Better Product

We are ready to look forward and get back to our product-led growth series. It’s a relevant topic today more than ever as companies look to product-led growth strategies to support remote selling and customer retention, all while potentially having a leaner staff. 

Before we release new episodes, we want to remind our community where we left. The series featured Blake Bartlett from OpenView Venture Partners, and Brian Crofts, Chief Product Officer at Pendo. Blake Bartlett broke down the definition of product-led growth, the common barriers for implementation, and the many misconceptions holding product professionals back from embracing the approach. 

Brian Crofts talked about how product-led growth shifts the responsibility of product management, and how those shifts have impacted the way he approaches building product teams. You can check out all the previous resources mentioned at http://betterproduct.community

Next up in the series, we are featuring: 

• Laura Borghesi, Senior Director of Growth Marketing at MongoDB
• Prianka Rayamajhi and Lindsay Mindler, both part of the Growth Design Team at Pinterest
• Cem Kansu, Director of Product at Duolingo
• Ryan Chan, CEO and Founder of UpKeep

We’ve been running our Better Product Weekly series for the last few months. The episode style was designed to create and distribute content based on real-time events. We explored how product leaders were responding in real-time as challenges and opportunities emerge related to COVID-19. 

In this episode, you’ll hear the key lessons learned for you to take back into your organizations. These findings will be relevant for some time so this episode may be one you bookmark.  As we pivot our content to look forward, we invite you to connect with other product leaders by joining our growing product community:  https://betterproduct.community/.

Over the last nine weeks, we’ve been running our Better Product Weekly series. A few themes have emerged one being the focus on customer retention. This week’s guest offers a new angle to this conversation sharing her experience leaning into her customers to build a growth team at Boardable. 

Krista Martin VP of Growth, provides a look into how they’ve begun to look at growth opportunities without losing sight of their existing users. One of the outcomes of the current crisis is an option to extend a user’s free trial from 14 to 90 days. With over 1,000 new users jumping on board, Krista shares how they’re thinking about the data to support this extension. Lean into the conversation to learn how a product-led approach is encouraging customer retention for Boardable. If you’re looking for more opportunities to learn from product leaders join our growing product community:  https://betterproduct.community/.

In this episode of Better Product Weekly, Christian and Anna sat down with Chris Rose, Co-Founder and VP Product at Abre.io, to discuss the disruption facing every school. 

Product professionals are often future-orientated looking for ways to innovate product, design, and user experiences. In the education space, those future-looking opportunities quickly moved to address immediate needs for teachers and students. Yet, Chris and the team at Abre.io found the balance between reactive and proactive looking at how to serve today while innovating for tomorrow’s classroom. 

Hear Chris’ story and what the future of education could look like. If you’re looking for more opportunities to learn from product leaders join our growing product community:  https://betterproduct.community/. 

What would happen to your product if you could shift your roadmap from growth-oriented features to making those improvements you know are needed?

Eric Prugh, Chief Product Officer and Co-founder of PactSafe share with us how they’ve looked at their product roadmap in light of the recent pandemic. While the business objectives for the company haven’t changed, they’ve made it a priority to focus on retention and serving existing customers. For them, that means slowing down growth and making improvements to the product. 

As always we invite you to connect with us at Innovatemap and other product leaders. You can reach out directly to Anna and Christian on Linkedin or join our growing product community:  https://betterproduct.community

No matter the industry your product serves, every business is feeling the impact of the Coronavirus. The level of impact varies which means your response can’t be one size fits all. Taking the time to understand the appropriate response can foster a deeper connection with your users while providing you with richer insights. 

This week we’re talking with Ryan Chan, CEO and Founder of Upkeep. Ryan provides an all-new perspective for addressing customer's needs in light of the current climate. At Upkeep, they defined customer segments. As a result, Upkeep has been able to go above and beyond users' initial needs to help in every way possible. 

If you’re looking for other ways to learn from both product leaders and people on the front lines of product including designers, product managers, product marketers then join the growing better product community: https://betterproduct.community/

What has been the most challenging part of the last few weeks? How are your product strategies and expectations adapting? 

This week Better Product Weekly is talking with Ben Forrest, Founder and CEO of Olio. Olio’s platform connects health systems, physicians, and post-acute providers in real-time on their patients' condition.  

In the conversation, we get a unique perspective from Ben as he shares how Olio is solving an extremely widespread issue in the healthcare space. How has Ben led the charge in shifting Olio’s sales and marketing tactics while responding directly to the pain points its product solves? Take a listen to hear this fresh perspective to tackle the week ahead. 

If you’re looking for a community to lean on during this tough time, visit betterproduct.community (https://betterproduct.community/) and sign up to be a part of our growing community of product leaders.

What happens when the extended free trial runs out? Do you upsell or convert to paid? Is now the right time to push for the conversion? 

In this Better Product Weekly, Anna and Christian are discussing the ‘peak week’ concerns many product leaders have with Kirsten Moorefield, Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer of Cloverleaf. 

The key points of discussion include how product companies are adapting development roadmaps, marketing messaging, and overall company forecasts. 

We’re curious to know, what opportunities for your product exist now that didn’t? How are you reacting?

Join the community to discuss https://betterproduct.community/

In the span of just a few weeks, the ground has shifted and we are all navigating uncharted territory. Product teams are facing a lot of uncertainty and unanswered questions, and it can sometimes feel like you’re on this journey alone. But we can assure you, you’re not. We hosted a virtual panel to spark a conversation that we all need: What now? It was such a great conversation, we want to share it with you, our Better Product Community. 

Join our live panel for this week’s Better Product Weekly featuring three product leaders: Amy Brown, Founder and CEO of Authenticx, Andrew Clark, VP of Product and Engineering at Emplify, and Myles Grote, Head of Product at Upper Hand. You’ll learn how they’ve found ways to experiment and pivot their product strategy. 

Early-stage startups are wondering, “What are other people doing during these times.” To help answer this question, Better Product Weekly is joined by Darrian Mikell, CEO and Co-Founder of Qualifi. 

Darrian’s product is a remote interview solution. He shares with Christian and Anna how they’ve had to change their marketing messaging while adhering to, “the duty to reach out and provide value.” 

While he’s still at an early stage the traction they gained is not slowing down during the present circumstances. We invite you to listen and be encourage as Darrian shares how they’re balancing messaging and innovation while keeping a positive look towards the future.

Adapting Darrian’s outlook can be hard and sometimes it feels like you’re on this journey alone. We can assure you, you’re not. After you listen to this episode, we invite you to join us for a virtual panel around some of the topics discussed. 

Register now to hear from Amy Brown, founder and CEO of AuthentiCx, Andrew Clark, VP of Product and Engineering at Emplify, and Myles Grote, Head of Product at Upper Hand. Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/adapting-your-product-to-handle-uncertainty-tickets-101335477140