Apollo.io

I lead several product teams, including the growth team, pricing & packaging, activation, expansion, information architecture, acquisition, and engagement. We are building the world's best sales technology platform. Try out our amazing prospecting & email sequence features today! They are the best out there.

VP of Product

Affirm

Member of the senior product leadership team. Oversaw company revenue growth from $300M to $1.2B/year.

I led the growth & engagement product areas:

- Grew App MAU ~3.5x by driving app installs, app opens, return visits via transactional & lifecycle emails, the website, and checkout optimizations
- Hired and developed PMs to lead the individual product areas across activation, the website, first time user experience, and app information architecture
- Set the 1 year+ product vision & strategy for a cross-functional pod of more than 50, then evangelized their work cross-functionally and to executives 

I developed my product leadership chops in a rapidly scaling post-IPO company. I exercised lots of muscles around cross-functional alignment and analytically-driven product leadership.

Head of Product Growth

Epic Games

Led data driven growth for Fortnite:

- Led OKR driven development for Fortnite across growth levers including social, creative, matchmaking, and concerts: helped kickstart growth for the largest game on the planet
- Created and pushed through experimentation agenda: helped produce experimentation platform and plug in with matchmaking, social, and recommendation tests to increase retention, average revenue per user, and playtime
- Helped drive the strategy & execution behind the Travis Scott concert, which at the time became the largest concert ever with 12.3 million concurrent concertgoers 

Developed my chops in the gaming industry for a mass-market social product. Finessed my product leadership style and craftsmanship.

Lead Product Manager

Google

Product management for one of the fastest growing products of in Google Cloud's history, the Job Search API:

- Enhanced core search functionality: launched evolutions of ML model to create sub-industry taxonomies and improve conglomerate search results
- Developed executive-level growth funnel dashboards: showed engagement and other predictors of churn to help maximize retention
- Launched updates to PLG motion to optimize form and onboarding, increasing channel contribution by XX%

Became proficient with Google product process and got large company SaaS experience to supplement small company experience at ScoutForce

Senior Product Manager

thredUP

Helped set stage for company's eventual IPO (March 2021):

- Led, built growth team: played key role in series D & E investments by increasing conversion ~2x, scaling marketing ~100x 
- Developed ad technology platform: led data infrastructure projects. Worked with C-Suite daily. Sat next to CMO, CTO, CEO. Hired first PMs
- Played integral role in growth from ~25 employees to 1200+

Became proficient with Jira, Asana, and the modern product stack.

Director of Product

Rap to Beats

Developed iOS app Rap to Beats & scaled to 300K monthly active users (MAU):

- Developed features: put the user first with testing and analytics. Worked extensively in XCode and iOS SDK, as well as Photoshop, Balsamiq, and Envision 
- Led organic growth: mastered viral growth through community leaderboard, sharing, App Store Optimization, and PR
- Iterated growth levers and personalization to build for specific segments and test funnel improvements >5x

Became proficient with mobile development stack, gaming publishing, and app stores.

Head of Product, Co-Founder

ScoutForce.com

Grew the top SaaS platform for College Sports recruiting, used by Major D1 programs like the University of Michigan:

- Only PM on the team: did everything from product requirements documents (PRD) and user acceptance tests (UATs) to SQL queries &  product strategy
- Developed customer personas and redesigned web app: identified key consumer use cases
- Launched entry into new segments: identified opportunity, sized market, then developed pricing and marketing strategy 

Became proficient with online web software stack and B2B SaaS product management.

Product Manager

VP of Product at Apollo. I make your product grow faster than ever before. Long track record of managing large orgs of PMs to growth at Google, Epic Games, Affirm and more. Wharton MBA, University of Michigan economics, and high school coding competitions before that.

Too many product releases don't move the metrics that matter. My product leadership style is the inverse. I specialize in driving business outcomes. This is across B2C and B2B SaaS, both in the core product and PLG (product-led growth).

I also write one of the world's largest paid newsletters for techies; sign up at http://www.news.aakashg.com. Live in Durham, NC.

I'm unplugging from the Matrix.

Here's why I'm leaving my VP of product job to go out on my own:

Just this morning I woke up to the following awesome messages.

