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Tal Raviv (Product Lead at Riverside)22 September 2024

Becoming a super IC: Lessons from 12 years as a PM individual contributor

7Frameworks
14Insights

Episode overview

Riverside product lead Tal Raviv explains why he has deliberately remained an individual-contributor product manager for more than 12 years and how experienced ICs can build scope, leverage, and compensation without moving into people management. He shares practical systems for deep work, product “scrapbooking,” public team communication, self-reliant teams, and using ChatGPT with Whisper to turn spoken project context into structured user stories. Raviv also argues that company success often hinges on two dominant departments, contrasts logical “book-smart” decisions with customer-perception-aware “street-smart” judgment, and candidly examines research, experimentation, management, and public-relations failures from his career.

Key ideas

  • A durable product-management IC path needs explicit senior titles, career levels, recognition, and compensation that does not depend on becoming a manager.
  • Super IC leverage comes from deliberately designing deep-work time, avoiding reactive communication, preserving customer evidence, and using AI to remove documentation overhead.
  • A product manager should build a self-reliant team, move decisions into transparent public channels, reward teammates who take ownership, and aim to be valuable without becoming a bottleneck.
  • The two departments that most directly create a company's market advantage determine where exceptional work is most likely to produce career-defining impact.
  • Book-smart analysis is insufficient when pricing, packaging, or UX changes create a negative customer perception even if the underlying economics and models are sound.
  • Product practices are contextual: teams should diagnose the problem at hand instead of copying frameworks, experiments, or tactics from admired companies.
  • Qualitative research can prevent quarters of wasted experimentation by revealing customer motivations and explaining why patterns from companies such as Amazon or Groupon may not transfer.
  • Career failures become useful when people test high-stakes changes, disagree and commit, communicate vulnerabilities directly, and build enough trust through consistently serious work.

Transcript available · source text is retained privately and is not published

Frameworks in this episode

People & resources mentioned

Attributed to the moment in the episode. Timestamps are approximate.

People · 10

  • Tal RavivMentionshe's been a PM at patreon at Wix at appsflyer and most recently joined Riverside as their first ever product manager

    today my guest is tall reviv

  • Lenny RachitskyMentionstoday we've got another very special compilation episode something I've been pulling on more and more with the podcast and the newsletter

    today my guest is tall reviv

  • Tal RavivMentionshe's been a PM at patreon at Wix at appsflyer and most recently joined Riverside as their first ever product manager

    he's also a former founder and outside of tech he volunteers as a surf instructor for people with disabilities

  • Marty CaganMentionsMarty has been helping product teams and product managers improve their craft processes and careers for over 20 years

    I once heard Marty Kagan say in a in a workshop

  • Ebi AtawodiMentionsdirector of product management at YouTube overseeing The Creator experience previously she was director of product management at Netflix

    I read a quote once um by eie ATA and she's worked on Netflix and Uber and and she's super experienced

  • Adam FishmanMentionsI've been a chief product officer and VP of growth and product at a bunch of different companies imperfect Foods patreon Lyft

    my manager Adam fisherman at the time told me you know something related to this

  • Guy PeledMentionshe's a friend in a mentor I actually met him through the uh Lenny Community

    I actually reached out to a friend guy ped he's a friend in a mentor

  • Brian BalfourMentionsI actually was recently listening to another podcast by Adam Fishman and he had Brian Balfour on

    Brian balfor interviewed me about an onboarding experiment that we did

  • Chris VossCoinedsenior FBI agents in 70s were realizing that all they were doing in their like negotiating tactics were just not working

    never split the difference by Chris Voss

  • Joe HudsonRecommendsLenny introduces Joe as a sought-after executive coach to technology leaders whose work blends spiritual, psychological, and neurological practices.

    there's a book that another I'm just going to throw out a book recommendation reverse lighting around on this topic that Joe Hudson

Resources · 39

  • TwitterUseswebsite · Twitter

    I haven't logged into Twitter I haven't posted anything in Twitter for a while

  • Lenny's NewsletterMentionsnewsletter · Lenny Rachitsky

    one of the first and most active community members when I was just starting my newsletter slack community

