Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover concrete, actionable, and tactical advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.

Krithika Shankarraman was the first marketing hire at OpenAI and Stripe and led marketing at Retool. At OpenAI, she established marketing foundations for ChatGPT for consumers and enterprises, as well as their developer API platform. While at Stripe, she spent over eight years building and scaling their marketing function from scratch. An engineer turned marketer, Krithika brings a uniquely analytical approach to marketing. She currently serves as Entrepreneur in Residence at Thrive Capital, where she helps portfolio companies on all things marketing.What you will learn:1. Why do most marketing playbooks often fail, and what’s a better way?2. Which marketing lever should I pull first?3. Why is trying to be better than competitors usually a losing strategy?4. How do I craft positioning that actually converts?5. What makes messaging stick with developers, enterprises, and consumers?6. What pricing experiments actually move revenue?7. What is working at OpenAI really like?8. Why does consistency and quality matter more than speed?—Brought to you by:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.geteppo.com/">Eppo</a> — Run reliable, impactful experiments<a target="_blank" href="https://www.airtable.com/lenny">Airtable ProductCentral</a>—Launch to new heights with a unified system for product development<a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/podlenny">LinkedIn Ads</a>—Reach professionals and drive results for your business—Where to find Krithika Shankarraman:• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/krithix">https://x.com/krithix</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/krithix/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/krithix/</a>• Website: <a target="_blank" href="https://krithix.com/">https://krithix.com/</a>—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com</a>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/lennysan">https://twitter.com/lennysan</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/</a>—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Krithika(04:22) Early marketing lessons from OpenAI(11:17) Diagnosing marketing needs(15:06) The DATE framework and why being cheaper is a race to the bottom(17:11) Marketing strategies at Retool(22:29) Insights from marketing at Stripe(32:33) The importance of consistent marketing communication(39:55) Criteria for hiring a marketing expert(41:43) “Capital M” vs. “lowercase m” marketing(43:05) ChatGPT vs. 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 round and final thoughts—Referenced:• OpenAI: <a target="_blank" href="https://openai.com/">https://openai.com/</a>• Stripe: <a target="_blank" href="https://stripe.com/">https://stripe.com/</a>• Retool: <a target="_blank" href="https://retool.com/">https://retool.com/</a>• Dropbox: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/">https://www.dropbox.com/</a>• Sam Altman talks about his business model: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnyjxgFxew">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLnyjxgFxew</a>• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-art-and-science-of-pricing-madhavan</a>• Pricing your SaaS product: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy</a>• Netflix: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netflix.com/">https://www.netflix.com/</a>• Stripe Connect: <a target="_blank" href="https://stripe.com/connect">https://stripe.com/connect</a>• John Collison on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/collision">https://x.com/collision</a>• Patrick Collison on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/patrickc">https://x.com/patrickc</a>• Cristina Cordova on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajcordova/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristinajcordova/</a>• Hackpad: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackpad">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackpad</a>• Building Wiz: the fastest-growing startup in history | Raaz Herzberg (CMO and VP Product Strategy): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-wiz-raaz-herzberg">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-wiz-raaz-herzberg</a>• Wiz: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wiz.io/">https://www.wiz.io/</a>• Thrive Capital: <a target="_blank" href="https://thrivecap.com/">https://thrivecap.com/</a>• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach</a>• Claude: <a target="_blank" href="https://claude.ai/new">https://claude.ai/new</a>• ChatGPT: <a target="_blank" href="https://chatgpt.com/">https://chatgpt.com/</a>• Lessons from scaling Stripe | Claire Hughes Johnson (former COO of Stripe): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-stripe-tactics</a>• Databricks: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.databricks.com/">https://www.databricks.com/</a>• Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch</a>• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook</a>• OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai</a>• April Dunford on product positioning, segmentation, and optimizing your sales process: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/april-dunford-on-product-positioning">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/april-dunford-on-product-positioning</a>• A step-by-step guide to crafting a sales pitch that wins | April Dunford (author of Obviously Awesome and Sales Pitch): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/a-step-by-step-guide-to-crafting</a>• Severance on AppleTV+: <a target="_blank" href="https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/">https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance/</a>• Granola: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.granola.ai/">https://www.granola.ai/</a>• Some people think AI writing has a tell—the em dash. Writers disagree: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/09/ai-em-dash-writing-punctuation-chatgpt/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/04/09/ai-em-dash-writing-punctuation-chatgpt/</a>—Recommended books:• Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning So Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005">https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005</a>• Circe: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Circe-Madeline-Miller/dp/0316556327/">https://www.amazon.com/Circe-Madeline-Miller/dp/0316556327/</a>—Production and marketing by <a target="_blank" href="https://penname.co/">https://penname.co/</a>. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:podcast@lennyrachitsky.com">podcast@lennyrachitsky.com</a>.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe</a>

