Unsolicited Feedback

This week on "Unsolicited Feedback," host Fareed Mosavat welcomed Penelope Talbot-Kelly, GM of Platform & Services at DoorDash, and Austin Hays, a veteran in CRM and Martech, to discuss the buzzing rumors about Google potentially acquiring HubSpot.

Austin previously joined us to chat about HubSpot’s acquisition of Clearbit. Well, he’s back to help us delve deeper into what this new merger could mean for the CRM landscape and digital marketing tools.

Join us at Unsolicitedfeedback.co for a full summary!

Ever wondered how a game as old as chess could become a global sensation in the digital age? The answer lies in the power of product, growth, and, more recently, AI.

In our latest episode of Unsolicited Feedback, Joff Redfern and Fareed Mosavat had an insightful conversation with Erik Allebest, CEO of Chess.com. This episode explores the intersection of technology, human behavior, and ethics in the world of online chess, focusing on how Chess.com leverages AI to revolutionize the game while confronting challenges like cheating and maintaining a fair competitive environment. Insights from the platform's journey illuminate broader lessons in innovation, user engagement, ethical considerations, and growth strategy.

In today’s episode of Unsolicited Feedback, Fareed Mosavat, Joff Redfern, and Kipp Bodnar delve into the meteoric rise of Martech tools and the transformative role of AI, with a special focus on the innovative video creation platform, HeyGen. This discussion is very valuable for anyone leading marketing efforts in 2024 and beyond. 🌠

The bottom line: We're currently optimizing AI tools to enhance conversion rates, yet we're still waiting for a new distribution channel to emerge. Could this change be on the horizon?

Full summary is available at UnsolicitedFeedback.co

LinkedIn is reportedly working on in-app games, a move that has ignited a wide range of opinions. In our latest episode of Unsolicited Feedback, co-hosts Joff Redfern and Fareed Mosavat, joined by HubSpot CMO Kipp Bodnar, delved into this topic.

We’ve shared our thoughts below, and we’d love to hear yours! Tune in next Thursday for more Unsolicited Feedback, where we’ll discuss the growing surge of martech tools.

Context: LinkedIn is testing the gamification waters, with companies ranked based on their employees' gaming scores. The company has confirmed these rumors, though we've only seen a few early screenshots. The games, a mix of puzzles and mini-games, seem reminiscent of the New York Times' daily games. But the question remains: is this what LinkedIn users need or want?

Full summary is available here!

In Part 2, of our Unsolicited Feedback with Adam Nash, CEO of Daffy, co-hosts Joff Redfern & Fareed Mosavat dove deep into the world of fintech, exploring the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

To frame the conversation, Adam looked to the past, revisiting Clay Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma.

For a full summary of the episode's takeaways, join us at UnsolicitedFeedback.co.

0:00 Introduction & AI's Impact on Fintech

17:31 Importance of Understanding Competitors

19:40 Adam's Spicy Take

28:09 Return to Value Creation

36:41 Revisiting Clay Christensen's Innovator's Dilemma

41:50 Innovator's Dilemma Applied to Fintech

On the latest episode of Unsolicited Feedback, hosts Fareed Mosavat and Joff Redfern are joined by the esteemed Adam Nash, CEO and Co-Founder of Daffy, a philanthropic platform championing the concept that everyone should get in the habit of giving back. Adam's illustrious career spans across tech giants like Greylock, Dropbox, LinkedIn, eBay, and Apple, and he's widely recognized for his insightful contributions on his blog, PsychoHistory.

Our journey begins with a nostalgic look at the pioneering days at LinkedIn and eBay, where we discuss the intricacies of process creation and leadership dynamics.

Stay tuned for our upcoming episode where we'll delve into the Fintech sphere, diving into the nuances of prioritization and competitive analysis.

Full summary of the takeaways and links to Adam's infamous blog can be found at Unsolicitedfeedback.co

We are joined by guest co-host Joff Redfern, Fareed Mosavat, and our guest Shaun Clowes. Today, we dive into two major stories: Devin and Reddit.

Join us at UnsolicitedFeedback.co for a full summary!

This week, Cognition Labs released a video showcasing it’s AI Coder, Devin. Devin promises to be able to handle complex programming tasks with the autonomy that you’d expect from a human coder. We thought it was worth diving into this new offering and delivering some Unsolicited Feedback.

Reddit, the front page of the internet, is finally going public and we have thoughts.

For absolute clarity, it is important to note that neither the podcast content nor this summary constitutes investment advice.

Let’s dive in.

This week, Fareed welcomed co-host Joff Redfern, Principle at Menlo VC and former CPO at Atlassian and guest Shaun Clowes, CPO at Confluent and former CPO of Mulesoft at Salesforce, CPO @ Metromile, and Head of Growth @ Atlassian.

This week’s Deep Dive drops Wednesday and we’re focused on Reddit & Cognition Lab’s Devin, but our riff this week is simply a classic happy hour conversation.

Fareed, Joff and Shaun cover a wide range of topics dropping some brilliant nuggets along the way. Enjoy!

For a summary of their takeaways, join us at UnsolicitedFeedback.co.

Casey Winters is back with Fareed Mosavat and our guest co-host, Ravi Mehta. In this episode, we're discussing two recent articles from Casey Accidental, Casey’s product & growth blog. In “Wood Grain Steering Wheels,” Casey writes about a misplaced prioritization pattern he sees time and time again. 

We delve into these prioritization challenges and explore Meta's impressive history of decisive prioritization.

Then, we jump into mishaps with second products - understanding signs of trouble and how to address them.

Lastly, we delve into the impact of organizational structure on product expansions, analyzing the reasoning behind Square's recent organizational shift.

For a full summary, join us at Unsolicitedfeedback.co.

Ravi Mehta teams up with Fareed Mosavat once more. This week, Ravi and Fareed are joined by Casey Winters, former CPO at Eventbrite and growth expert at Pinterest and Grubhub.

🔍 The Big Question for Today: Is consumer tech experiencing a resurgence? With the advent of AI, some believe we're on the brink of a consumer tech revolution. But is this really the case?

The Good News 🎉 People are spending more time online and are more willing than ever to try new products, including paid products. The days of freemium being the only way to acquire customers is seemingly behind us. And, the rise of AI has opened up exciting opportunities for product-minded founders to create value for consumers.

The Bad News 😬 The landscape is dominated by big players like Apple, Amazon, and Epic, making it hard for new entrants. Plus, the journey from seed stage to a mass-market consumer platform is long and fraught with risk. As a result, we’re still seeing few and far between VC backed consumer start ups. But, just because consumer is largely not investable, doesn’t mean it isn’t vibrant and growing.

What should founders or product leaders interested in consumer markets do? Check out a full summary of the takeaways at UnsolicitedFeedback.co.