  • AppsFlyerMentionssoftware · AppsFlyer

    he's been a PM at patreon at Wix at appsflyer

  • PatreonMentionscompany

    he's been a PM at patreon at Wix at appsflyer

  • WixMentionscompany

    he's been a PM at patreon at Wix at appsflyer

  • RiversideUsessoftware

    Riverside by the way is the platform that I used to record my podcast

  • GammaRecommendssoftware · Gamma

    gamma is here to help just upload your PRD and turn it into a beautiful ready to present presentation in seconds

  • ZanzibarCoinedsoftware · Google

    a groundbreaking authorization system called Zan bar which was originally designed for Google to power Google Docs and YouTube

  • WorkOSRecommendscompany · WorkOS, Inc.

    you should consider work OS it's a dropin replacement for azero

  • DriveMentionsbook · Dan Pink

    that classic book drive you know motivation comes from autonomy Mastery and purpose

  • FacebookMentionscompany · Meta

    when Facebook had those uh really big layoffs that they were biased towards keeping individual contributor product managers

  • ChatGPTUsessoftware · OpenAI

    took CH gbt told it the format you know of the stories and epics and so on

  • JiraUsessoftware · Atlassian

    that means user stories in jir in this case right for this team that's how they prefer to work

  • WhisperUsessoftware · OpenAI

    use whisper whisper I to dictate

  • RiversideUsessoftware

    we recorded on Riverside and had a transcribed

  • WhisperMentionssoftware · OpenAI

    it's open ai's uh trans speech to text system

  • ChatGPTUsessoftware · OpenAI

    I opened a new thread in chat GPT

  • SlackUsessoftware · Slack Technologies

    I don't open Slack before noon I've been doing this for eight years

  • SlackUsessoftware · Slack Technologies

    I actually keep a section of my to-do list which is when I open Slack here are the messages I'm going to send

  • NotionUsessoftware · Notion Labs

    I call it product scrapbooking um where I have this like massive notion database of every opportunity big or small

  • MixpanelUsessoftware · Mixpanel

    let's open you know mix panel let's play around with this

  • MavenUseswebsite · Maven

    this is a passion project I'm working on uh with Maven the learning platform

  • Build Your Personal PM Productivity SystemCoinedcourse · Tal Raviv

    it's a course called build your personal PM productivity system

  • Build Your Personal PM Productivity SystemRecommendscourse · Tal Raviv

    I'll definitely link to that in the show topic

  • GongUsessoftware · Gong

    salespeople would send me gong link recordings you know in the past and in the current demos

  • ReforgeMentionscompany · Brian Balfour

    blog posts that you know were being used in like reforge courses

  • The Washington PostMentionscompany

    those tweets got embedded on like NPR and Washington Post

  • NPRMentionscompany

    those tweets got embedded on like NPR and Washington Post

  • How to Talk So Kids Will Listen & Listen So Kids Will TalkRecommendsbook · Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish

    the best book on product management that I've read um is called how to talk so kids will listen and listen so kids will talk

  • Never Split the DifferenceRecommendsbook · Chris Voss and Tahl Raz

    never split the difference both of which are awesome

  • Nonviolent CommunicationRecommendsbook · Marshall Rosenberg

    the book itself for nonviolent communication or the never split the difference both of which are awesome

  • ListenRecommendsbook

    it's called listen it's an orange book

  • Ted LassoRecommendstv show · Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly

    I recently rediscovered Ted lasso

  • Ted LassoUsestv show · Bill Lawrence, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt, and Joe Kelly

    my friend calls it Ted lasso the Ted lasso somebody which is also very genuine

  • O'Neill Hyperfreak WetsuitRecommendsproduct · O'Neill

    I surf with O'Neal web suit hyper freak web web suit

  • IsraelMentionsplace

    you live in Israel uh war broke out you've been living through that being in Israel this entire time

  • UkraineMentionsplace

    we have teammates in Ukraine um all along at the same time

  • MavenMentionswebsite · Maven

    it's on maven.com um in the product catalog

  • Lenny's PodcastCoinedpodcast · Lenny Rachitsky

    you can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at Lenny podcast.com

Spot an error or want something removed? Request a correction or removal.

Insights & moments

The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take23:30

Don't Open Slack Before Noon (8 Years and Counting)

Tal strictly splits his day between deep work and 'ping pong,' and hasn't opened Slack before noon in eight years. He keeps a to-do list of messages written as if ready to send, and only sends them after noon because almost nothing is truly urgent. Key colleagues have his phone number for the roughly twice-a-year real emergency.

