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29 December 2022

Countdown of the top 10 episodes of the year

10Frameworks
10Insights

Episode overview

Lenny Rachitsky counts down the ten most popular episodes from the podcast's first six months and plays selected excerpts from each. The clips cover product positioning, analytics, imposter syndrome, prioritization, behavioral science, B2B growth, SEO, product management, small teams, and difficult conversations. The featured guests are April Dunford, Crystal Widjaja, Julie Zhuo, Shishir Mehrotra, Kristen Berman, Elena Verna, Ethan Smith, Shreyas Doshi, Marty Cagan, and Matt Mochary.

Key ideas

  • Positioning should begin with competitive alternatives, then connect differentiated capabilities to customer value, best-fit customers, and an appropriate market category.
  • Analytics becomes actionable when teams move beyond measurements, add context, form hypotheses, and instrument properties that reveal why users behave differently.
  • Imposter syndrome often accompanies rapid growth; asking for help, finding support, and speaking vulnerably make it easier to navigate.
  • The Three Bs model specifies a target behavior, removes logistical and cognitive barriers, and strengthens immediate benefits.
  • Product-led acquisition depends on strong activation and habitual engagement, while free features should reinforce the growth model without destroying monetization.
  • SEO is most promising when the addressable audience is large and the domain already has meaningful traffic, authority, and referring domains.
  • The LNO framework reserves exceptional effort for leverage tasks while minimizing time spent on neutral and overhead work.
  • Small teams reduce coordination and morale overhead, while difficult conversations improve when people receive warning, clear news, emotional space, and active listening.

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

Frameworks in this episode

Marketing5 steps

April Dunford's Five-Step Positioning Framework

Position a product by starting from what you must beat, not from a market category.

Read →
Marketing4 steps

Assessing Whether SEO Is Right for Your Product

Judge SEO fit by two signals — a large addressable market and existing domain authority.

Read →
Strategy3 steps

Eigenquestions (Finding the Question That Drives the Answer)

Find the one or two questions whose answers collapse a complex decision into clear quadrants.

Read →
Marketing5 steps

Freemium Decision Framework (What to Make Free)

Make a feature free if it drives your growth model; gate it if it creates friction for growth.

Read →
Productivity5 steps

LNO Framework

Match your effort to each task's leverage, neutrality, or overhead

Read →
Strategy4 steps

Measurements Are Not Insights (Instrumentation for Analytics)

Turn raw metrics into segmented, causal insights you actually act on.

Read →
Communication4 steps

Mochary's Script for Difficult Conversations

Defuse the amygdala by warning first, delivering the message, then letting the person release emotion.

Read →
Leadership4 steps

PSHE Career Growth Framework

Evaluate talent by how far up the Problem-Solution-How-Execution ladder they operate.

Read →
Leadership4 steps

The Four Things a Product Manager Brings to the Team

Prepare to contribute by mastering users, data, the business, and the competitive landscape.

Read →
Innovation3 steps

The Three B's of Behavior Change

Change user behavior by picking a specific Behavior, removing Barriers, and adding immediate Benefits.

Read →

People & resources mentioned

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

People · 22

  • 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

    I'm Lenny and my goal here is to help you get better at the craft of building and growing products

  • Adam GrantCoinedon my new podcast rethinking I'm trying to find the answers

    I'm Adam Grant and on my new podcast rethinking I'm trying to find the answers

  • Mark CubanMentionsmentioned

    creators like lin-manuel Miranda entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and thought leaders like Renee Brown

  • Brené BrownMentionsWhat Bnee Brown calls the midlife unraveling.

    creators like lin-manuel Miranda entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and thought leaders like Renee Brown

  • Lin-Manuel MirandaMentionsmentioned

    creators like lin-manuel Miranda entrepreneurs like Mark Cuban and thought leaders like Renee Brown

  • April DunfordMentionsApril Dunford was on this podcast and she has this book that she put out recently called the sales pitch

    the 10th most popular episode of the Year and that is with April Dunford

  • Crystal WidjajaMentionswho's a long time Chief product officer at gojek she's currently Chief product officer at kumu

    next up is Crystal wajia who's a long time Chief product officer at gojek she's currently Chief product officer at kumu

  • Julie ZhuoMentionsJulie was a long time design leader at Facebook she's now the founder of a company called Sundial

    our very first episode with Julie Zoo Julie was a long time design leader at Facebook

  • Shishir MehrotraMentionsshashir marocha is the co-founder and ceo of koda before starting koda shashir led the youtube product engineering and design teams

    next up is shashir marotra CEO of Coda former vpa product and Engineering at YouTube