1. Annual subscriber to the newsletter: 

"I have been reading your newsletter for the past few months and it has made me a better product person by looking at people and problems in a more nuanced, systematic manner. I really like how it is not limited to the technical aspects of product management, but takes a more worldly approach to the entire domain. Hope to keep learning more!"

2: LinkedIn message: 

"Long time fan Aakash! I wanted to say that your newsletter has been invaluable in my latest promotion to Lead Product Manager at [Redacted]. All the SPMs have been having a really hard time getting promoted. But your tips on everything - especially PRDs and product reviews - helped me immensely."

3: Even an unsubscription from the newsletter: 

"I got a PM job recently, and your content was extremely helpful. I'll resubscribe when I can. Thanks a ton for all your insights."

There has been no source of satisfaction better than messages like these. 

It's impact at scale - on aspiring PMs, PMs, and product leaders.

So despite Apollo growing revenue at an insane pace recently, with several amazing features from our teams (AI personas, Pricing page redesign, Custom invites), it's time for me to go all-in on the newsletter.

I have enjoyed many years in corporate life - but now I will be out on my own.

My last day at Apollo will be at the end of this month. 

It's been an absolute pleasure working with the all-star team, with too many people to thank. 

Everyone from Krishan Patel and Abishek Viswanathan to Patty Johnson and Aidan Li. And all the people I missed.

Thank you, Apollo!

Onto the next.

Aakash Gupta

I found the exact doc Meta sends candidates about the Execution interview. Here's what it omits:

Beyond, critical thinking skills, enabling your team, and the other words on the doc...

You also need to display 4 key skills.

1. Metrics
2. PM Skill
3. Problem Definition
4. Facebook-Specific Knowledge

These are the 4 areas Meta teaches calibrating interviewers to look at.

𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝟭 - 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹

𝘎𝘰𝘢𝘭 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘴
Can the candidate set measurable goals and top-line metrics?  They want to see what options you consider, your intuition, experience level, and confidence. 

𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘩𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤 𝘗𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦
Can the candidate think through a comprehensive set of metrics for all types of stakeholders in the ecosystem? You need to be able to take metrics and turn them into actionable decisions. 

𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝟮 - 𝗣𝗠 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹

𝘜𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦
Can the candidate define the problem the product or feature is solving? They really want you to be able to have a crisp definition of this. 

𝘐𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮
How does the candidate approach prioritization? You must be able to set up a good framework and follow through it logically. 

𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝟯 - 𝗘𝘅𝗲𝗰𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹

𝘋𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘞𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴
Can the candidate break down what problem areas affect metrics? You need to be able to get into the details of what metrics might have moved, what user populations to target, and what might have affected something. 

𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘨𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦-𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘴 
Can the candidate articulate and navigate thorny trade-off decisions? Identifying and then navigating trade-offs is the name of the PM game. 

𝗥𝘂𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗔𝗿𝗲𝗮 𝟰 - 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮 𝗦𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹

𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘢𝘵 𝘚𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘦
Can the candidate zoom out from personal user needs and think about the various types of user groups? There’s a different set of root causes and analytical issues when it comes to Meta's highly adopted products with billions of users. 

𝘜𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘓𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘦𝘵𝘢 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴
Does the candidate understand the value of the product and how that relates to the metrics? Surprisingly many people have a faulty understanding of how things would move metrics. 

𝗤𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

The types of questions Meta asks are industry-standard:

• Friending is slowing down, how do you find out what's happening?
  
• Marketplace bookings are down 5%. How would you identify the root cause?

• Imagine you run ads to promote Whatsapp and achieve a new user acquisition cost of $20. How you would evaluate if this ad campaign effort is worth scaling?

𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀

It's not just Meta. When faced with product execution questions, always display metrics, PM skill, problem definition, and love for the company. 

You'll rock your next interview.

You don't have to organize your product team by product feature. 

It's a perfectly acceptable method, but it’s not the best fit for every situation. 

1. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘷𝘴 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘤𝘶𝘴. 

When you have a PM aligned to a feature, they’re highly unlikely to suggest killing that feature. It makes the PM devoted to the feature instead of the product as a whole.

2. 𝘐𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘵. 

