Product Talk

How is technology making a difference in your life today? On today's episode, my guest Selina Tobaccowala discusses her newest startup Gixo and how she plans to help consumers lead healthier lives. You'll hear Selina compare and contrast her experiences with Evite, the company she co-founded; SurveyMonkey, the company she helped grow and scale to 200 million users; and Gixo, her current-day startup that she co-founded with Al Lieb.

Selina also shares insight into what makes a great Product Manager and how to take your career to the next level. It starts with carving your own path, a lot of success starts with you taking on more responsibility—be proactive and ask for more from your manager instead of waiting for them to come to you. Selina also tells me that PMs are the glue that makes all the pieces work and it's important to know the answers to the following:

• What are the important areas of feedback that helps drive your product?
• What are the business metrics?
• What are the strategic goals?
• How do you make sure you have a great engineering partner (or team)?

Selina's Recommended Readings

• Reid Hoffman

• No Sweat

To learn more about Selina, visit gixo.com or her Medium page.

What are the qualities you look for in a great product manager? Today, my guest David Fradin shares his thoughts on what makes a successful, innovative product leader. David is a classically trained Product Manager, now coach, that worked with Steve Jobs at Apple and worked for David Packard at HP—all in all, he's been in the product management industry for over 47 years across 27 different organizations and verticals.

On the podcast, you'll hear David's mnemonic "S.P.I.C.E S." and you'll learn the six keys to building insanely great products which stands for:

1. strategy,
2. process,
3. information,
4. customers,
5. employees, and
6. systems & tools

David tells me one of the most important things that a product manager should do is to start as a leader to assess the product lifecycle.

David Fradin's Influencers

• Steven Johnson

• Innovation Tools: The most successful techniques to innovate cheaply and effectively

How can "game thinking" help strengthen long-term engagement with your users? Today, on this episode, my guest Amy Jo Kim discusses how she helps entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life with game thinking to help accelerate early product design.

What are three words you would use to describe yourself to help build your personal brand? On today's podcast, you'll hear Dorie Clark discuss her books, what keeps her committed to helping people get their ideas heard, how she uses the 3-word exercise to start the branding process, and much, much more.

Are you telling the big-picture story that'll influence change? What is the structure of belonging in the digital age? These are just a few questions the CEO and Founder of Get Storied, Michael Margolis, asks on today's episode.

Michael has a background in cultural anthropology, and he works with people who are changing history; people who are doing things that have never been done before. On this episode, you'll hear his insights on why storytelling is more crucial than ever in our age of disruption and innovation. First and foremost, it's all about the human experience. Emotion starts first. As consumers, we buy on emotion and justify with logic.

On this podcast, you'll hear about Michael's story and how he got into his role as a Narrative Strategist and what keeps his passion for storytelling alive. You'll also hear great advice on why online comes first when it comes to your personal story and brand. Michael mentions how you write your about page and bio is one of the most important skills we don't get taught. Finally, you'll hear Michael explain why as product managers, we take for granted what other people want to know. He mentions: "You have to see it and feel it before you can believe it."

To learn more about Michael follow him on Twitter or visit https://www.getstoried.com/redpill.

Sign up for the Oct 1-Day Masterclass with Michael Margolis; find tickets on Eventbrite.

Michael's viral blog post: The Resume is Dead, The Bio is King

Founder and CEO of Product School, Carlos González de Villaumbrosia, talks about his insights into what makes a great product manager in this episode. Carlos started his career in software development in Spain—but he knew he always wanted to be in Silicon Valley because he was very excited about technology. Carlos mentions to me that in addition to engineering, he also went to business school. Both career paths were great in their own respect—but he wanted to find something in the middle. Engineering, as he recalls, was very low-level and technical and business school was very high-level and strategic. That's where he found product management—his passion and dream.

On the show, you'll hear how Carlos found the formula with Product School where people can learn the latest and greatest with product management and tech while keeping their life. He also provides advice to companies who are looking to hire for their first product role and beyond. His top three product management qualities to look for in any product person includes:

• Technical Skills: When talking about software (or websites and applications) you need to be comfortable understanding and knowing how the technology works. It doesn't mean you need to be a software engineer, but, you need to know about the technical inner workings of the product itself.
• Industry Domain: Products vary from industry, market, country. You'll have an advantage if you understand your target market, customer, and product market.
• Communication Skills: As a product manager, you're going to spend most of your time communicating rather than executing. You need to know how to talk to all different types of people from all different departments and beyond. It's the 80/20 rule.

Click the link to find out more about, The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager, a book inspired by the learnings and curriculum of Product School.

To get more insights on product management visit Product School to see their events or join their free Slack Community. To connect with Carlos, find him on LinkedIn.

Founder of Portigal Consulting, Steve Portigal, talks about user research, books, and how much there is to learn about people on today's episode. Located just outside of San Francisco in Pacifica, CA, you'll find Steve's consultancy. Here, he aims to help companies harness the strategic power of user research. In this episode, Steve provides his expertise and thoughts on how to uncover compelling insights with customers. He mentions how important it is to leave your worldview at the door when you're studying other people. Steve also explains the "art" of asking the right question and how it's both a science and art form. Finally, you'll hear practical product manager career advice to get you to the next level.

Click the link to find out more about Steve's most recent book Doorbells, Danger, and Dead Batteries: User Research War Stories. Use coupon code: PTCfriends for 20% off at checkout.

To get more user research advice, or to connect with Steve, visit his website http://www.portigal.com/ or find him on Twitter.

Founder and CEO at WorkFusion, Max Yankelevich, talks about his desire to build products people use. Max provides his thoughts on the AI revolution and its future. He also gives advice to entrepreneurs who want to work in the B2B space, provides a glance into a typical day at WorkFusion, and stresses the importance of being a customer-focused business. His advice: don't postpone the first contact with the customer; be iterative with your product.

On this podcast, I interviewed Adam Lasinky about his bestselling book,"Wild Ride, Inside Uber's Quest for World Domination". He discusses why he chose to take a close-up look at Uber's rise as a global tech business phenomenon. Adam reveals his brief stint as an Uber driver and how the drivers have made the company what it is today. He talks about the brilliance of Uber capitalizing on driver's assets (i.e. their cars), why no entrepreneur should try to be Travis Kalanick, and the future of technology.

Head of Product at Amplitude, Justin Bauer, talks about his non-traditional path to becoming a rising star in Silicon Valley's Product Management scene. Justin provides some insightful advice on analyzing data to make an outstanding product. He also talks bout being distinctive in your product management career, a typical day at Amplitude, and the importance of listening to customer needs.