I’m honored to be this week’s guest on This is Product Management, a podcast by Alpha. It was so much fun to record because the topics are basically all of my favorites: Product management in startups, and what to do when you’re stuck trying to determine what metric even matters rather than how to make it go in the direction you want Executive alignment, and the importance of understanding how key stakeholders like to communicate

Travel and in-person meetings may not be part of our work-life right now, but user interviews have never been more important. My product is used by some the world’s most advanced marketing teams, and we’re hearing from them that there are “pre-COVID” user insights, “during-COVID,” and there will be “post-COVID”…

When I joined my current company, I heard a couple of recurring themes in my first few weeks of meet and greets. One of them was that no one trusted the product and engineering teams. …

When stakeholder relations get rocky, try these techniques for getting them on your side. — It’s a bit like the tango. Energetic, powerful, dependent on each other but with a hint of argument woven in. That’s stakeholder management at its finest. But what about when you’re being stonewalled, and all you hear are all the reasons why what you’re proposing won’t work? …

Why the first thing to do when you’ve got a new idea is to build nothing: three practical steps to validate ideas and start strong — Every month or so, I have a great idea for a new startup. I’m going to change the world. I’m going to build the best networking/entertainment company, I’ve got the next subscription-box blockbuster, and I’m going to bring catering and personal chefs into the digital age. …

Thanks to my friends at Projekt202, I had the opportunity to attend the 2019 Seattle Interactive Conference #sic2019. With hundreds of talks over the two day event, it was informative, well-run, and buzzing with creative energy. …

Empathy could be the difference between big profits and going out of business — I’ve spent more than two years enabling companies to connect with and learn from their users. Over the course of more than 15,000 conversations, I’ve learned a bit about empathy — its role in the product development process, its impact on marketing success, and its inseparable connection with innovation. The…

What’s the secret to being a successful B2B product manager? Is it a stellar onboarding experience? Laser focus on your activation and retention metrics? Important, yes, but what if I tell you it’s something much more nebulous? Something a lot simpler, and a lot harder to be disciplined about. …

I’ve spent the last two years working on products at Discuss.io that enable our users — product managers, marketers, and user researchers — to build connections with their users, wherever they are in the world. …