racecar Growth Framework: https://www.reforge.com/blog/racecar-growth-framework • The Adjacent User: https://andrewchen.com/the-adjacent-user-theory/ • Unorthodox frameworks for growing your product, career, and impact | Bangaly Kaba (YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, Instacart): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/frameworks-for-growing-your-career-bangaly-kaba • Why I’m Unquitting Full-Time Roles: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/why-im-unquitting-full-time-roles • Noah Smith’s newsletter: https://www.noahpinion.blog/ • Beef on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81447461 • Veep on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/veep/37cb4217-c710-4166-8e9f-352a61f2cd3a • The Last of Us on Max: https://www.max.com/shows/last-of-us/93ba22b1-833e-47ba-ae94-8ee7b9eefa9a • Heated boots: https://www.amazon.com/heated-boots/s?k=heated+boots • Airpods Max: https://www.apple.com/airpods-max/ • Memes by Elena: https://www.elenaverna.com/p/ten-funniest-growth-memes — Recommended books: • Project Hail Mary : https://www.amazon.com/Project-Hail-Mary-Andy-Weir/dp/0593135229/ • The Martian : https://www.amazon.com/Martian-Andy-Weir/dp/0553418025 • We Are Legion (Bobiverse #1) : https://www.amazon.com/We-Are-Legion-Bob-Bobiverse/dp/1680680587 • Fire Upon the Deep : https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Upon-Deep-Zones-Thought/dp/0812515285 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
How to break out of autopilot and create the life you want | Graham Weaver (Stanford GSB professor, founder of Alpine Investors) 1:12:13

8 weeks ago1:12:13

1:12:13

Graham Weaver teaches a top-rated course at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business (GSB), where he often unexpectedly ends up helping students figure out what to do with their lives. He is also the founder and CEO of Alpine Investors, a people-driven private equity firm. In our conversation, we discuss: • Why everything worthwhile requires suffering • Why most people operate on autopilot, and how to break free • The “genie methodology” for discovering your true path • The Nine Lives exercise for exploring different life possibilities • How to overcome limiting beliefs that hold you back • Why “not now” is often just another way of saying “never” • More — Brought to you by: • Merge —A single API to add hundreds of integrations into your app • Persona —A global leader in digital identity verification • Liveblocks —Ready-made collaborative features to drop into your product — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-break-out-of-autopilot-graham-weaver — Where to find Graham Weaver: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-weaver-2b79 • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grahamcweaver • YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@grahamcweaver • Website: https://www.grahamweaver.com • TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@grahamcweaver — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Graham’s background (05:30) Helping students find their true path (07:40) The genie methodology (12:36) Breaking free from autopilot mode (17:54) Identifying and overcoming limiting beliefs (20:33) Teaching entrepreneurship and personal fulfillment (22:53) The reality of long-term success (35:14) The role of accountability and executive coaching (40:22) Daily goal setting for success (43:11) The Nine Lives framework (48:01) The dangers of the “not now” mentality (55:27) Navigating life’s transitions (57:19) Failure corner (01:00:24) When to quit and when to persevere (01:02:18) Final thoughts and lightning round — Referenced: • Setting Goals: Demystified: https://www.grahamweaver.com/blog/goals • Tony Robbins’s website: https://www.tonyrobbins.com • Alpine Investors: https://alpineinvestors.com • Stanford GSB Last Lecture 2024—How to Live Your Life at Full Power: https://www.grahamweaver.com/blog/stanford-graduate-business-school-last-lecture-2024 • I turned 50 today. Here is the most important thing I learned in my first half century: https://www.grahamweaver.com/blog/turning-50 • Where the Crawdads Sing on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Where-Crawdads-Sing-Daisy-Edgar-Jones/dp/B0B5KBKDNL • Chilipad Cube Bed Cooling System: https://www.amazon.com/Chilipad-Cube-Bed-Cooling-System/dp/B07GT9MYRW • Sleepme OOLER Sleep System: https://www.amazon.com/OOLER-Sleep-System-Temperature-Integration/dp/B07RX8LT9G • Eightsleep: https://www.eightsleep.com • Howard Thurman’s quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/6273-don-t-ask-what-the-world-needs-ask-what-makes-you — Recommended books: • Switch: How to Change Things when Change Is Hard : https://www.amazon.com/Switch-Change-Things-When-Hard/dp/0385528752 • The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself : https://www.amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379 • Don’t Believe Everything You Think: Why Your Thinking Is the Beginning and End of Suffering : https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Believe-Everything-Think-Expanded/dp/B0D47VYQMY • How to Win Friends and Influence People : https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0671027034 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
How to build your product team from scratch, attract top product talent, go multi-product, and more | Rohini Pandhi (Mercury, Square) 1:19:24