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Growth tactics from OpenAI and Stripe’s first marketer | Krithika Shankarraman

Mayur Kamat is the chief product officer at N26—a $9 billion neobank serving over 7 million customers in 25 countries—where he leads product, design, data, and research. Prior to N26, Mayur was Head of Product at Binance, growing the crypto exchange to a peak $400 billion valuation. Earlier in his career, he built and scaled products at Google (Gmail Mobile, Hangouts), Microsoft, and travel unicorn Agoda.Learn:1. How to find and focus on the highest-leverage problems2. Why you shouldn’t optimize for compensation early in your career3. Why you should optimize for strengths, not weaknesses4. Why you need to decide if you truly want the C-suite path5. Why working at a fintech company creates exceptional PMs6. Strategy = hypothesis × experimentation velocity7. Small, fast wins compound faster than big, slow bets—Brought to you by:• <a target="_blank" href="https://workos.com/lenny">WorkOS</a>—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.useparagon.com/lenny">Paragon</a>—Ship every SaaS integration your customers want• <a target="_blank" href="https://vanta.com/lenny">Vanta</a>—Automate compliance. Simplify security.—Where to find Mayur Kamat:• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/5degreez">https://x.com/5degreez</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayur/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayur/</a>—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com</a>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/lennysan">https://twitter.com/lennysan</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/</a>—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction and Mayur’s background(04:49) Working at Binance: An inside look(18:18) Career advice for product managers(27:00) PM career paths(33:58) Understanding fintech customers(36:00) Understanding your strengths(44:46) Creating a culture of experimentation(51:14) Hiring and developing top talent(54:50) Building a diverse product portfolio(57:08) Working in high talent density areas(59:43) Personal and professional balance(01:06:32) High-leverage opportunities and decision making(01:14:28) AI tools in the workplace(01:19:14) Failure corner(01:25:11) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Binance: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.binance.us/">https://www.binance.us/</a>• Google: <a target="_blank" href="https://about.google/">https://about.google/</a>• Microsoft: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/">https://www.microsoft.com/</a>• Agoda: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.agoda.com">https://www.agoda.com</a>• N26: <a target="_blank" href="https://n26.com/">https://n26.com/</a>• Which companies accelerate PM careers most: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm</a>• Which companies produce the best product managers: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best</a>• Bezos Says Work-Life Balance is a “Debilitating” Phrase: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.investopedia.com/news/bezos-says-worklife-balance-debilitating-phrase/">https://www.investopedia.com/news/bezos-says-worklife-balance-debilitating-phrase/</a>• Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html">https://www.simplypsychology.org/maslow.html</a>• PayPal Mafia: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PayPal_Mafia</a>• Changpeng Zhao on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpzhao/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/cpzhao/</a>• Ray Dalio on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/raydalio/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/raydalio/</a>• Porter’s five forces: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter%27s_five_forces_analysis">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porter%27s_five_forces_analysis</a>• Jonathan Rosenberg on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/jjrosenberg">https://x.com/jjrosenberg</a>• Aura: <a target="_blank" href="https://buy.aura.com/">https://buy.aura.com/</a>• Intercom: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.intercom.com/">https://www.intercom.com/</a>• Palantir: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.palantir.com/">https://www.palantir.com/</a>• Revolut: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.revolut.com/">https://www.revolut.com/</a>• Chime: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.chime.com/">https://www.chime.com/</a>• Stripe: <a target="_blank" href="https://stripe.com/">https://stripe.com/</a>• Dropbox: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/">https://www.dropbox.com/</a>• Alex Algard on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalgard">https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexalgard</a>• Hiya: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hiya.com/">https://www.hiya.com/</a>• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach</a>• Gemini: <a target="_blank" href="https://gemini.google.com/app">https://gemini.google.com/app</a>• Writer: <a target="_blank" href="https://writer.com/">https://writer.com/</a>• Google Hangouts: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Hangouts">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Hangouts</a>• Sundar Pichai on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarpichai/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarpichai/</a>• Google Meet: <a target="_blank" href="https://meet.google.com/landing?pli=1">https://meet.google.com/landing</a>• House on Hulu: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hulu.com/series/ef39603f-eb90-4248-8237-f6168d7c1be1">https://www.hulu.com/series/ef39603f-eb90-4248-8237-f6168d7c1be1</a>• Big Bang Theory on Hulu: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hulu.com/series/9bde5aeb-5297-4290-b173-19a4d59cc11d">https://www.hulu.com/series/9bde5aeb-5297-4290-b173-19a4d59cc11d</a>• Adolescence on Netflix: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81756069">https://www.netflix.com/title/81756069</a>• The White Lotus on HBO: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus">https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus</a>• Robinhood: <a target="_blank" href="https://robinhood.com/us/en/">https://robinhood.com/us/en/</a>• Nikita Bier’s post on X about Bible Chat: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1915252215507210349">https://x.com/nikitabier/status/1915252215507210349</a>• Bible Chat: <a target="_blank" href="https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bible-chat-daily-devotional/id6448849666?mt=8">https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bible-chat-daily-devotional/id6448849666?mt=8</a>• Suno: <a target="_blank" href="https://suno.com/home">https://suno.com/home</a>• Disfrutar: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.disfrutarbarcelona.com/">https://www.disfrutarbarcelona.com/</a>—Recommended books:• StrengthsFinder 2.0: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X">https://www.amazon.com/StrengthsFinder-2-0-Tom-Rath/dp/159562015X</a>• The 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Types-Wealth-Transformative-Guide-Design/dp/059372318X">https://www.amazon.com/Types-Wealth-Transformative-Guide-Design/dp/059372318X</a>—Production and marketing by <a target="_blank" href="https://penname.co/">https://penname.co/</a>. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:podcast@lennyrachitsky.com">podcast@lennyrachitsky.com</a>.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe</a>

