Today Andrew talks with Scott Colfer, Director of Product at Herd Consulting.

The critical phase of product discovery is often overlooked or undervalued, with lots of preconceptions and assumptions made. 

But as we find out from Scott this is where the magic really happens and where the most value can be found to find the first, best opportunity.

Watch out too for what Scott describes as the bankruptcy test - the ultimate opportunity you MUST uncover.

02:29 Important Areas in Discovery
04:43 Growth Opportunities
07:55 Effective Discovery
11:11 Being The Negotiator
15:42 Defining Success in Discovery
20:16 The Bankruptcy Test
21:39 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

The ecommerce fashion world has a huge sustainability problem and this problem is driven by the huge number of free returns companies offer.  In some cases as much as 50% of each order is returned.  This puts a huge pressure on the environment.  

This problem stems from sizing issues across different manufacturers.

On todays podcast I'm joined by Arsalan Javed, CPO at Sizekick who are looking to solve this sizing problem, and in turn solve fashion ecommerce's sustainability problem.

Sizekick is the most accurate sizing solution in the market and Arsalan gives us a great insight into the product and their ways of working.

00:19 Intro to Sizekick & Arsalan Javed
05:12 What Problems Are Sizekick Solving?
06:15 The Environmental Impact of Sizing Issues
08:41 The Problem of Free Return
12:08 Challenges in Product Development
18:19 Future Directions for Sizekick
22:53 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

In this episode Andrew talks to Achille Traore, Founder of White Label Loyalty, the out of the box loyalty engine for lasting customer relationships.

Ach established his first tech business, top screen media, in 2009 and then founded White Label Loyalty in 2015.  

We talk about selling your SaaS product on an enterprise scale and the key elements enabling them to do this.

A must listen on getting the basics right before you even think about trying to win an enterprise client.

00:00 Introduction to White Label Loyalty
06:01 Transitioning to Enterprise Scale
09:17 Key Criteria to be Enterprise Ready
10:48 Different Sales Life-Cycles
11:56 Navigating the Sales Cycle
13:28 Testimonials
14:38 Key Takeaways
15:57 Horizontal Not Vertical SaaS

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

In this episode Andrew is joined by Will Smith, co-founder of Tred, the green business current account with sustainability at it’s heart.

Tred was Founded 4 years ago by Will and his business partner Pete.

Andrew talks to Will about Tred’s journey, the recent launch of their business account, and what makes Tred special compared to bigger high street banks.  Some of the high street banks practices around fossil fuels will shock you!

In his free time, when he has it, Will is a keen runner and is currently climbing every peak in the Yorkshire Dales with his dog, Mayo. 

Will also tells us about some the guerrilla marketing they did in their early days to get the Tred name out there!  

00:00 Intro
00:17 Intro to Will & Tred
01:44 Who Are Tred and what are Tred About?
05:18 Pivoting to Business Banking
06:41 How are Tred Different to Other Banks?
11:27 Carbon Accounting and Reporting Solutions
15:20 Key Take-Aways
17:42 The Worlds Fastest Tree????

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

In this episode we're talking about the future of software development - Automated Agile.

Paul Glover from Burendo joins Andrew to talk about how they are collaborating to utilise AI in their delivery life-cycle to automate the process. 

Still at early stages they've seen some great results in driving efficiencies using tools such as Claude from Anthropic. 

Burendo are an Agile delivery and product development consultancy, and Paul is a Principal Consultant in their team.

00:00 Introduction to Automated Agile
03:16 Understanding the Role of AI in Product Delivery
06:15 Practical Applications of Automated Agile
09:16 The Importance of Context in AI
12:10 Layering Information for Effective AI Use
15:14 The Human Element in AI and Consultancy
18:10 Innovation and Rapid Prototyping with AI
21:19 Future of AI in Product Development
25:55 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

In this episode of byProduct live Andrew is joined by Saumya Bhatt.

Saumya is Global Product Design Team Manager at InPost, the global logistics company offering courier and parcel lockers.  InPost has grown phenomenally over the last few years and their lockers are everywhere!

Previous to InPost Saumya was Product Design Manager at Wayfair, the global furniture ecommerce company and started her earlier career at Sunguard in the financial services sector.