9 weeks ago1:19:24

1:19:24

Rohini Pandhi is a product leader at Mercury, and previously spent over seven years at Square/Block leading product work on Square payments, invoicing, and the Bitkey hardware Bitcoin wallet. She’s also the co-founder of the startup bootcamp Transparent Collective and is an active angel investor. In our conversation, we discuss: • Key indicators that it’s time to hire PMs • How to build your early PM team • Why founders should initially take on the product manager role themselves • How to attract top PM talent • What she’s learned about going multi-product • A case for investing in quality • More — Skip the Mercury Personal waitlist: https://mercurytechnologies.typeform.com/lenny — Brought to you by: • Cloudinary —The foundational technology for all images and video on the internet • OneSchema —Import CSV data 10x faster • Airtable ProductCentral —Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-build-your-product-team-from-scratch-rohini-pandhi — Where to find Rohini Pandhi: • X: https://x.com/rohinip • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rohinipandhi — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Rohini’s background (05:00) The role of product managers at Mercury (09:51) Key indicators that it’s time to hire PMs (13:18) Building the product team at Mercury (19:53) Why you should avoid hiring PMs too early (22:26) The different flavors of product management (26:15) How to attract top talent (35:59) Advocating for quality in product development (44:10) Going multi-product (46:37) Organizational structure for multi-product success (50:57) Organizational culture for multi-product success (52:07) Customer obsession and product development (57:36) More lessons from going multi-product (01:05:57) Transparent Collective: supporting underrepresented founders (01:09:54) Lightning round — Referenced: • Immad Akhund on X: https://x.com/immad • Mercury: https://mercury.com • Square: https://squareup.com • Product management career ladders: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-career-ladders • Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners [Wardley]: https://orghacking.com/pioneers-settlers-town-planners-wardley-9dcd3709cde7 • Jason Zhang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jason-zhang-5645a860 • What is ‘Dogfooding’?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/business/dogfooding.html • Mercury Bill Pay: https://mercury.com/bill-pay • Zip: https://zip.co • Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira • The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan • Gokul Rajaram on designing your product development process, when and how to hire your first PM, a playbook for hiring leaders, getting ahead in you career, how to get started angel investing, more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/gokul-rajaram-on-designing-your-product • Gokul Rajaram on X: https://x.com/gokulr • Transparent Collective: https://www.transparentcollective.com • 16 Reading Tips from Naval Ravikant: https://alexandbooks.com/archive/16-reading-tips-from-naval-ravikant • Shrinking on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/shrinking • Bad Sisters on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/bad-sisters • Slow Horses on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/slow-horses • Severance on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance • Presumed Innocent on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/presumed-innocent • Waymo: https://waymo.com • Adam Robinson on X: https://x.com/IAmAdamRobinson • Cyan Banister—From Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More): https://tim.blog/2024/11/28/cyan-banister • Bobby Matson on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobbymatson • Jobs at Mercury: https://mercury.com/jobs — Recommended books: • Vectors: Aphorisms & Ten-Second Essays : https://www.amazon.com/Vectors-Aphorisms-Ten-Second-James-Richardson/dp/0967266890 • The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance : https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Tennis-Classic-Performance/dp/0679778314 • Pachinko : https://www.amazon.com/Pachinko-National-Book-Award-Finalist/dp/1455563927 • Cutting for Stone : https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Stone-Abraham-Verghese/dp/0375714367 • The Song of Achilles : https://www.amazon.com/Song-Achilles-Novel-Madeline-Miller/dp/0062060627 — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