Unconventional product lessons from Binance, N26, Google, more | Mayur Kamat (CPO at N26, ex-Binance Head of Product)

Aparna Chennapragada is the chief product officer of experiences and devices at Microsoft, where she oversees AI product strategy for their productivity tools and work on agents. Previously, she was the CPO at Robinhood, spent 12 years at Google, and is also on the board of eBay and Capital One.What you’ll learn:1. How “prompt sets are the new PRDs” and why prototyping with AI is now essential for effective product development2. The three key characteristics of AI agents: autonomy (delegation of tasks), complexity (handling multi-step challenges), and natural interaction (conversing beyond simple chat)3. Why NLX (natural language experience) is the new UX, requiring deliberate design principles for conversational interfaces4. Why the PM role isn’t dying in the AI era—it’s evolving to emphasize tastemaking and editing5. How living “one year in the future” can be operationalized with programs like Microsoft’s Frontier6. How even traditional enterprises can balance cutting-edge AI adoption with appropriate governance through dual-track approaches7. Insights on leadership differences between Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (known for multi-level thinking and early trendspotting) and Google’s Sundar Pichai (mastery of complex ecosystems)8. The vision for human and AI collaboration in the workplace, where people and agents achieve outcomes greater than either could alone9. A practical framework for evaluating zero-to-one product opportunities—Brought to you by:<a target="_blank" href="https://www.geteppo.com/">Eppo</a>—Run reliable, impactful experiments<a target="_blank" href="https://pragmaticinstitute.com/lenny">Pragmatic Institute</a>—Industry‑recognized product, marketing, and AI training and certifications<a target="_blank" href="https://coda.io/lenny">Coda</a>—The all-in-one collaborative workspace—Where to find Aparna Chennapragada:• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/aparnacd">https://x.com/aparnacd</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aparnacd/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/aparnacd/</a>—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com</a>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/lennysan">https://twitter.com/lennysan</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/</a>—In this episode, we cover:(00:00) Introduction to Aparna Chennapragada(04:28) Aparna’s stand-up comedy journey(07:29) Transition to Microsoft and enterprise insights(10:00) The Frontier program and AI integration(13:28) Understanding AI agents(17:59) NLX is the new UX(22:28) The future of product development(31:16) Building a custom Chrome extension(35:45) Leadership styles of Satya and Sundar(37:47) Counterintuitive lessons in product building(41:20) Inflection points for successful products(45:16) GitHub Copilot and code generation(48:34) Excel’s enduring success(50:27) Pivotal career moments(54:55) The future of human-agent collaboration(56:25) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Google Lens: <a target="_blank" href="https://lens.google/">https://lens.google/</a>• Saturday Night Live: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live">https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live</a>• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/reidhoffman/</a>• Robinhood: <a target="_blank" href="https://robinhood.com/">https://robinhood.com/</a>• eBay: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ebay.com/">https://www.ebay.com/</a>• Capital One: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.capitalone.com/">https://www.capitalone.com/</a>• Microsoft: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/">https://www.microsoft.com/</a>• Aparna’s LinkedIn post about enterprise vs. consumer: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aparnacd_every-enterprise-user-feature-has-a-shadow-activity-7321176091610542080-8X-E/">https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aparnacd_every-enterprise-user-feature-has-a-shadow-activity-7321176091610542080-8X-E/</a>• The Epic