My guest today is Wes Kao, co-founder of Maven, a very popular online course platform.

Wes and I talked about how to create, market, and teach an online course and make $20,000 or more per cohort. I especially love Wes’ frameworks about how to:

Build a spiky point of view to stand out with real examples

And use the state change method to keep people interested

Timestamps:

00:00 Spiky point of view

01:11 Introducing Wes Cao and the Power of Online Courses

01:42 Wes Cao's Journey: From Marketing to Maven Co-Founder

04:00 The Rise of Cohort-Based Learning with Maven

06:16 Empowering Operators to Share Their Expertise

10:03 Creating Your Course: Market Demand Meets Passion

13:51 The Essence of a Spiky Point of View

18:51 Leveraging Spiky Points of View for Course Creation

21:31 Unlocking Creative Writing: Beyond Traditional Controls

22:00 The Power of Risk in Sharing Bold Ideas

22:07 Content Creation: The Unpredictable Success of Authenticity

22:20 Decoding the Secret Formula of Viral Content

22:26 A Decade of Blogging: The Evolution of a Writer

22:50 Marketing First, Building Later: A New Approach

23:03 Case Study: Shivani Berry's Path to Course Success

24:24 Expanding Reach: Leveraging Other Audiences

27:39 Selling While Teaching: The Subtle Art

29:38 Engaging Cohort Courses: The State Change Method

32:18 Simplifying the Creator's Journey: Focus and Strategy

38:33 Closing Advice and Resources for Aspiring Creators

Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/

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My guest today is Brian Balfour, CEO of Reforge. Brian and I did a deep dive into how 4 of the best AI products grew so fast.

We spoke about:

Why ChatGPT is investing in custom GPTs

How Midjourney grew to $200M ARR despite an interface that relies on Discord

How Perplexity is competing with Google Search

How LinkedIn collaborative articles combine AI and user growth loops

Brian is one of the best growth leaders out there so I hope you enjoy our conversation. Consider subscribing for more great interviews every week.

Timestamps:

Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/

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My guest today is Jackie Bavaro, author of Cracking the PM Career and Cracking the PM Interview, two of the most popular books on product management out there. Jackie was also head of PM at Asana.

I spoke to Jackie about:

1. How to be more strategic

2. How to define a great vision and strategy for your team

3. How to communicate your strategy to the rest of the company

There are so many misconceptions about strategy, but Jackie makes everything crystal clear. Consider subscribing for more great interviews every week.

Chapter timestamps:

[00:00] Three parts of a great product strategy

[02:56] A personal story on why strategy matters

[07:05] Vision, strategic framework, and roadmap

[10:29] When to start thinking about strategy

[13:35] How to bring your vision to life

[16:47] Breaking down the strategic framework

[17:13] Master the framework for market domination

[22:04] Think of a roadmap like a charcuterie board

[25:09] A checklist is not a strategy

[29:11] How to get exec buy-in for your strategy

[31:54] Communicate principles to guide decisions

Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/

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My guests today are Sanchan (ex-general manager at Airbnb), Nickey (Product Director at Duolingo) and John (Senior Director at Toast).

We talked about:

1. How the PM role is changing

2. Our favorite PM use cases for AI

3. How to avoid PM title envy to pick your own path

Over 200 people tuned into this conversation live so I think you’ll love it too.

Chapter Timestamps

Where to find me:

Newsletter: https://creatoreconomy.so/

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Elena Verna is a solopreneur who has served as head of growth at Dropbox, Amplitude, Miro, and more.

[00:00] Make imposter syndrome your superpower

[01:10] Elena's journey from entry-level to executive

[03:00] Finding exponential growth paths in your career

[07:00] What led Elena to explore solopreneurship

[09:59] The benefits of advisory roles

[12:33] Step by step on how to get started advising

[15:18] Pitching to a company why advising is better than full-time

[18:19] How Elena applies growth loops to her business

[22:18] The five laws of growth and how they apply to your career

[26:48] Learn how to fail to learn how to win

[28:31] Build career optionality to not be at the whim of companies

[31:29] Your business needs clear positioning ("why you?")

Fareed Mosavat is a growth veteran who has worked at Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Pixar, and other top companies.