  • He splits days between deep work and 'ping pong' (constant Slack back-and-forth)
  • Blocks mornings, and goes further by not opening Slack until noon
  • Drafts Slack messages in a to-do list rather than sending them the moment he thinks of them
  • Truly urgent moments happen about twice a year; key people can call or WhatsApp him
  • Over time colleagues respect the boundary rather than resent it

I don't open Slack before noon I've been doing this for eight years

Tal Raviv · 23:30

like you realize how not urgently needed the PM role ever is

Tal Raviv · 25:00
#productivity#deep-work#focus#time-management
Hot Take52:30

There's No Right Way: Everyone in Tech Is Improvising

Tal moved from Israel to San Francisco out of professional FOMO, expecting the 'big leagues' to know the one right way to work. After working alongside people from Apple, YouTube, Facebook, Amazon, and Stripe, he concluded everyone is just improvising, as they should be, because every market and situation differs. His advice: stop chasing others' playbooks and just do great, hard work at a good company.

  • He relocated to SF believing top companies knew the correct way to work
  • Conclusion after working with ex-Apple/YouTube/Facebook/Amazon/Stripe people: everyone is improvising
  • Every company, market, and situation is different, so there is no universal method
  • Best learning and networking is doing genuinely good work at a good company
  • You can end up the one writing the blog posts, not just reading them

we're all just making it up as we go along in Tech uh we're all just improvising as we should

Tal Raviv · 53:30

the best networking is just to do really good work at a successful company

Tal Raviv · 55:30
#career#learning#product-management#advice

Explainer· 2

Explainer38:00

Every Tech Company Really Has Just Two Departments That Matter

Tal argues that in each company roughly two departments are the reason it wins the market; a 10x job there yields a 10x company outcome, while other teams (sometimes including product) can only do a good job. You identify them by studying the real growth model and what the customer is actually paying for. Being in one of those departments is where career-defining work happens.

  • Roughly two departments determine whether a company wins its market
  • A 10x effort in the right department produces a 10x company outcome
  • Product is sometimes on the list and sometimes not, even at a product company
  • Find them by studying the growth model and what the customer truly pays for
  • Being in the driving department attracts the best colleagues and step-function growth

it's roughly like two departments that this boils down to in each company

Tal Raviv · 38:30

if you're in that department for that company that's going to be your career defining work

Tal Raviv · 41:00
#strategy#career#growth#company-analysis
Explainer44:30

Book-Smart vs Street-Smart Product Decisions

Book-smart decisions rely on data, strategy, and frameworks; street-smart decisions give the customer's perception as much weight as logic. Tal tells of a pricing change that was correct on every model yet caused an internet revolt and rollback, because users saw the immediate negative before the delayed positive. In another case, revealing previously-locked features all at once would have felt like a cash grab, so they rolled it out in pieces.

  • Street-smart means weighting customer perception equally with logic and data
  • A well-modeled pricing change was rolled back after an online revolt despite the numbers proving out
  • Users saw the negative immediately but the positive only 30 days later
  • Unlocking many paywalled features at once would feel like everything-now-costs-more
  • The skill develops from time in support tickets and customer conversations

giving the customers's perception just as much weight as you would to logic

Tal Raviv · 45:00

the problem was the perception uh the narrative behind it what it looked like when you logged into the product

Tal Raviv · 46:30
#decision-making#customer-perception#pricing#product-management

Story· 5

Story03:00

Why Tal Raviv Stayed an IC PM for 12 Years

Tal explains he never optimized his career for a title, only for whether he was excited to get out of bed. Watching managers and product leaders, he never envied their calendars, and the colleagues he related to most kept requesting to return to IC roles. He anchors his motivation in autonomy, mastery, and purpose, and cites his professor father who loves his work and refuses to retire.

