Lenny Rachitsky

NOVEMBER 17, 2024

Wiz hit $100 million ARR within 18 months (the fastest growth in startup history) and, five years in, is generating over $500 million ARR. It also serves over 45% of the Fortune 100.

Startups

The Product Guy

JANUARY 12, 2025

Harpal discusses how founding his own startup and building an e-commerce recommendation engine helped him transition into product management. If youre looking to understand the shift from design to leadership, this episode is packed with valuable insights. Lessons from a Startup : Insights from launching and closing a tech venture.

Leadership

Productside

APRIL 2, 2025

Example: Sarah is a support manager at a fast-growing startup. Share it with leadership. Bringing Product Stories to Life Storyboarding is a leadership tool that helps product managers cut through confusion, align faster, and influence decisions that matter. Not a persona. Ask yourself: Who is this for? Whats frustrating them?

Data Visualization

The Product Guy

FEBRUARY 20, 2025

Leadership or investors push for short-term wins that conflict with the roadmap. Run structured stakeholder sessions to ensure leadership, engineering, and marketing teams remain aligned. Volunteer for early-stage startups or open-source projects to work on real product initiatives. How can I get hands-on experience?

Vision

Product Innovation Educators

FEBRUARY 17, 2025

While the role still requires strong leadership skills, the most successful product managers approach their work differently than what the “CEO of the product” phrase might suggest. As we’ll explore in this article, effective product management requires a unique blend of skills that goes beyond traditional leadership models.

Reporting Tools

The Product Guy

DECEMBER 6, 2024

He reflects on how getting feedback early can prevent costly mistakes and save precious time and resources, especially for startups with limited runway. Drew explains how, early in his career, he spent too much time making assumptions and building features before validating them with users.

Customer Experience

The Product Guy

APRIL 15, 2025

At this months TPG Live , we explored two of the most persistent challenges in product leadership: How do you build trust and alignment between enterprise users and buyers? How do hybrid product teams stay aligned and effective across time zones and work styles?

Customer Feedback

The Product Guy

AUGUST 6, 2025

And it’s already working: One PM just joined a Series A startup as their first product hire A VP I’ve gotten to know over time is now working with a leadership team I’ve trusted for years Four offers have been accepted , with dozens more conversations ongoing What Makes PM Select Different?

Leadership

The Product Guy

AUGUST 1, 2025

Whether you lead a team, coach aspiring PMs, or want better mentorship for yourself, this episode reframes what “support” really means in product leadership. It’s about creating the space, structure, and clarity for product managers to grow on their own terms.

Leadership

Product Talk

JULY 9, 2025

And today, we’re going to look at the same topic, but from a leadership and stakeholder standpoint. I run these monthly product leadership discussions , and I think they’re all about missing strategic context. I experienced this when I became a startup CEO. Teresa Torres: Definitely. This is a huge one. All of them.

Product Research

Lenny Rachitsky

FEBRUARY 2, 2025

Tobi remains deeply technical, frequently coding alongside his team, and is known for his unique approach to leadership, product development, and company building. Starting as a snowboard shop in 2004, Shopify has become the leading commerce platform by consistently approaching problems differently. Is it dissatisfaction with the status quo?

Leadership

Lenny Rachitsky

NOVEMBER 12, 2024

Hide, ignore, and automate Slack 😑 Unfair: In my experience, PMs get tagged on Slack far more than any other role in a startup. (OK, ” For example, if a UX writer identifies an impending design conflict and corrals multiple product teams to reconcile it, make sure they know how much you appreciate their leadership.

Product Research

People-First Product Leadership

FEBRUARY 4, 2025

I am leveraging my product background in both coaching and advising AI-driven startups. Network Persistently : I stayed in touch with a startup recruiter for six months before landing my first PM-adjacent role. People-First Leadership is a reader-supported publication. AI-Enhanced Preparation : Contribute to SelfActualize.ai

Data Visualization

Lenny Rachitsky

MAY 27, 2025

Our analysis examines several dimensions of tech worker sentiment, including career outlook, role satisfaction, burnout, quitting intentions, career path clarity, leadership effectiveness, work setup preferences, and more. Leadership impacts virtually all worker sentiment dimension s. Workers with extremely effective leadership are 8.2

Technical Review

People-First Product Leadership

JULY 8, 2025

Translation: most of your leadership moves happen before your conscious mind can say, "Is this still useful?" I recommend updating your leadership OS. I witnessed this with a product leader client in a toxic education startup. He joined another startup through networking. The implications for leadership are significant.

Leadership

The Product Guy

APRIL 18, 2025

This ones all about the nuance of listening how to hear what users really need, not just what they say.

Customer Feedback

Lenny Rachitsky

MAY 20, 2025

Along the way, he helped Square scale from a late-stage pre-IPO startup to $3.6 Prior to Square, Saumil was a startup founder for LocBox, a marketing automation company that was acquired by Square in 2015. Prior to Square, Saumil was a startup founder for LocBox, a marketing automation company that was acquired by Square in 2015.

Weak Development Team

People-First Product Leadership

APRIL 15, 2025

After two decades leading product teams and coaching countless PMs, I've discovered something surprising: The issue isn't your strategic thinking abilities - it's navigating the unspoken rules that shape product leadership. A client joined a Series B startup as a senior PM and quickly received feedback that she wasn't being strategic enough.

User Testing

Lenny Rachitsky

MAY 25, 2025

Claude: market dominance ( 45:31 ) The future of AI and its societal impact ( 47:09 ) Work-life balance ( 48:41 ) Transitioning to Thrive ( 52:35 ) Career advice for marketers ( 55:00 ) The importance of taste and creativity in the AI era ( 01:00:04 ) AI product pricing ( 01:03:21 ) AI tools in marketing ( 01:05:17 ) Failure corner ( 01:08:46 ) Lightning (..)