It assumes that the PM who owns a feature will be able to direct their resources to the strategic priorities of the business. The problem is: this very often breaks down. Feature teams have to do the work, and often fail, in mapping the features to outcomes. 

3. 𝘐𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘗𝘔 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴-𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘦𝘥. 

In a PM-owned org, cross-functional leads contribute but aren’t equal owners to the plan. In cross-functionally owned orgs, multiple teams and cross-functional stakeholders contribute. 

𝗦𝗼 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗮 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺𝘀?

The go-to framework I’ve seen is from Ravi Mehta in Reforge's Product Leadership course.

In it, he explains that there are two questions to ask:

1. Are teams focused on features or outcomes?
   
2. Do teams own their metrics or share their metrics?

The answers to these questions maps to the type of product org you have. 

I consider them the "2 Dimensions of Product Org Design."

When you answer each, you end up in one of the following 4 categories:

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿: This is when the PM has sole ownership over a metric and is responsible for driving it. 

• 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿: This is when the PM is focused on a metric (vs a feature) but does not solely own it. 

• 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗲𝗿: This is when the PM has sole ownership over a feature.

• 𝗙𝗲𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗿: This is when the PM is focused on a single feature but does not solely own it. 

None is "better" than the other.

𝗜𝘁'𝘀 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝘂𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.

--

P.S. Want more guidance deciding what's best for you? 

I share a tactical guide in today's piece: https://lnkd.in/g8SF8tyU

Designers make fantastic PMs.

Here's why:

1. Their core skills translate

• User-centric approach
• Communicating visually
• Problem-solving mindset
• Collaboration & leadership

2. As a result, they excel in PM tasks:

• Feature prioritization
• Prototyping & testing
• Go-to-market strategy
• User experience strategy

8% of PMs already have a design background.

I expect that percentage to continue to increase.

Designers make on average $10-30K / year when making the transition.

Growth funnels have 7 key problems:

1. Silo Syndrome

Growth funnels often operate like silos, disconnected and self-contained. The isolation of each step fragments the customer journey. The result is disjointed experiences that can hinder growth. 

A clear example is when marketing pulls in leads, but hands them off to sales without a seamless transition. This creates a gap where potential customers can fall through. 

2. Scalability Ceiling

Scalability ceilings hit like a ton of bricks. As your audience grows, the cost per acquisition creeps up—sometimes exponentially. 

Take the example of Wish. Initially, user acquisition was organic and viral. However, as the platform matured, it had to invest heavily in advertising and incentives to keep the growth curve from flattening.

3. Linear Thinking

Funnel logic is straight-lined; customer behavior isn't. It's messy. People don't just march forward — they meander, pause, backtrack.

The gaming world knows this well. A player might install a game on a whim, forget it, then binge post-update. Funnels miss this chaos; growth loops capture it and allow the potential for compounding growth.

4. Resource Sinkholes

Funnels can demand an unsustainable amount of resources for customer acquisition. You just continue to feed the top of the funnel. Companies can hemorrhage cash with little return.

Take Blue Apron, for example. They spent nearly $400 on customer acquisition for a product that nets less than half that in a year. And what’s the result? A stunning 72% churn rate after six months.

5. Optimization Myopia

Conversion rate optimization can lead to shortsightedness, focusing too narrowly on the numbers game and missing the broader picture.

An e-commerce site might boost immediate sales through aggressive retargeting, but if customers feel hounded, they won't return. Balancing the pursuit of conversions with long-term loop health is critical. 

6. Retention Neglect

Retention often gets the cold shoulder in growth funnels, overshadowed by the glitz of acquisition. Yet, it's the bedrock of sustainable growth.

The stats are loud and clear: a 5% increase in customer retention correlates with up to a 25% increase in profit. It's about creating an experience that keeps customers coming back. 

7. Inflexibility

Funnels struggle to adapt to the evolution of the market as a whole. This makes it hard for businesses to pivot when a new trend emerges. 

For instance, when streaming services began to gain popularity, a traditional funnel approach in cable television companies didn’t allow for a quick pivot to streaming models. 

A loop-based approach would continuously monitor user behavior and market trends, allowing for a seamless transition to include streaming services in their offerings.