We talk to Saumya about legacy change from a design perspective which is a journey Saumya is on with InPost.

00:00 Introduction to Saumya Bhatt and InPost

02:11 The Role of Product Design in Logistics

04:59 Navigating Design Perspectives and Stakeholder Alignment

08:12 Design Team Decision Vs Business Perspective

10:20 Understanding User Needs Beyond Personal Experience

13:43 Building a Design Team in a Traditional Business

17:10 Changing Perceptions of Design's Value

19:19 Establishing Trust and Measuring Design Value

21:20 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

In this episode I talk with George Fairhall, founder of award winning start-up, WAC. 

WAC gives more control to hourly paid workers, and combats issues such as underpayment which is a big problem in hourly paid jobs which are often undertaken by younger people.

George founded the business 4 years ago and has been on a journey from then, made all the more interesting by the fact George is non-technical founder.

I talk to George about her journey as a non technical founder, the challenges she’s faced and importantly we talk through what George knows now, that she wished she knew 4 years ago on how to found an app business.

01:34 The Journey of a Non-Technical Founder
05:43 Overcoming Early Challenges
07:03 Key Steps for Aspiring Founders
10:22 The Importance of Competitor Analysis
13:30 Critical Criteria Before Moving Forward
15:35 Setting Up the Company
17:56 Product Development Journey
22:44 The Challenges of Fundraising
26:13 Achieving Milestones and User Feedback
34:02 Marketing Strategies for Launch
38:01 The End of the Beginning
41:44 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

This episode of byProduct Live is with Krystle Kocik.

Krystle is the Chief Product & Experience Officer for PEXA in the UK.  PEXA are a global technology business in the home buying space.

Krystle and her team are accountable for delivering a property completions platform that will transform the mortgage/re-mortgage space.

Krystle has already delivered the product in Australia where they now own a 90% market share 

We discuss the challenges of modernising a truly old-school/legacy industry - the mortgage/re-mortgage market and how Krystle and her team approached this.

01:27 The Need for Modernisation in the Property Industry
04:14 Comparing Transaction Times: UK vs Australia
05:36 Challenges in Product Development for the Property Sector
09:01 Strategies for Overcoming Resistance to Change
12:38 Cultural Similarities and Differences in Property Markets
14:04 Key Takeaways for Transforming a Resistant Market

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

Todays guest is Igor Ranc - product leader and curator of Handpicked Berlin

Igor’s early career included roles at Daimler Financial Services and Mercedes-Benz Bank and in his most recent position Igor was Senior Technical Product Manager in the AI product team at Insurtech platform Wefox.  

I talk to Igor about his thoughts on AI and it’s application in products, and considering the different confidence levels in AI of different types of users.

What started as a side project and a hobby, Igor publishes Handpicked berlin, a 5 minute Monday morning inspiration for everything Berlin.  It’s a great resource and has 8500 subscribers and counting on Substack.  We’ll talk a little about this too at the end of our conversation today.

00:00 Intro
02:20 Challenges of Implementing AI Models
05:23 The Importance of Precise Prompts
07:07 It's Still All About the Data
08:32 How Will Confidence in AI be Affected by Different Users
10:12 AI Tools for Software Engineers
12:02 AI's Impact on Jobs and Companies
16:14 Handpicked Berlin
17:22 Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.

Rory Woodbridge is a product marketing expert.  His early career was formed at Google and YouTube, and his last in house role was with hypergrowth FinTech Pleo.

Rory now works on a freelance basis providing his product marketing expertise to different companies.

Rory has a great substack - check it out https://productmarketer.substack.com/

We discuss the value product marketing brings and how it is best utilised in product orgs.

01:00 Overview of Product Marketing and its Responsibilities
04:40 Building Trust and Relationships in Product Marketing
06:23 The Timing of Hiring the First Product Marketer
09:01 Key Questions for Product Marketing
10:38 The Importance of a Balanced Partnership
12:21 Conclusion and Key Takeaways

byProduct is the community group for leaders in SaaS and Product.

"A likeminded community sharing knowledge and understanding, product by product"

If you're a CPO, CTO, CPTO, VP or Head of Product or Engineering then connect with Andrew at [email protected] or on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaeer/ to hear more and join.