  • Kristen BermanMentionsKristen is the CEO and co-founder of irrational Labs where she and her team use Behavioral Science

    our sixth most popular episode is with Kristen Berman founder of irrational Labs on using Behavioral Science to improve your product

  • Elena VernaMentionsElena Vernon who's been on the podcast is just like a huge proponent of everyone will be product LED self-serve eventually

    the great elenaverna on B2B growth Elena is currently head of growth at amplitude

  • Ethan SmithMentionsone of the most innovative disciplined first principles seo thinkers and i've met is ethan smith from graphite

    the fourth most popular episode of the year is with Ethan Smith CEO of graphite and just general SEO Guru

  • Shreyas DoshiMentionsHe reflects on roughly 20 years in product work and leadership roles at Google, Twitter, and Stripe.

    Doshi shreyas was a long time pm at stripe before that he was a PM at Twitter at Google

  • Shreyas DoshiCoinedHe reflects on roughly 20 years in product work and leadership roles at Google, Twitter, and Stripe.

    I took and then kind of created this LNO framework on myself

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

    runner-up for the most popular episode of the year is my conversation with Marty Kagan

  • Steve JobsMentionsSteve Jobs is just uh the bar he held for the company and for technical talent and for excellence was not uh wavering.

    still BS shared his theory from 1995 for God's sakes

  • Matt MocharyMentionsMatt is a full-time executive coach but not just any coach he's worked with folks like nabal the CEOs of openai coinbase Reddit

    the one and only Matt mashari Matt is a full-time CEO coach

  • Arielle JacksonRecommendsarielle jackson from first round is an amazing support system to founders and marketers at startup

    don't miss the episodes of Emily Kramer and Ariel Jackson

  • Emily KramerRecommendsemily led and built the marketing teams at asana carda ticketfly and astro which was a startup acquired by slack

    don't miss the episodes of Emily Kramer and Ariel Jackson

  • Wes KaoRecommendsWes co-created the AltMBA program with Seth Godin. She co-founded a company called Maven.

    if you want to get better communication don't miss the episode of West cow

  • Madhavan RamanujamRecommendsmadhavan is the author of monetizing innovation the most widely read book on pricing strategy he's also senior partner at Simon Kutcher and partners

    if you need help with pricing strategy don't miss the madovan episode

  • Dan HockenmaierRecommendscurrently working at Fair where he's head of strategy and analytics and through his Consulting business basis one

    if you're building a Marketplace there's the Dan hockenmeyer episode

Resources · 49

  • Lenny's PodcastCoinedpodcast · Lenny Rachitsky

    launch this podcast about six months ago we've done exactly 50 episodes at this point

  • Re:Thinking with Adam GrantCoinedpodcast · Adam Grant

    I'm Adam Grant and on my new podcast rethinking I'm trying to find the answers

  • NotionUsessoftware · Notion Labs

    I use notion to coordinate this very podcast including my content calendar my sponsors and prepping guests

  • Obviously AwesomeCoinedbook · April Dunford

    April is the author of obviously awesome

  • GojekMentionscompany · Kevin Aluwi and co-founders

    who's a long time Chief product officer at gojek

  • KumuMentionscompany

    she's currently Chief product officer at kumu

  • TwitterUseswebsite · Twitter

    using Twitter for quote unquote news when in reality they're actually using Twitter for entertainment

  • SundialCoinedcompany · Julie Zhuo

    she's now the founder of a company called Sundial

  • FacebookMentionscompany · Meta

    Julie was a long time design leader at Facebook

  • The Looking GlassRecommendsnewsletter · Julie Zhuo

    her newsletter the Looking Glass was a huge inspiration to me that helped me start my newsletter

  • The Making of a ManagerCoinedbook · Julie Zhuo

    she also wrote the best seller the making of a manager

  • YouTubeMentionswebsite · Google

    former vpa product and Engineering at YouTube

  • CodaMentionssoftware · Coda

    CEO of Coda former vpa product and Engineering at YouTube

  • MicrosoftMentionscompany · Bill Gates and Paul Allen

    If you have a Microsoft and here are two of my favorite clips from shashir

  • Irrational LabsCoinedcompany · Kristen Berman and Dan Ariely

    Kristen Berman founder of irrational Labs

  • Three BsCoinedother · Kristen Berman

    our team basically has created a model of behavior change we call the Three B's

  • PelotonMentionsproduct · Peloton Interactive

    if I'm Peloton pm and I'm working on the app

  • LyftMentionscompany

    if your lift there's logistical friction which is wait time

  • UberUsescompany · Uber

    you're going to open up Uber and say like maybe it'll come faster

  • AsanaMentionssoftware · Asana, Inc.