Bottom line: Growth isn't a funnel; it's a cycle. 

Build a loop, not a funnel.

Absolutely must-read posts by Aakash Gupta if you are looking for a PM / Product Leader job. I often coach people on finding a new job and thera resources very helpful. 

🔗 Ace the Cover Letter https://lnkd.in/g95NnqjM
🔗 Ultimate Guide: The PM Resume [Examples + Templates] https://lnkd.in/ggdbZh9X
🔗 How to Find PM Roles for You https://lnkd.in/gix78HYx
🔗 How to Become a PM with No Experience https://lnkd.in/gyXA5P9n
🔗 How to Get Interviews https://lnkd.in/ghytnKHf
🔗 [All New] Technique to Get Interviews
https://lnkd.in/gDxab9UB
🔗 Real Answers to Real PM Interview Questions
https://lnkd.in/gj6kJhu7
🔗 Master the PM Product Design Interview
https://lnkd.in/gbSqrjrE
🔗 How to Win at Remote Interviews https://lnkd.in/gwtJyTHr
🔗 Master the Product Sense Interview https://lnkd.in/g8pKvPAn
🔗 The Ultimate Guide: Interview Homework https://lnkd.in/g6gNe-Zj
🔗 Big 3 PM Interview Guide: Google, Microsoft, & Apple
 https://lnkd.in/gxiBUVJj
🔗 Crack the Product Execution Interview
https://lnkd.in/gsWNGczJ
🔗 Reference Checks Can Supercharge Your Hiring https://lnkd.in/g7rUUv8X

P.S: I am excited that Aakash Gupta is taking a plunge into the solopreneur journey and will focus on his newsletter. This will be a huge impact to anybody interested in leveling up their product craft. Congratulations Aakash Gupta! Looking forward to reading all your wonderful content.

Open article: Ace the Cover Letter by news.aakashg.com

https://www.news.aakashg.com/p/ace-the-cover-letter

What does a VP of product actually do?

A few weeks ago, I recorded a day in my life:

8:30 | Catch up on Slack, E-mail
9:30 | Catch up with other Growth leaders
10:00 | Write a strategy doc
10:30 | Interview
11:00 | Continue on strategy
11:30 | Team-member 1:1
12:00 | Slack messages & strategy doc
1:30 | Product review
2:30 | Customer session
3:00 | Slacks & messages
3:30 | Manager 1:1
4:00 | Metrics review
5:00 | Inbox zero

It's a day full of starts and stops, Slack messages, and urgent work.

But, on the whole, it's like PM with a longer aperture: making sure features hit impact, planning for future quarters, and talking to customers.

Understand how to discover the difference between an average Product Manager and a great Product Manager - in 5 short minutes.

Credit: Aakash Gupta

How to pitch a growth role to senior leadership

I was recently asked this question during an interview, and admittedly, it caught me a little off guard. It should seem obvious right? However, it sparked a thought-provoking discussion in Aakash Gupta's Product Growth Slack channel.
 
Core product work is focused on creating new value, whereas growth is focused on unlocking value you've already created by have not yet captured.
 
You wouldn’t want to focus on growth if you haven't yet achieved product-market-fit

Growth is to product as a catalyst is to a chemical reaction.

Growth doesn't change the fundamental composition. But it significantly accelerates the process of value creation.

In today's competitive environment, it's a mistake to miss out on the opportunity.

Growth PMs can help create a model of what's driving the business and accelerate that. 

They can set the bar for shipping fast and an experimentation culture.

And most importantly, they can move metrics across the product in a way feature PMs wouldn't. 

Growth has had a significant impact everywhere from Slack and Facebook to Hubspot and Microsoft.

I highly recommend subscribing to Aakash Gupta's newsletter for more insights about growth strategies and joining a community of thought-leaders in this space. https://lnkd.in/ezb4GUh5

How do you view growth in an organization?

Open article: Product Growth | Aakash Gupta | Substack by news.aakashg.com

Everyone in your company has an different opinion on how your product grows. And it's a problem.

--

This doesn't seem like the worst thing in the world.

Everyone has their own view of how the product grows, and they help spin that part of the flywheel, right?

