In Depth

Lessons from Slack on decision making, product-led growth, and taking big swings — Noah Desai Weiss


Listen Later

Noah Desai Weiss is the Chief Product Officer of Slack, and has an accomplished track record inside and outside of the company. He started Slack’s Search, Learning, and Intelligence division, led the Self-Service (SMB) Business, and led the Expansion and Virtual HQ product areas (responsible for Huddles, Clips, and more). Before joining Slack, Noah was the SVP of Product Management at Foursquare (raised over $390m), and was a Product Manager at Google.


In today's episode, we discuss:

  • When to use intuition vs data to drive decisions
  • The most underrated traits in a remote work environment
  • How Slack runs product reviews
  • The importance of a team’s “vibe”
  • Managing pace vs accuracy in decision-making
  • Balancing "big swings" with incremental improvements
  • Advice on product-led vs sales-led growth

  • Curious to learn more about Slack? You can try Slack Pro and get 50% off using this link.


    Referenced:

    Creative Selection - Inside Apple's Design Process During the Golden Age of Steve Jobs: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Selection-Inside-Apples-Process/dp/1250194466

    Salesforce acquires Slack: https://slack.com/blog/news/salesforce-completes-acquisition-of-slack

    Thinking in Bets - Making Smarter Decisions When You Don't Have All the Facts: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Bets-Making-Smarter-Decisions-ebook/dp/B074DG9LQF


    Where to find Noah Weiss:

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/noah_weiss

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noahw/

    Where to find Brett Berson:

    Twitter: https://twitter.com/brettberson

    LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brett-berson-9986094/


    Timestamps:

    [2:46] Not all decisions should be data-driven

    [3:46] When to use data vs intuition to drive decisions

    [9:15] Taste and judgment are learnable

    [11:47] How Slack scales intuition across their product org

    [14:58] Challenges of intuition-led product building

    [16:43] Matching people to data vs intuition-driven work

    [19:19] underrated qualities for remote workers

    [21:34] What's special about Slack's approach to product?

    [23:33] Which products should focus on end-users versus executives

    [26:38] What Slack learns from Salesforce

    [31:44] Pricing lessons from Salesforce and Marc Andreessen

    [34:10] How Slack runs product reviews

    [37:02] What creates good vibes in a product team

    [40:17] Managing pace vs accuracy in decision-making

    [46:29] Rituals for good decision-making

    [50:20] Balancing "big swings" with incremental improvements

    [55:30] Slack's biggest philosophy change

    [60:05] Slack's humility and why it matters

    [61:43] Advice for thinking about product-led vs sales-led growth

    [01:08:14] How to build product with a product-focussed founder

    [01:12:46] People who made an outsized impact on Noah's career

    ...more
    View all episodesView all episodes
    Download on the App Store

    In DepthBy First Round

    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8
    • 4.8

    4.8

    57 ratings


    More shows like In Depth

    View all
    This Week in Startups by Jason Calacanis

    This Week in Startups

    1,273 Listeners

    a16z Podcast by Andreessen Horowitz

    a16z Podcast

    1,057 Listeners

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch by Harry Stebbings

    The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch

    522 Listeners

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors by SaaStr

    The Official SaaStr Podcast: SaaS | Founders | Investors

    175 Listeners

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy by Colossus | Investing & Business Podcasts

    Invest Like the Best with Patrick O'Shaughnessy

    2,282 Listeners

    Masters of Scale by WaitWhat

    Masters of Scale

    3,988 Listeners

    Y Combinator Startup Podcast by Y Combinator

    Y Combinator Startup Podcast

    226 Listeners

    Grit by Kleiner Perkins

    Grit

    187 Listeners

    The Logan Bartlett Show by by Redpoint Ventures

    The Logan Bartlett Show

    187 Listeners

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups by Conviction

    No Priors: Artificial Intelligence | Technology | Startups

    127 Listeners

    Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast by swyx + Alessio

    Latent Space: The AI Engineer Podcast

    69 Listeners

    AI and I by Dan Shipper

    AI and I

    30 Listeners

    AI + a16z by a16z

    AI + a16z

    32 Listeners

    Lightcone Podcast by Y Combinator

    Lightcone Podcast

    19 Listeners

    Training Data by Sequoia Capital

    Training Data

    44 Listeners