    if you're Asana and if you're trying to get someone to log a task

  • VantaMentionssoftware · Christina Cacioppo

    this episode is brought to you by vanta helping you streamline your security compliance to accelerate growth

  • AmplitudeMentionssoftware · Amplitude

    Elena is currently head of growth at amplitude

  • MiroMentionssoftware · Miro

    prior to that she was CMO at Miro

  • SurveyMonkeyMentionssoftware

    she was senior vice president of growth at SurveyMonkey

  • SnowflakeMentionscompany · Snowflake Inc.

    does it have a more of a single mode relationship so let's say snowflake

  • SlackMentionssoftware · Slack Technologies

    if it has a collaboration at its core say slack or Miro or even the amplitude

  • eBayMentionscompany · eBay

    if you're eBay you're gonna spend tens of millions of dollars on ads

  • ZillowMentionscompany · Zillow

    if you're Zillow you're going to spend tens of millions of dollars on ads

  • GraphiteMentionscompany

    Ethan Smith CEO of graphite and just general SEO Guru

  • GoogleMentionscompany · Google

    Google doesn't want you to just be an SEO site

  • SimilarwebUsessoftware · Similarweb

    I'll go into similar web I'll put the domain in I'll look at the total traffic

  • SemrushUsessoftware

    I'll go into ahrefs or sem rush and look at the total number of referring domains

  • AhrefsUsessoftware · Ahrefs Pte. Ltd.

    I'll go into ahrefs or sem rush and look at the total number of referring domains

  • WayfairUseswebsite

    I can put in Walmart and Wayfair put it in similar web look at their total traffic

  • WalmartUsescompany

    I can put in Walmart and Wayfair put it in similar web look at their total traffic

  • WeWorkMentionscompany · Adam Neumann and Miguel McKelvey

    I'm at a wework right now so for wework I could look at the traffic

  • RobinhoodMentionscompany

    for Robin Hood Robin Hood could look at other sites that allow you to sell stocks in crypto

  • InvestopediaMentionswebsite

    Investopedia doesn't allow you to buy stocks but they have a bunch of traffic

  • StripeMentionscompany · Patrick Collison and John Collison

    shreyas was a long time pm at stripe

  • MavenMentionswebsite · Maven

    now he has his own course on Maven

  • LNO FrameworkCoinedother · Shreyas Doshi

    I took and then kind of created this LNO framework on myself

  • OpenAIMentionscompany

    he's worked with CEOs of companies like open AI coinbase notion Rippling angelist

  • AngelListMentionscompany · Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi

    he's worked with CEOs of companies like open AI coinbase notion Rippling angelist

  • CoinbaseMentionscompany · Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam

    he's worked with CEOs of companies like open AI coinbase notion Rippling angelist

  • RipplingMentionscompany · Parker Conrad

    he's worked with CEOs of companies like open AI coinbase notion Rippling angelist

  • WhatsAppMentionssoftware · Meta

    that's what WhatsApp did that's what Instagram did that's what linear is doing right now

  • LinearMentionssoftware · Linear

    that's what WhatsApp did that's what Instagram did that's what linear is doing right now

  • InstagramMentionssoftware · Meta

    that's what WhatsApp did that's what Instagram did that's what linear is doing right now

  • Lenny's NewsletterCoinednewsletter · Lenny Rachitsky

    you can also go to this episode on my newsletter if you go to lennysnewsletter.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.

Myth Buster· 1

Myth Buster04:00

Your Biggest B2B Competitor Is "No Decision"

April Dunford argues most teams wrongly discount the status quo when working out positioning. In B2B, a huge share of deals are lost not to a rival product but to the customer choosing to do nothing, so you have to position against pen, paper, spreadsheets and interns as well as named competitors.

  • Competitive alternatives are not just lookalike competitors; they include the status quo of what the company does today.
  • About 40% of B2B deals are lost to 'no decision'.
  • 'No decision' really means losing to spreadsheets, pen and paper, and interns.
  • If you don't position against the status quo you can't pull the customer off it.

in B2B we lose about 40 percent of our deals to quote unquote no decision which actually means we lost to the spreadsheet we lost…

April Dunford · 04:00
#positioning#b2b#sales#competition

Hot Take· 2

Hot Take33:30

Never Start With Product-Led Acquisition

Elena Verna argues every company must first nail product-led retention (activation plus engagement) before attempting product-led acquisition. Without habitual usage there are no opportunities for users to invite, refer, or create content that attracts others, so acquisition-first is doomed.