  • His career 'strategy' is to have no strategy and follow what makes him excited to work
  • He never looked at how managers spend their time and wanted that for himself
  • Motivation framework: autonomy, mastery, and purpose (from the book Drive)
  • PM is one of the most autonomous roles and can stay interesting across industries for a long time
  • Purpose (caring that a thing gets built well in the world) keeps him hands-on and focused

I don't really have a strategy for my career like my strategy is not to have a strategy

Tal Raviv · 03:00

if you feel that you're building something that you really want to see happen in the world and you really want to make sure it's…

Tal Raviv · 09:30
#career#individual-contributor#motivation#product-management
Story16:00

Using ChatGPT + Whisper to Scale a PM Across a Huge Project

Tal describes dictating a kickoff naturally into ChatGPT (via Whisper voice input) after giving it his team's user-story template, and getting back detailed, correctly-formatted Gherkin stories. The output would otherwise have required splitting the team or hiring multiple PMs. He notes the still-human part is deciding how to break a big change into logical stories.

  • He fed ChatGPT the exact story/epic template, confirmed it understood, then dictated context
  • Whisper voice dictation is built into the ChatGPT desktop and mobile apps
  • Output was detailed Gherkin ('given/when/then') stories needing only light edits
  • Feeding in a raw recorded-kickoff transcript worked less well than live dictation
  • The human still has to decide how to logically split a big change into stories

that would have taken either dividing the team into smaller pieces or multiple product managers to be able to keep up

Tal Raviv · 17:00

I just talked supernaturally to it like just just like I would to a person

Tal Raviv · 20:00
#ai#productivity#chatgpt#leverage#user-stories
Story57:30

Twice Wasted a Growth Team's Quarter by Skipping User Research

Tal admits he twice burned an entire quarter of a growth team's time through poor use of user research. In one case, 12 failed A/B tests eventually revealed that checkout tactics from Groupon, Amazon, and Booking failed because his customers were in a completely different mindset. Once he understood the customer, the same tests that had done nothing started driving real conversion.

  • Twice cost a growth team a full quarter by under-using qualitative research
  • 12 failed A/B tests forced a hypothesis rethink
  • Tactics that work on Groupon/Amazon/Booking work because of shared mindset, not universal human behavior
  • His customers had a different, high-motivation, long-horizon mindset
  • Second example: shipping a referral program after only interviewing successful users, not the non-adopters

I've wasted twice twice I've wasted an entire quarter of a growth team's time

Tal Raviv · 58:00

all these AB tests that should have printed money did nothing once we realized that then it really started to you know increase conversion

Tal Raviv · 1:00:00
#failure#user-research#ab-testing#conversion
Story1:02:30

Three Times a Hair From Getting Fired

Tal shares that three times a senior executive told him he was a hair away from being fired. In one, he learned that leadership needed him to disagree and commit rather than be right, since they'd adapt if wrong. In another, after a bad manager fit left him floating without a role, a friend told him to broach the elephant in the room vulnerably, and that honest conversation changed everything and got him onto the team.

  • A senior exec literally told him three separate times he was near firing
  • Leadership needed reliability and 'disagree and commit,' not being proven right
  • A poor manager fit is common and doesn't mean either person is bad
  • Left floating without a role, he risked getting let go
  • A vulnerable, unfiltered conversation with the hesitant director shifted the whole dynamic

what they need from you is just to rely on you that you're going to be with them even if you the disagree and commit

Tal Raviv · 1:03:30

it wasn't about being right it was about just like being supportive

Tal Raviv · 1:03:30
#failure#vulnerability#disagree-and-commit#career
Story1:10:30

The April Fools' Prank That Ruined an Exec Team's Weekend

Tal and a colleague built an elaborate fake German tech-news website (with a bought domain) claiming a big company had launched their most-feared competitor product in Europe. To get executives to believe it, they recruited each exec's most-trusted senior report to send the link, complete with fake poaching emails and cease-and-desists. One CTO only realized it was a prank days later and stormed out of a meeting.

  • Best pranks touch gently on people's biggest current fears so they do the rest
  • They faked an entire German tech publication and bought a real domain
  • Each exec's most-trusted report delivered the link to make it believable
  • Extras included a fake recruiting-poach email and a fake cease-and-desist
  • The CTO wasn't let in on it and stewed the whole weekend, then walked out of a Monday meeting

the best April Fool's pranks are the ones that touch just ever so gently on people's uh biggest

Tal Raviv · 1:10:30

you just have to touch it a little bit they'll do the rest of the work

Tal Raviv · 1:11:00
#story#culture#humor

Tool· 2

Tool26:00

Product Scrapbooking: A Living Database of Every Opportunity

Tal keeps a large Notion database where he files every opportunity plus real-world evidence: support tickets, Gong calls, great Slack brainstorms, screenshots. When a roadmap item finally comes up, he already has in-the-weeds clues to start from and to persuade others. It also lets him instantly validate a request in a sales or CS conversation, making people feel heard.

