Better Product

There are a lot of moving parts during an acquisition, and it is easy for alignment to fall by the wayside. How do you actually ensure that a new product, and product team, aligns with your internal vision, processes, and methodologies?

Our series on managing product through acquisition continues with a look at some various perspectives on the subject. We talk with a few different product leaders whose experiences shed light on how acquired products should align from a brand perspective and how to effectively graft new product teams into your existing architecture to ensure success for everyone.

In this episode, we share some insights from those with real experience in product acquisitions and discover that maybe the answers aren’t always as obvious as they might seem.

Listen in to hear part two of our series on product acquisitions.

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

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Adobe’s Scott Belsky on Leading with Conviction
• Reexamining Your Product Portfolio to Better Serve Your Users

Resources Mentioned: 

• Behance
• Infogix
• Hobsons

How do you successfully manage products during an acquisition?

As we kick off a new year of Better Product, we want to focus on a topic that has come up often during our interviews: how do you manage products (and product teams) through acquisition? Acquisitions are a natural part of company growth, but they also present a number of challenges that can look very different depending on your situation.

In this first episode of our new series, we talk with Mimi Nguyen about Genesys’ acquisition of Interactive Intelligence in 2017 and what she learned during that transition. Mimi shares what it was like to go from having a team located in one city to working with a team that spans time zones. She also gives her insight into what the transition meant for Interactive Intelligence’s products and the product teams themselves.

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

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

We find that conviction often leads to great product stories, and today’s is no different. Christian came across our guest on Twitter, and the more digging he did, the more interested in her story he became.

Claire Lew is the CEO of Know Your Team, a software that helps you become a better manager. Claire is passionately focused on helping leaders become better at leading, and her story to success is driven by a philosophical approach. In fact, that approach led to some unexpected turns that have transformed the possibilities for what Know Your Team could actually become.

As the company changed - and as you’ll hear, quite literally everything changed - the pricing model transitioned right along with the philosophy of the company. But How? Why? These are the questions we ask Claire Lew on the latest episode of Better Product.

• Connect with Claire 
• Learn more about Know Your Team
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

There is nothing quite like those early days of product success. Seeing your vision come to life as customers begin to adopt your services is not only validating, it can lead to new opportunities to scale. Of course, scaling has its own challenges.

what happens when you wake up and realize that your target customer has changed? How do you move your product up-market, targeting a completely new audience while maintaining the customers that you already have? We talked with Justin Bauer, VP of Product at Amplitude Analytics, which helps people use customer data to build great product experiences that convert and retain users.

Justin shares about how an up-market move impacted he and the team at Amplitude while helping the company grow in ways that made sense for both their current customer and the customer of tomorrow. Listen in to hear Justin’s experience in transitioning from serving start-ups to serving enterprise companies.

• Connect with Justin 
• Learn more about Amplitude Analytics
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

A great product story always starts with a vision. But as we all know, it is those next steps that can be challenging and ultimately dictate whether a product becomes a success. And what exactly are those next steps and what is the best way to approach them?

We spoke with Hubert Palan, Founder and CEO of productboard, a product management system that enables teams to get the right products to market faster. Hubert is passionate about product strategy and has worked to fill a need was hearing repeatedly: that there was no clear definition of what a successful product strategy looked like.

So what has Hubert learned about product strategy through his experience with ProductBoard? And why does starting with the right product idea make all of the difference? Listen in to hear Hubert’s insights on product strategy that moves product makers from vision to execution.

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

How do you define an MVP, or minimum viable product? Whatever your definition, one thing is for sure. It is not about perfection. But where do you draw the line? Our latest guest has a pretty good idea, because he has created a lot and spends a lot of time with the creations of others.

We talked with Ade Olonoh, an investor and entrepreneur who has founded numerous companies, including Formstack, Formspring, and Jell, and has invested in a dozen start-ups. All of these experiences have given Ade a unique perspective when meeting with other entrepreneurs who are in some stage of creating their own MVP.

So what does a minimum viable product actually look like? And why does having a co-founder who can bring a vision to life in the form of a product so important for young entrepreneurs seeking investment capital? Listen in to hear Ade’s insights on what it takes to translate a great idea into a great product.

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

Products Mentioned: 

• Formstack
• Jell

When do you draw the line between letting your community own the roadmap and using them to influence your roadmap?

Our series on community comes to a close with an examination on how several product leaders are approaching feedback from their communities. It can be easy to assume that your users know best about what they need, but can we dig deeper and read between the lines to gain a better understanding?

In this episode, we share some insights into how to navigate your community when it comes to feedback, managing users, and understanding how those users interact with each other. We’ll also hear how to effectively manage your community as your product scales.

Listen in to hear part five of our series on community.

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

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Scaling a Product While Building a Community with Sara Mauskopf
• Creating a Better Product Starts by Solving a Real Problem

Resources Mentioned: 

• Winnie
• Sketch
• Behance
• InVision
• Indy Gaming League

When you’re committed to making a better product and a better community, conviction is paramount. Evenin the face of opposition, if you don’t believe in the product and the needs it can address for the community you’ve identified, how can you truly lead?   We talked with Scott Belsky, creator of Behance and the Chief Product Officer and Executive Vice President of Creative Cloud at Adobe. Scott is an executive, author, investor, and most importantly, a product obsessive. Scott shares how Behance found its footing by building the product around their ideal customers, even when they couldn’t get them to buy in from the start.   As a Chief Product Officer, Scott also shares insights into what conviction looks like when you’re the leader of multiple products across a vast community, and how empowering others to make decisions has been vital to product success at Adobe. Take a listen!

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

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Building an Audience Before Your Digital Product Launches with Dave Gerhardt 
• Creating a Better Product Starts by Solving a Real Problem with Peter Omvlee

Products Mentioned: 

• AirTable
• Winnie
• Dovetail

How do I know when to invest in building a community for my product?

The first few episodes in our new series have highlighted the power of community when it comes to product. But it is clear that each story - and community - is unique. So how do you know when and how to place an emphasis on community?

In this episode, we share stories that give indicators that placing an emphasis on community is the right decision for a particular product. We’ll also learn how each product and community requires its own individual assessment in order to thrive, along with an interesting revelation about values you place at the center of your efforts.

Listen in to hear part three of our series on community.

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

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Scaling a Product While Building a Community with Sara Mauskopf
• Building an Audience Before Your Digital Product Launches

Resources Mentioned: 

• Winnie
• Drift
• InVision
• Indy Gaming League

As our series on community continues, we dig deeper into the fundamental elements that create a successful product community.

Adam Fry-Pierce, Director of Design Community and Curator of the Design Leadership Forum at InVision, previously shared what they consider to be the 3 P’s that guide their view of community. InVision’s VP of Partnerships and Community, Mike Davidson, joins the conversation to share how these principles look when put into action.

For the team at InVision, community means creating a better product while also creating a stronger community for designers everywhere.

Listen in to hear how efforts like the Design Leadership Forum and DesignBetter.co are helping InVision’s community of designers grow and evolve in unexpected and exciting ways.

• Connect with Adam
• Connect with Mike
• Learn more about InVision
• Connect with Christian
• Connect with Anna
• Learn more about Innovatemap

Past Episodes Mentioned: 

• Tapping Into Community

Resources Mentioned: 

• Design Leadership Forum
• DesignBetter