1
Behind the founder: Drew Houston (Dropbox) 1:37:36

9 weeks ago1:37:36

1:37:36

Drew Houston is the co-founder and CEO of Dropbox. Under his leadership, Dropbox has grown from a simple idea to a service used by over 700 million registered users globally, with a valuation exceeding $9 billion. Drew has led Dropbox through multiple phases, from explosive viral growth, to battling all the tech giants at once, to reinventing the company for the future of work. In our conversation, he opens up about: • The three eras of Dropbox’s growth and evolution • The challenges he’s faced over the past 18 years • What he learned about himself • How he’s been able to manage his psychology as a founder • The importance of maintaining your learning curve • Finding purpose beyond metrics and growth • The micro, macro, and meta aspects of building companies • Much more — Brought to you by: • Paragon —Ship every SaaS integration your customers want • Explo —Embed customer-facing analytics in your product • Vanta —Automate compliance. Simplify security — Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-founder-drew-houston-dropbox — Where to find Drew Houston: • X: https://x.com/drewhouston • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drewhouston/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • X: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Introduction to Drew and Dropbox (04:44) The three eras of Dropbox (07:53) The first era: Viral growth and early success (14:19) The second era: Challenges and competition (20:49) Strategic shifts and refocusing (29:36) Personal reflections and leadership lessons (40:19) Unlocking mindfulness and building support systems (43:14) The Enneagram test (50:35) The challenges of being a founder CEO (58:11) The third era: Rebooting the team and core business (01:22:41) Lessons and advice for aspiring founders (01:27:46) Balancing personal and professional growth (01:42:38) Final reflections and future outlook — Referenced: • Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/ • Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/ • Paul Graham’s website: https://www.paulgraham.com/ • Hacker News: https://news.ycombinator.com/ • Arash Ferdowsi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/arashferdowsi/ • Sequoia Capital: https://www.sequoiacap.com/ • Pejman Nozad on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pejman/ • Mike Moritz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmoritz/ • TechCrunch Disrupt: https://techcrunch.com/events/tc-disrupt-2024/ • Dropbox viral demo: https://youtu.be/7QmCUDHpNzE • Digg: https://digg.com/ • Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/ • Hadi and Ali Partovi: https://www.partovi.org/ • Zynga: https://www.zynga.com/ • Steve Jobs announces Apple’s iCloud: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilnfUa_-Rbc • Dropbox Carousel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dropbox_Carousel • Dropbox Is Buying Mega-Hyped Email Startup Mailbox: https://www.businessinsider.com/dropbox-is-buying-mega-hyped-email-startup-mailbox-2013-3 • 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin • Intel: https://www.intel.com/ • Gordon Moore: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Moore • Netscape: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netscape • Myspace: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myspace • Bill Campbell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Campbell_(business_executive) • Enneagram type descriptions: https://www.enneagraminstitute.com/type-descriptions/ • The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator: https://www.themyersbriggs.com/en-US/Products-and-Services/Myers-Briggs • Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach • Ben Horowitz on X: https://x.com/bhorowitz • Why Read Peter Drucker?: https://hbr.org/2009/11/why-read-peter-drucker • GitLab: https://about.gitlab.com/ • Automattic: https://automattic.com/ • Dropbox Dash: https://www.dash.dropbox.com/ • Welcome Command E to Dropbox: https://blog.dropbox.com/topics/company/welcome-command-e-to-dropbox- • StarCraft: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/StarCraft_(video_game) • Procter & Gamble and the Beauty of Small Wins: https://hbr.org/2009/10/the-beauty-of-small-wins • Teaching Smart People How to Learn: https://hbr.org/1991/05/teaching-smart-people-how-to-learn — Recommended books: • Guerrilla Marketing: Easy and Inexpensive Strategies for Making Big Profits from Your Small Business : https://www.amazon.com/Guerilla-Marketing-Inexpensive-Strategies-Business/dp/0618785914 • Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works : https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X • High Output Management : https://www.amazon.com/High-Output-Management-Andrew-Grove/dp/0679762884/ • Only the Paranoid Survive: How to Exploit the Crisis Points That Challenge Every Company : https://www.amazon.com/Only-Paranoid-Survive-Exploit-Challenge/dp/0385483821 • Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption : https://www.amazon.com/Zone-Win-Organizing-Compete-Disruption/dp/1682302113 • Warren Buffett’s books: https://www.amazon.com/warren-buffett-Books/s?k=warren+buffett&rh=n%3A283155 • Poor Charlie’s Almanack: The Essential Wit and Wisdom of Charles T. Munger : https://www.amazon.com/Poor-Charlies-Almanack-Essential-Charles/dp/1953953239 • Invent and Wander: The Collected Writings of Jeff Bezos : https://www.amazon.com/Invent-Wander-Collected-Writings-Introduction/dp/1647820715/ • The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership: A New Paradigm for Sustainable : https://www.amazon.com/15-Commitments-Conscious-Leadership-Sustainable-ebook/dp/B00R3MHWUE — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . — Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. Get full access to Lenny's Newsletter at www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe…

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The creator of WordPress opens up about becoming an internet villain, why he’s taking a stand, and the future of open source | Matt Mullenweg (founder and CEO, Automattic)