Not so fast. 

--

The problem this creates is disagreement on what to fund.

What seems like a straightforward initiative to one person may make absolutely no sense in someone else's mental model. 

--

Take the example of spending more on marketing.

Your marketer may see awesome AARRR metrics, great LTV/CAC, fast payback period... and conclude we should spend more.

On the other hand, your PM, focused on setup, aha, and habit rates might find that totally irrelevant.

And your CEO, focused on sales-led growth and retention, may find it a small driver of the sales motion.

As a result, no one agrees, and the spend isn't funded.

Your marketer thinks everyone else is an idiot but continues on, ready to "disagree and commit."

Is this really the ideal scenario?

--

Or - take the example of product experiments to improve aha rates.

Your PM sees the leverage easily in their mental concept: increase aha rates, increase retention, and make revenue go up exponentially. 

On the other hand, your engineer, focused on latency and response rates, may not see it as important at all.

And your designer, focused on the easiest to use product, has no ideas why you would inject dark patterns and modals into the product.

The result is no one can agree on what to build.

Your PM gets pushes forward what they think - but behind closed doors, not everyone agrees.

It's not ideal.

--

So what's the answer?

Build a quantitative growth model. 

A detailed quantitative model can give the different parties in the company a holistic view of what actually drives growth.

This makes debates over what to build much simpler.

Instead of ships sailing past each other in the ocean, you can have a reasoned debate on what will drive growth.

How have Uber, Airbnb, & Hubspot continued to grow while other tech companies struggle? By building growth loops (genius strategy):

While most tech stocks are still suffering, these three are sailing.

1Y returns:

Uber +80%
Airbnb +13%
Hubspot +43%

A key to their strategy? Growth loops.

Growth loops are self-reinforcing flywheels. One activity that drives activation, engagement, and retention. A breath of fresh air compared to the traditional funnels that most businesses are run on.

Let's take a look at each of our three examples:

• Uber's Core Growth Loop

There are 3 steps:

1. Input: Rider joins, increasing demand
2. Action: They book more rides, prompting more drivers to join
3. Output: Pickup teams decrease, prompting more riders to join

Uber has ridden this macro loop all the way into the S&P 500.

But what about all the smaller micro loops attached that to macro loop? Let's look at two examples of the whole picture:

• Airbnb's Core Growth Loops

Airbnb has one macro growth loop - the core new listing loop:

1. Input: New hosts join the platform, which provides capacity.
2. Action: This leads to users booking.
3. Output: This demand leads to more capacity and the loop continues.

But the macro listing loop is further enhanced by can 5 micro loops:

1. The SEO loop
2. The host promotion loop
3. The review loop
4. The host invite loop
5. The guest invite loop

Airbnb has used these 5 loops to rise out of the near-death in Covid to a $77B market cap.

• Hubspot's Core Growth Loops

Hubspot also has a core growth loop it started on:

1. Input: New customers
2. Action: Fund more content creation
3. Output: New content drives new customers

But on top of that it has layered 5 micro-loops:

1. The SEO loop
2. The sales loop
3. The integrations loop
4. The content sharing loop
5. The email marketing loop

Hubspot has spun these growth loops to a 14x return since it became a public company in 2014.

Takeaways: Loops work for the most successful tech companies of our era. By creating momentum across acquisition, engagement, and retention they create a more sustainable growth model. It's a genius approach. 

The product execution interview is everywhere nowadays. 

• ChatGPT interactions are down 10% in the last week. What would you do?
• What success metrics would you set for Uber?
• How would you reduce churn for Facebook?

These case questions are up to ~30% of interview processes based on a survey of ~100 processes I conducted this week.

I’ve been mining the internet and talking to hiring managers about where this interview actually came from. 

It turns out, it’s Google and Facebook.

→ By 2008, companies like Google were extensively using product sense interviews. This led to slow and steady growth in the interview. 

→ By 2014, execution was officially an interview at Google. This further accelerated the uptick.

In the ensuing years, Meta wanted to make sure its PMs understood the product and its value to users. They also wanted to check that PMs could prioritize impactful metrics.

→ By 2017, Facebook codified the product execution interview into one of its three main interviews (the other’s are product sense and leadership & drive). 