  • A messy Notion database clustering every opportunity, big or small
  • He actively files evidence: support tickets, Gong calls, Slack threads, screenshots
  • Roadmaps look linear but insights arrive non-linearly, so he captures them as they come
  • When an opportunity resurfaces he already has real-world clues to build a case
  • Pulling up prior mentions in a live call makes salespeople and CSMs feel heard

where I have this like massive notion database of every opportunity big or small that's ever come up

Tal Raviv · 26:00

you see like in their face that they they feel heard like you've been listening all this time

Tal Raviv · 27:00
#productivity#notion#product-management#research
Tool1:19:00

Tal's Best Product Management Book Is a Parenting Book

Tal names 'How to Talk So Kids Will Listen and Listen So Kids Will Talk' as the best product management book he's read. He compares it to Chris Voss's 'Never Split the Difference,' both rooted in nonviolent communication, but says the illustrated, comic-book-style parenting examples made the principles finally sink in for him.

  • Best PM book he's read is the parenting classic 'How to Talk So Kids Will Listen'
  • Both it and 'Never Split the Difference' draw on nonviolent communication
  • The concrete, comic-book-style illustrated examples made the principles click
  • He found it more resonant than the underlying nonviolent-communication source material

the best book on product management that I've read um is called how to talk so kids will listen

Tal Raviv · 1:19:00
#books#communication#recommendations

Takeaway· 3

Takeaway11:30

The Line Tal Uses to Get IC Comp Without a Promotion Path

When recruiters counter a high salary ask by promising future management opportunities to grow comp, Tal flips it. He tells them he has no intention of moving into management, so since the industry undervalues ICs, he needs the right number now. He argues step one is genuinely believing an IC's scope and impact are worth top pay.

  • Recruiters often deflect high asks with 'you'll rise into management and grow comp over time'
  • Tal responds that he won't rise up, so the number has to be right now
  • First step is believing an IC can own huge scope, impact, and value
  • Uses the engineering analogy: you shouldn't need to become a manager to be paid like a domain expert

I actually have no intention of going into management uh or rising up you know in those ranks

Tal Raviv · 12:00

the industry traditionally undervalues the IC role so it's really important for me to you know have that number now

Tal Raviv · 12:00
#compensation#negotiation#individual-contributor#career
Takeaway28:00

'Product Isn't a Role, It's a Team'

Tal's cornerstone team culture is that product is not one person's job but a shared team responsibility. He gently corrects language like 'a case you didn't think about' toward 'a case we didn't think about,' rejecting the hub-and-spoke model where the PM is the center. He argues the real product a PM builds is a resilient, self-reliant team.

  • Rejects the hub-and-spoke model with the PM at the center of every decision
  • Coaches language: 'we found' instead of 'you (the PM) missed'
  • Everyone (design, engineering, PM) owns the product together
  • Culture over process: process scaffolds until the culture is built
  • The team that builds the product is the real thing a PM is building

product isn't a role it's a team

Tal Raviv · 28:00

the real product that you're building as a PM I think is the team that builds the product

Tal Raviv · 33:00
#leadership#team-culture#product-management
Takeaway29:30

Seek to Not Be Needed, But to Be Valuable

To gain leverage, Tal deliberately removes himself as a bottleneck: he watches for games of telephone routed through him, decisions stuck on his attention, and work happening in DMs. His signature move is redirecting any direct message into a public team channel, so decisions are transparent, searchable, and inclusive. Done enough, it snowballs as others copy the behavior.

  • Look for signs you're the bottleneck: telephone games, DMs, two-person working meetings
  • Redirect DMs into public channels and explain why (transparency, searchability)
  • Aim to become less needed so you can own more scope and even multiple teams
  • Shower people with positivity when they take on what would be your job
  • Public-channel behavior becomes a snowball effect across the team

to seek to not be needed but be valuable

Tal Raviv · 29:30

can you please put it in this Channel with the team I'll answer there but it's really important for me that any decisions we make…

Tal Raviv · 31:00
#leadership#delegation#leverage#team-culture