Product&Growth Show

In Episode 98 of The Product and Growth Show, I sat down with Ivan Vasylchenko, tech entrepreneur and former COO of Trade Republic. Ivan joined the company when it was still called Neon Trading and helped scale it to over 10 million customers across 17 European countries with a $5B valuation. We talked about conviction in early-stage startups, scaling under extreme pressure during COVID, and what founders often get wrong about fintech growth stories.

What did we talk about?

- How Ivan went from finance consulting and hackathons to joining Trade Republic in its earliest days

- The dodgy beginnings of “Neon Trading” and why conviction mattered more than optics

- Building product-market fit through stock market games and waiting lists

- Foundational decisions that shaped Trade Republic: licensing, building tech in-house, and compliance

- Scaling from 10 to nearly 200 people during COVID and surviving explosive customer demand

- Why fintech growth isn’t just “breaking things fast” but about stamina and regulation

- Ivan’s current projects at the intersection of AI and fintech

Ivan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivan-vasylchenko/

In Episode 97 of The Product and Growth Show, I spoke with Geoff Stead, former CPO at Babbel and MyTutor. We discussed consumer apps, the impact of GenAI, and what it takes to find a new role as a CPO. Tune in!

What did we talk about?

- Balancing product promises and growth in a consumer app

- Building a product organization in a marketing-led consumer business

- Most exciting product challenges at Babbel and MyTutor

- Engagement ladders for consumer apps

- Advice for CPOs looking for a new role

Geoff on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffstead/

Last week, we sat down with Roman Apostol, co-founder of Mate Academy, to talk about business expansion, transitioning from a big corporation to a startup, and staying resilient.

Here’s what we covered:

- How did you transition from working at Google and Preply to joining Mate Academy?

- What is the Income Share Agreement (ISA) model, and how does it work at Mate Academy?

- Why did you decide to leave Google and move to Kyiv to work on Mate Academy?

- How did you scale Mate Academy from a small offline bootcamp to a global online platform?

- What were the biggest challenges in raising venture capital, and what objections did investors have?

- How do you balance operational scalability with maintaining quality in EdTech?

- What was the strategy behind expanding into new markets like Poland and Brazil?

- How do you differentiate Mate Academy from other coding bootcamps and online education platforms?

- What impact has the war in Ukraine had on running a business, and how do you maintain resilience?

- What books, podcasts, or insights have influenced your approach to leadership and scaling a startup?

Last weekend, we sat down with Mike to discuss his impressive product career (ex-Uber, Wise, Wolt) and talk about his experience in angel investing in early-stage startups.

Here's what we discussed:

- How Mike has chosen companies in his product career

- Picking a first product role today

- Job-hopping and when to leave a role quickly

- Did Mike expect Wise and Volt to grow so big?

- Wolt’s acquisition by DoorDash and post-merger changes

- Negotiating equity vs. salary in startup roles

- Growing a product career in a slowing market

- Why more operators become angel investors

- Mike’s worst investment and key lessons

- How Mike evaluates startups before investing

Follow Mike on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikeproduct/

Last week I had a chance to chat to Siddhi Mittal, a co-founder at yhangry (YC W22).

Here is what we discussed:

- Transitioning from a high six-figure trading job to entrepreneurship

- A non-traditional YC process

- Transitioning from an ops-led to a product-led organization

- Startup stagnation as a near-death experience

- Why generic advice never works

- Running fundraising as a discovery process

- Why the B2B2C angle is important for raising funds as a marketplace business

- How AI changes marketplace businesses

- The power of visualization for founders

Siddhi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/siddhimittal23/

- What makes companies grow?

- The importance of a common language in growth cultures

- A deep dive into Uber’s leaked documents

- How does the growth role differ from company to company?

- How to build a growth culture?

- All things being equal, why does one company grow faster than another?

- Can we state that companies with a strong culture actually grow faster?

- Differences between European and U.S. growth cultures

- What kind of impact do companies like Scale leave on individuals?

- How to get hired as a growth manager

- Practical tips and tricks for getting noticed by hiring managers

- The rise of micro-influencing in tech

Links:

Pavlo on Substack: https://pavlopedenko.substack.com/

Ross on Substack: https://rossongrowth.substack.com/

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with SMOK's Borys Musielak. We discussed early-stage funding, the unique strengths of CEE diaspora founders, and how FAANG experience can be both an advantage and a challenge for entrepreneurs. Tune in to learn more!

What did we cover?

- What does SMOK VC do?

- Why focus on CEE diaspora founders?

- What’s the difference between CEE founders and U.S. founders?

- Why doesn’t FAANG always produce good startup material?

- How much of SMOK’s deal flow comes from LinkedIn?

- What’s the most ridiculous pitch Borys has heard?

- Why is pattern matching important in VC?

- How can someone get into VC?

- Does founder-led growth actually exist?

- What was the biggest opportunity Borys missed?

- What is SMOK VC’s request for startups?

- What advice does Borys have for all early-stage founders?

Last week, we sat down with Guillaume Boniface-Chang, formerly of Synthesia and Google Search, to discuss the role of a Product Manager in AI-first companies, moats in AI, and more.

Topics covered:

- Synthesia: From Building New Technology to Finding Product-Market Fit

- What Differentiates AI PMs from Conventional Software PMs? The Role of a Research PM

- Synthesia’s Product Process

- What’s the Moat in AI?

- Why Positioning Is Important

- Why Scaling Compute Isn’t the Answer to LLM Challenges

- How to Stay on Top of the AI Hype

- Why Leave Google to Join a Startup?

- Why Developing a Personal Thesis Is Important for PMs

- How to Become an AI Product Manager

- Advice for Junior PMs

Follow Guillaume:

Twitter: https://x.com/guillaume_boni

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/guillaume-bonifacechang/

Last week I had a chance to chat with Jonathan Hey, former CPO at ZenEducate.

What we discussed:

- Is writing books more exciting than building products?

- Where does Jono’s love for sketching come from?

- How can PMs learn sketching to communicate their ideas more efficiently?

- The power of explaining ideas visually

- ZenEducate and the problem they are trying to solve

- Why building empathy matters, regardless of your domain

- How has ZenEducate’s product organization evolved?

- How do you build a product strategy for a growing startup?

- How do you balance what your investors want with what your customers want?

- How will AI disrupt edtech?

- Pasha is bragging about his experience trying to use AI avatars.

- The hardest problem Jono has had to solve at ZenEducate

- Why building what a spreadsheet does is not a trivial task

Jonathan on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonohey/

Jonathan's book: https://sketchplanations.com/

In episode 89, we talked to Rhys Spence, Head of Research at Brighteye Ventures, one of the most active edtech VC firms in Europe and the UK.

Here’s what we discussed:

- Hyperfocusing on a specific market might lead you to unicorn status; going to the U.S. is not the only path to success.

- How did Byju’s downturn impact edtech VCs?

- Why is building a unicorn in K-12 so challenging?

- Why are edtech funds broadening their investment theses?

- What sets VC-backed companies apart?

- Brighteye’s most successful investments

- Edtech companies to watch

- Defining momentum in edtech

- How do VCs determine if your team is capable?

- Why are generalists so hard to evaluate?

- Where is edtech headed from 2024 onward?

- Where edtech meets fintech

- The role of communities in edtech