Since then, the growth of the interview has been scaling fast.

Have you encountered the execution interview?

It's happening! Andrew Huberman x Apollo.io.

We're excited to share all the things we've been building.

At today's Olympus event, we'll cover how:

1. We've completely automated GTM

• AI prospecting recommendations
• AI email assistant
• AI personas

2. We're making world-class GTM available to everyone

• Free meetings booking link
• Highest quality contact data
• Advanced contact sequences

Tune in to learn how you can 10x your revenue with Apollo.

The Case for Maximal Referencing of PMs:

In a past job, I worked with two product leaders with equal skill in building products. But they had completely divergent skills in hiring.

One hired phenomenal PMs. They quickly grew to be company-wide favorite PMs due to their strong viewpoints.

The other hired on paper phenomenal PMs. But they just weren’t right for the company.

It’s not really a surprise the first got promoted - and the other left for greener pastures.

𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲

One of the practices the first hiring manager swore by was lots of reference checking.

She was a master of back channel reference checking throughout the interview process.

And her reference checks were notoriously long.

The other just did one reference check after he had already decided he was giving out the offer.

𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗾𝘂𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗶𝘀:

𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘯.

I, too, have found it works really well.

Nowadays, I’ve started to do these reference checks at three stages.

Let’s break this approach.

𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝟭 - 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲

Committing to a conversation with a candidate means I’ll also tap into:

• Previous workplace colleagues
• Mutual connections

Direct collaborators get a call, a brief 10-minute check-in. My aim here is to pinpoint standout candidates that I really want to push through.

𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝟮 - 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁-𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲

The second reference check I like to do is post-interview.

I’ll use this to 𝘷𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘤𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘺 of what people said in the interview.

If the pass this second reference check, they’re almost ready to hire.

𝗖𝗵𝗲𝗰𝗸 𝟯 - 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗢𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲

The third and final reference check is the one most companies do.

But I like to focus it on supervisors and skip levels. All PMs need to make an impact on leadership.

This is the only round I actually use references supplied by the candidate. Everything else is back-channels.

𝗜𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗮 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲

“𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘈𝘢𝘬𝘢𝘴𝘩, 𝘐’𝘷𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘧𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘲𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳!”

I know that it seems a lot of work to add two stages of reference checks to your process when you probably only have the pre-offer stage right now.

The thing is, getting your hiring right makes you much more impactful. But getting them wrong really hurts you.

𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂: 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸.

Who Uses the Product Execution interview at the end of 2023?

It’s ubiquitous across tech globally. I’ve coached candidates in India, Australia, Nigeria, and more.

But everyone does it a bit differently. 

Here are the most common flavors and users of the execution interview:

BIG TECH:

Meta
𝘜𝘚 𝘓4 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: $241𝘒

• The Meta Execution question is all about how you handle complex metrics questions. 
• They throw complex stuff at you to see how you deal with it.
• Expect root cause, metrics, and debugging questions.

Google
𝘜𝘚 𝘓4 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: $270𝘒

• The product execution interview here focuses heavily on analytics.
• They ask you to break down tough analytical decisions.
• So, if it seems too straightforward, you’re probably missing something.

Apple
𝘜𝘚 𝘓3 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯: $209𝘒

• Apple’s execution questions go deep into what types of prioritization metrics you are going to use.
• They want to make sure that you’re sufficiently technical and analytical.
• It’s very representative of the role.

PUBLIC TECH COMPANIES:

• Uber uses this interview round (𝘓3 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱: $175𝘒)
• Airbnb has also been known to use it (𝘓4 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱: $291𝘒)
• Lyft has also been known to use the interview (𝘛4 𝘗𝘔 𝘛𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘱: $276𝘒)

FAST GROWING COMPANIES:

• Many global startups have interviews with similar questions
• The most likely companies tend to be those with larger PM departments
• This is an advanced structured PM interview; ask your recruiter if you’ll encounter it

Overall - the execution interview is being adopted at some of the highest paying places for PMs.

Designers can easily become PMs.

Adding $10-30K to their salary without any level hit.

𝗔𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿, this is straightforward. I’ve seen numerous designers do this. 