Analytic Tools

Sequent Learning

OCTOBER 29, 2024

Unlike startups, where speed and flexibility are prioritized, larger companies must balance innovation with operational efficiency and risk management. Proactively addressing these risks can also build trust with leadership and increase buy-in for new initiatives.

User Testing

Userpilot

APRIL 24, 2025

Millions of companies, from the worlds largest enterprises to the most ambitious startups, use Stripe to accept payments, grow their revenue, and accelerate new business opportunities. Someone who thrives in cross-functional environments and can influence senior leadership through data-driven insights.

Research Software

The Product Guy

AUGUST 8, 2025

Too many agile teams mistake movement for momentum. Backlogs get longer, everyone is busy, but the product is not moving forward. In this episode, Drew Falkman (Principal at Moves The Needle) explains why unordered work quietly slows teams down and how simple, ruthless prioritization can unlock real progress without adding unnecessary process.

Agile

UX Planet

JULY 17, 2025

I had no dev team, no startup budget — just a clear understanding of the problem, a few AI tools, and the instincts of a designer. As AI removes technical bottlenecks, designers aren’t just stepping into builder roles — they’re stepping into product leadership. But what surprised me most wasn’t the launch.

Data Visualization

BrainMates

JUNE 17, 2025

A leadership team wants sharper focus. Visibility isn’t just for leadership. It’s time to move from box-ticking to behaviour-shifting. Start small. Anchor to strategy. Measure what matters. Because OKRs only work when they’re lived — not just listed. It usually starts with good intentions. They want better alignment across departments.

Systems Review

People-First Product Leadership

JANUARY 21, 2025

In this article, which originally appeared in Mind the Product , I share 5 strategies to master product leadership in 2025. People-First Leadership is a reader-supported publication. When you’re on a bike, you’re constantly adjusting resistance based on the class or terrain, just like we adapt our leadership approach.

Leadership

People-First Product Leadership

AUGUST 13, 2025

Why Traditional Leadership Approaches Are Failing Every company, including startups, has tech debt. ” Share People-First Leadership One Thing AI Can't Imitate While AI excels at finding patterns in existing data, it struggles with true creativity. Explore my product leadership collection on Wizly. Let’s talk.

Research Software

Lenny Rachitsky

MARCH 18, 2025

Your startup may be producing the best PMs ever—we just won’t know this yet. It’s the only company to rank in the top 10 on all four dimensions (1st in promotions internally, 5th in promotions externally, 7th in fastest to promotion, and 9th in fastest rise to leadership). More like Win-tech. Read more

Product Management

People-First Product Leadership

MARCH 18, 2025

By embracing wonder, we can transform our leadership approach and unlock our team's full potential. This disconnect illustrates how following a "recipe" for leadership without truly considering and adapting to your team can lead to undesired results. Bringing Wonder to Your Organization How to infuse wonder into your leadership?

Leadership

The Product Guy

JULY 16, 2025

Product managers are now expected to be not only customer-obsessed but also data-fluent. In this episode, Jenna Gaudio shares essential insights on how modern PMs must evolve their skillsets to handle massive data flows, navigate regulations, and responsibly craft intelligent product experiences.

Data Visualization

Lenny Rachitsky

MARCH 6, 2025

When building horizontal products: Start with a clear, compelling use case that gives you broad distribution (like docs/notes) Hide your broader vision inside something people already understand and want Balance between “Lego bricks” (foundational capabilities) and “Lego boxes” (packaged solutions) Recognize that different segments (..)

Feedback Software

Lenny Rachitsky

MAY 6, 2025

” and “Whose opinion does the leadership team value most?” I’m curious—what experiences have most shaped your philosophy toward product leadership?” The leadership team bought into the future she helped them envision. ” The answers might surprise you. Understand what drives them.

Development Team Review

Alchemer Mobile

AUGUST 12, 2025

From SaaS startups to tech support teams, Shep helps businesses turn good service into unforgettable loyalty. Rashim Mogha – Technology Thought Leader   Rashim Mogha blends leadership, tech strategy, and DEI into a fresh CX perspective—especially in B2B environments. Connect on LinkedIn Collier Company 7.

Feedback Software

The Product Coalition

OCTOBER 27, 2024

In startups, for example, things are so dynamic that it sometimes feels irrelevant to plan too far ahead. But it’s not always possible. I would still recommend applying the process there, too, but if management isn’t with you, you might struggle to do so.

Healthcare

Lenny Rachitsky

OCTOBER 31, 2024

Shreyas is known for his incredibly insightful writing on products, which has garnered him a passionate following in the PM and startup community. Last week, we sat down together at the very first Lenny and Friends Summit in San Francisco for a special live episode.

B2B

UX Planet

JUNE 20, 2025

The $10B blueprint: Beyond Code & Canvas, how AI-Driven thinking will shape the next era of leadership Introduction: Not Just Pixels, But Power What if the future CEO of a trillion-dollar company is someone who blends creativity, systems thinking, and human empathy, with the power of AI? We’re not just talking about how AI affects design.

Research Software

The Product Guy

JULY 25, 2025

When stepping into a new product team, it’s easy to fall into the trap of proving yourself by owning everything , including responsibilities that shouldn’t fall on you.

Strategy

Product Innovation Educators

DECEMBER 30, 2024

He has 30+ years of professional experience in product and leadership roles across large and small organizations and dynamic startups, and now devotes his time to teaching and helping others improve. Chads Bio Chad McAllister, PhD, is a product management professor, practitioner, trainer, and host of the Product Mastery Now podcast.

User Testing