Split: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epic_Split">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epic_Split</a>• AI Frontiers: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/ai-frontiers/">https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/lab/ai-frontiers/</a>• OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/kevin-weil-open-ai</a>• Deepseek: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.deepseek.com/">https://www.deepseek.com/</a>• Satya Nadella on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/satyanadella/</a>• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/tobi-lutkes-leadership-playbook</a>• Tobi Lütke’s post on X about reflexive AI: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/tobi/status/1909251946235437514">https://x.com/tobi/status/1909251946235437514</a>• GitHub Copilot: <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/features/copilot">https://github.com/features/copilot</a>• Sundar Pichai on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarpichai/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/sundarpichai/</a>• South Park “Underwear Gnomes” episode: <a target="_blank" href="https://southpark.cc.com/episodes/13y790/south-park-gnomes-season-2-ep-17">https://southpark.cc.com/episodes/13y790/south-park-gnomes-season-2-ep-17</a>• Google Home: <a target="_blank" href="https://home.google.com/welcome/">https://home.google.com/welcome/</a>• Cursor: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cursor.com/">https://www.cursor.com/</a>• v0: <a target="_blank" href="https://v0.dev/">https://v0.dev/</a>• Bolt: <a target="_blank" href="https://bolt.new/">https://bolt.new/</a>• Lovable: <a target="_blank" href="https://lovable.dev/">https://lovable.dev/</a>• Replit: <a target="_blank" href="https://replit.com/">https://replit.com/</a>• Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months—one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder and CEO of StackBlitz): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-bolt-eric-simons</a>• Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (CEO and co-founder): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika</a>• Everyone’s an engineer now: Inside v0’s mission to create a hundred million builders | Guillermo Rauch (founder and CEO of Vercel, creators of v0 and Next.js): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/everyones-an-engineer-now-guillermo-rauch</a>• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell</a>• Behind the product: Replit | Amjad Masad (co-founder and CEO): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/behind-the-product-replit-amjad-masad</a>• Microsoft Excel World Championship: <a target="_blank" href="https://fmworldcup.com/microsoft-excel-world-championship/">https://fmworldcup.com/microsoft-excel-world-championship/</a>• Google Now: <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Now">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Now</a>• Hacks on Max: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.max.com/shows/hacks/67e940b7-aab2-46ce-a62b-c7308cde9de7">https://www.max.com/shows/hacks/67e940b7-aab2-46ce-a62b-c7308cde9de7</a>• Granola: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.granola.ai/">https://www.granola.ai/</a>• Alan Kay quote: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alan_kay_100831">https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/alan_kay_100831</a>• Sindhu Vee’s website: <a target="_blank" href="https://sindhuvee.com/">https://sindhuvee.com/</a>• Nate Bargatze’s website: <a target="_blank" href="https://natebargatze.com/">https://natebargatze.com/</a>—Recommended book:• A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Intelligence-Evolution-Breakthroughs/dp/0063286351">https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-Intelligence-Evolution-Breakthroughs/dp/0063286351</a>—Production and marketing by <a target="_blank" href="https://penname.co/">https://penname.co/</a>. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:podcast@lennyrachitsky.com">podcast@lennyrachitsky.com</a>.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe</a>

Microsoft CPO: If you aren’t prototyping with AI you’re doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada

