Better Product

Product teams worldwide are navigating uncharted territory. We are all trying to feel our way through the dark. Let’s not do it alone. 

Better Product Weekly is a mini-series to share insights from product leaders finding their way through uncertain times. We’re bringing you what you need to know in real-time.

In our first weekly episode, we’re talking with Amy Brown, CEO and Founder of AuthentiCx. You’ll hear how they changed their outbound strategy along with how they approach sharing new product news during a tough situation.

Brian Crofts, Chief Product Officer at Pendo.io, knows a thing or two about product-led growth. Coming from B2C companies like Intuit, Brian joined Pendio.io to take on the challenge of building software for B2B companies. Now giving him firsthand experience of seeing how products are built regardless of the end-user. 

With the realization and rise of product-led growth, Brian shares with us how product management has shifted. And how those shifts have impacted the way he approaches building product teams. 

Brian shares his take on a modern product team using the term product operations, which is a first for this show. Hear his definition along with what you need to know to lead your own product ops team.

• Connect with Brian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianlcrofts/
• Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianmbeck/
• Connect with Anna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-eaglin/
• Join the Better Product Community: https://betterproduct.community/

What are some of the common misconceptions when it comes to product-led growth? How should you lean into the methodology? What can the Midwest learn from other product-led growth organizations? 

We discuss the answers to these questions and more by bringing on Innovatemap’s Katie Lukes. She is our resident PLG expert along with being one of our principal production managers and product researchers. 

While this episode debunks many of the commonly held beliefs around PLG, it also sheds light on how exactly a specialized SaaS company can use it effectively. Join the conversation. 

• Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianmbeck/
• Connect with Anna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-eaglin/
• Connect with Katie: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katharinelukes/
• Join the Better Product Community: https://betterproduct.community/

This week we are launching a new series centered on product-led growth. It only seems natural that our first guest is Blake Bartlett from OpenView Venture Partners. Blake has been on the frontlines of this term helping define it and advocating for product companies to lean into the methodology. 

In the conversation with Blake, you can expect to understand the term in more detail while breaking down the barriers for implementation. When it comes to the term product-led growth there are many misconceptions holding product professional back from embracing the approach. 

Find out for yourself over the next few episodes as we hone in on what it really means to have product-led growth. 

• Connect with Christian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianmbeck/
• Connect with Anna: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anna-eaglin/
• Join the Better Product Community: https://betterproduct.community/
• Connect with Blake: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blakebartlett/

This week, we wrap up our series on product marketing with a conversation with someone very familiar with the subject. Justine Jordan is an experienced marketing professional who spent time at Exact Target before eventually becoming VP of Marketing at Litmus and Head of Marketing at Help Scout.

Justine has a unique perspective, because she has had a hand in product marketing practices since the words “product marketing” entered the industry lexicon. During the conversation, she shared with us how the role has evolved over the years, when early-stage companies should consider adding it to the mix, and what elements make up the best product marketers.

Listen in to hear part three of our series on Product Marketing.

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Join the Better Product Community
• Connect with Justine 

In the first episode of our new series on Product Marketing, we talked to some key players in the industry to answer the most obvious question: What is product marketing? On today’s show, we dig a little deeper to learn some ways that product marketing differs from traditional marketing.

Regardless of where product marketing lives within an organization, the role requires a lot of collaboration. So how do product marketers work with other marketers? And how can product developers best understand the role and how they can play in part in crafting the narrative of the products they create? We’ll answer all of this and more with the help of some great guests.

In this episode, we hear from Justine Jordan, former Head of Marketing at Help Scout, Maureen West, Head of Product Marketing at Conga, Daniel Incandela, Chief Marketing Officer at Conga, Drew Beechler, Director of Marketing at High Alpha, Rob Wiley Head of Marketing and Product Strategy at Formstack, and Patrick Tripp, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Cheetah Digital.

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Join the Better Product Community 

Resources Mentioned: 

• Conga
• Cheetah Digital
• High Alpha

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Resources Mentioned: 

• Conga
• Cheetah Digital
• High Alpha

On Better Product, we have had the opportunity to hear some amazing product origin stories on this show. From idea to execution, we have heard how products are brought to life and grow into something that impacts millions of users. But that growth part - how does that happen?

That is what we are talking about in this new series: Product Marketing.

In this episode, we hear from Justine Jordan, former Head of Marketing at Help Scout, Maureen West, Head of Product Marketing at Conga, Daniel Incandela, Chief Marketing Officer at Conga, and Patrick Tripp, Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Cheetah Digital.

Each guest has their own unique perspective on the art of Product Marketing - what it means, where it lives within an organization, what product marketers should do, and more. Listen in to hear how some great product marketing minds think about their craft and how they’re driving product success.

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Join the Better Product Community

Over the past year, the Better Product podcast was focused on sharing the stories of industry-leading product people. While we got some amazing answers to our ‘better product’ question we uncovered a bigger one, “where is the digital product community?”

The reality is - we couldn’t find it. We learned that product people want to meet, learn from, and build connections with each other. So now we’re creating the Better Product community as a way to bring product people together around one simple concept: creating the best possible digital products.

Will you join the community? Head on over to betterproduct.community to gain access to resources, people, and more. 

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap
• Join the Better Product Community

This week, we wrap up our series on managing products through acquisition by digging into one of the most notable acquisition stories here in Indianapolis. In 2013, San Francisco-based tech company Salesforce purchased Indianapolis-based digital marketing company ExactTarget, effectively forming what is known today as Salesforce Marketing Cloud.

In this episode, we talk with Joanna Milliken about her experience going from one of the first employees at ExactTarget in 2001 to being Senior Vice President of Product Management at Salesforce. Joanna shares her career journey from sales and marketing into product and what has changed from her early days at a start-up to now holding a leadership position at an enterprise company. 

Listen in to hear part four of our series on managing products through acquisition.

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap
• Connect with Joanna
• Learn more about Salesforce

So far in this series, we have focused on aligning product teams and product lines after an acquisition is made by a company, but what about the experience on the other side? On today’s show, we juxtapose the experience of the acquired and the acquirer.

 Being acquired can be a huge moment for a product. A chance to expand its reach to a whole new audience with resources that may not have previously been available. But there can obviously be challenges, as well. For example, how hard is it to loosen your grip on a product you created and risk seeing the vision for that product change?

In this episode, we hear from Scott Belsky, Chief Product Officer at Adobe, and Emily Washington, Senior Vice President of Product Management at Infogix, about their experience and perspective on each side of a product acquisition. Listen in!

• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Adobe’s Scott Belsky on Leading with Conviction

Resources Mentioned: 

• Behance
• Infogix