𝗢𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱, 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂’𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗲𝗿, things are a bit trickier. 

There’s two categories of design experience when it comes to external transfers:

• Product design
• Visual design

𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝟭 - 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦.

What falls within the category of product design? 

Any design work where you are working on the core product used by users and are actively thinking about how the product works - not just how it looks visually. 

Even with an external transfer, you may be able to bag a job at the same level. 

I’ve seen multiple people do this:

• Director of product design to director of PM at a smaller competitor
• Lead designer from FAANG to lead PM at a VC-backed startup

𝗧𝘆𝗽𝗲 𝟮 - 𝗩𝗶𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻
𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘷𝘢𝘭𝘶𝘦𝘥, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩.

Who falls in this bucket? 

If you were working on product but mainly the UX, then you fall in this bucket. If you were any other type of designer, you also fall in this bucket.

As a visual designer, you will generally have to take one level lower. If you’re already at a top FAANG like brand, you may even have to drop two levels.

I’ve seen:

• Director of Brand Design to Lead PM at FAANG
• Manager of UX to Senior PM at a smaller company
• Lead Designer to PM at a similar company

𝗢𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗹 - as a designer it's very easy to transition to PM with a minimum level hit. 

And you earn more as a result.


How do you find a role that actually is a fit for you?

By doing outbound in addition to inbound.

Let me explain.

Your job search is a lot like sales.

And there are two types of sales:

1. Inbound sales

This is the process of taking the leads that come to you and converting as many of them as you can into sales. 

2. Outbound sales

This is going out into the market and getting more leads.

When you boil it down, the same two motions apply to recruiting:

1. Inbound recruiting

This is people reaching out to you. Every tech worker who worked in 2018-2021 knows about this. 

2, Outbound recruiting 

This is you actively reaching out to people, developing connections, and getting referrals for jobs. 

Inbound is great if you can rely on it.

But in a tough job market, inbound has more or less dried up:

• Recruiters have tended to be the first to go in tech’s mass layoffs. 
  
• With the tighter market, companies can post a job posting and get 200 qualified applicants the day later.

As a result, demand inbound is down for everyone.

This has made outbound sales all the more important.

Outbound sales is all about widening the top of the funnel for your recruiting funnel. 

It’s getting your foot in the door into more processes.

And it's not just dropping resumes.

It's going out there and actively networking into opportunities.

The reference check is the most powerful hiring tool you don't use right. 

While many of us obsess over resumes and interviews, perhaps the highest signal tool for hiring is the reference check.

The problem is: most people do them wrong.

Avoid these 10 common reference check mistakes to make your next hire your best one.

--

Want to go deeper? Check out today's 3,000 word deep dive: https://lnkd.in/gH6yNE4U

7 questions to ask in your next reference check:

"𝗧𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲, 𝗱𝗶𝗱 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲] 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗼𝗿 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲?"

This question is rarely asked. It cuts through the noise and reveals the context of a person’s departure. It's these uncomfortable questions that provide real insight.

"𝗪𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗿𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗿𝗲 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲]? 𝗪𝗵𝘆?"

This cuts to the core of a candidate's past performance.  A yes or no can illuminate a spectrum of competence and compatibility. Probe the “why” for insights into future performance.

"𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲’𝘀] 𝗻𝗲𝘅𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗿?"

Reference checks can make you a better manager. Questions like this help. And are another great way to get at someone's weaknesses. 

"𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗹𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗼𝗻? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿?"

Diving into specific projects can shed light on details you won’t find on a resume.

"𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘄𝗮𝘀𝗻’𝘁 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲] 𝗳𝘂𝗿𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘆? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘀𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲] 𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀?"

It's imperative for you to understand what’s missing from their skill set. Discover the barrier(s) to their upward trajectory. Can you live with them?

"𝗢𝗻 𝗮 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝟭 𝘁𝗼 𝟭𝟬 (𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝟭𝟬 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵𝗲𝘀𝘁), 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗹?"

Ban the safe 7. Force a decisive stance. It’s a conversation starter about the candidate’s standing.

"𝗗𝗶𝗱 [𝗖𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗲] 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀? 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘀/𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺?"

Discover how your potential hire will react to setback, and get a window into what setbacks they actually had.

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