Dmitry Zlokazov is the head of product at Revolut, the $45 billion fintech giant operating in over 50 countries, serving more than 50 million customers, and producing some of the world’s top product leaders. Dmitry shares his hard-won lessons, contrarian org design principles, and day-to-day practices that power Revolut’s relentless shipping velocity, culture of ownership, and unparalleled “wow” product experience.What you’ll learn:1. Revolut’s unique organizational approach, where “product owners” manage cross-functional pods as “local CEOs,” with genuine end-to-end ownership and hiring/firing power2. How a radical, ultra-flat structure enables more than 150 product owners to maintain founder-level quality and velocity across dozens of parallel launches3. How Revolut maintains quality while shipping hundreds of features across over 50 countries4. Why Revolut favors “raw intellect and hunger” over experience, and how internal transfers (including ex-engineers and ops managers) become the company’s most successful product leaders5. How Revolut’s founders review every single UI shipped, and why this founder detail obsession scales rather than limits innovation6. Their framework for launching new products—from ideation, validation, and first user cohort to rapid “algorithmization” and scaling across countries7. The importance of treating products that are 99% done as closer to 0% done, vs. 100% done—This entire episode is brought to you by <a target="_blank" href="https://stripe.com/">Stripe</a>—Helping companies of all sizes grow revenue.—Where to find Dmitry Zlokazov:• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/Dzlokazov">https://x.com/Dzlokazov</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zlokazov/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/zlokazov/</a>—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com</a>• X: <a target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/lennysan">https://twitter.com/lennysan</a>• LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/</a>—In this episode, we cover:(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE">00:00</a>) Introduction to Dmitry and Revolut(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=221s">03:41</a>) Revolut’s unique approach to product management(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=418s">06:58</a>) The role and responsibilities of product owners(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=568s">09:28</a>) Types of product owners at Revolut(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=950s">15:50</a>) Building “wow” products(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=1500s">25:00</a>) Hiring practices(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=1893s">31:33</a>) Managing teams and projects(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=2467s">41:07</a>) Revolut’s diverse product offerings(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=2680s">44:40</a>) Scaling new products successfully(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=3130s">52:10</a>) Attracting top talent(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=3523s">58:43</a>) Failure corner(<a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kPpd21bFrE&t=3769s">01:02:49</a>) Lightning round and final thoughts—Referenced:• Revolut: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.revolut.com/">https://www.revolut.com/</a>• Intercom: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.intercom.com/">https://www.intercom.com/</a>• Palantir: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.palantir.com/">https://www.palantir.com/</a>• Which companies produce the best product managers: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-produce-the-best</a>• Which companies accelerate PM careers most: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/which-companies-accelerate-your-pm</a>• Deliver WOW to our customers: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.revolut.com/blog/post/deliver-wow/">https://www.revolut.com/blog/post/deliver-wow/</a>• Nik Storonsky on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nstoronsky">https://www.linkedin.com/in/nstoronsky</a>• Vlad Yatsenko on LinkedIn: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatsenko/">https://www.linkedin.com/in/yatsenko/</a>• How Palantir built the ultimate founder factory | Nabeel S. Qureshi (entrepreneur and writer, ex-Palantir): <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-palantir-nabeel-qureshi">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-palantir-nabeel-qureshi</a>• Gokul Rajaram on designing your product development process, when and how to hire your first PM, a playbook for hiring leaders, getting ahead in you career, how to get started angel investing, more: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/gokul-rajaram-on-designing-your-product">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/gokul-rajaram-on-designing-your-product</a>• Gokul Rajaram on X: <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/gokulr">https://x.com/gokulr</a>• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach">https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach</a>• Schlep blindness: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html">https://www.paulgraham.com/schlep.html</a>• Revolut Launches RevPoints Loyalty Programme, Turning Daily Expenses into Exclusive Rewards: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_launches_revpoints_loyalty_programme_turning_daily_expenses_into_exclusive_rewards/">https://www.revolut.com/news/revolut_launches_revpoints_loyalty_programme_turning_daily_expenses_into_exclusive_rewards/</a>• Gemini: <a target="_blank" href="https://gemini.google.com/">https://gemini.google.com/</a>• ChatGPT: <a target="_blank" href="https://chatgpt.com/">https://chatgpt.com/</a>• Figma: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.figma.com/">https://www.figma.com/</a>• Oppenheimer: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/">https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15398776/</a>• Manus: <a target="_blank" href="https://manus.im/">https://manus.im/</a>• Eisenhower quote: <a target="_blank" href="https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/18/planning/">https://quoteinvestigator.com/2017/11/18/planning/</a>• Wealth protection: <a target="_blank" href="https://help.revolut.com/help/security-logging-in/wealth-protection/what-is-wealth-protection/">https://help.revolut.com/help/security-logging-in/wealth-protection/what-is-wealth-protection/</a>—Recommended books:• The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business when There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205">https://www.amazon.com/Hard-Thing-About-Things-Building/dp/0062273205</a>• Build: An Unorthodox Guide to Making Things Worth Making―Personal Journey from Product Designer to Mentor: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Build-Unorthodox-Guide-Making-Things/dp/0063046067">https://www.amazon.com/Build-Unorthodox-Guide-Making-Things/dp/0063046067</a>—Production and marketing by <a target="_blank" href="https://penname.co/">https://penname.co/</a>. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email <a target="_blank" href="mailto:podcast@lennyrachitsky.com">podcast@lennyrachitsky.com</a>.—Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_2">www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe</a>

How Revolut trains world-class product managers: The “local CEO” model, raw intellect over experience, and a cultural obsession with building wow products | Dmitry Zlokazov (Head of Product)

Lenny Rachitsky

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career by Lenny Rachitsky

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