  • Retention splits into two KPIs: activation and engagement.
  • Product-led acquisition depends on users inviting, referring, or creating content, which only happens if they use the product habitually.
  • Product-led motion fits products with one-to-many/collaborative relationships (Slack, Miro), not single-mode ones (Snowflake).
  • Without a one-to-many relationship, you rely on marketing-led or sales-led growth instead.

I think every single company has to First focus on being product LED and retention period

Elena Verna · 34:00

so never start with product LED acquisition you first always have to start with product LED retention activation and engagement

Elena Verna · 34:30
#growth#retention#product-led#b2b
Hot Take38:00

Companies Under-Resource SEO and Over-Resource Ads

Ethan Smith points out the spending mismatch between paid ads and SEO. Companies happily spend tens of millions on ads but almost nothing on an SEO team, even though the organic traffic opportunity can be comparable in size.

  • Big spenders like Zillow and eBay pour tens of millions into ads.
  • The same companies invest almost nothing in a strong SEO team.
  • The available SEO traffic is often roughly equal to the paid traffic they buy.
  • Spending $100M on ads but $50K on SEO doesn't make sense.

I think people under resource SEO a lot of times and over resource ads

Ethan Smith · 38:00

so you're going to spend 100 million dollars on ads why would you spend fifty thousand dollars on SEO that doesn't make sense

Ethan Smith · 38:30
#seo#marketing#growth#ads

Explainer· 3

Explainer07:30

Why Most Analytics Efforts Fail: Measurements Aren't Insights

Crystal Widjaja explains that most analytics work fails because teams treat data as entertainment rather than acting on it. A measurement is just an observed data point; an insight adds the context and 'why' that tells you to change behavior, which requires instrumenting properties onto events so you can segment who does what.

  • Real news is information that changes what you do; if you don't change behavior, you're just getting entertainment.
  • A measurement is an observed fact (e.g. power users book 4x more); an insight has context and tells you how to act.
  • Segmentation reveals actionable differences, like giving power users free-shipping only on high-GMV baskets.
  • The fix is instrumenting properties into events so you can form and test hypotheses about behavior.

do not treat metric Gathering as entertainment like it's not there for you to be like oh that's interesting how novel and then not act…

Crystal Widjaja · 08:30

real news is information that changes what you do in the real world and if you don't change what you're doing what you are doing…

Crystal Widjaja · 09:00
#analytics#instrumentation#data#product
Explainer38:30

Two Signs SEO Can Be a Growth Driver

Ethan Smith gives two tests for whether SEO is worth investing in: is the addressable market large, and do you already have authority/traction. He offers rough thresholds and a method (SimilarWeb, Ahrefs/SEMrush) for assessing both, noting that early-stage sites with no traction are usually too soon.

  • Test one: is the addressable market for SEO large (it usually is for most categories).
  • Test two: do you have authority and existing traction; Google wants a credible domain before ranking it.
  • Rough thresholds: ~1,000 non-SEO visits a day and ~1,000 referring domains.
  • Assess addressable market by benchmarking product competitors and audience competitors (e.g. Investopedia for Robinhood) in SimilarWeb.

the second is do you have authority do you have existing traction if you start from zero and you have no traction

Ethan Smith · 39:00
#seo#growth#market-sizing#traffic
Explainer50:30

Why Big Companies Become Bad at Product

Marty Cagan relays a theory that as companies grow, product becomes less celebrated than sales, marketing and finance, because those functions drive growth or cut costs once innovation slows. Those people get promoted into leadership, good product people leave for companies that value product, and the decline compounds.

  • As a company grows, product historically becomes less important than sales, marketing and finance.
  • Sales and marketing drive growth while finance cuts costs, so those people get celebrated and promoted.
  • Once they run the company, strong product people leave for firms that value product.
  • The theory was prescient and keeps playing out across companies over time.

as a company gets bigger product historically became less important the people in a company that would be that would be celebrated were marketing people…

Marty Cagan · 50:30

good product people don't want to work there anymore and they leave and they go to a company that values product

Marty Cagan · 51:00
#product-management#leadership#company-culture#scaling

Story· 3

Story11:30

Julie Zhuo Felt Like an Imposter for 7-8 Years at Facebook

Julie Zhuo shares that despite rising to VP of Design at Facebook, she felt like an imposter every week for her first seven or eight years. She reframes discomfort as coinciding with the most intense periods of growth, and offers tools for coping: recognizing everyone feels this way, asking for help, and being vulnerable.

  • Feeling unprepared for a new role coincides with the fastest, most intense periods of growth.
  • Everyone, including admired role models, still encounters unprecedented situations.
  • Asking for help unlocks support, empathy and advice that speeds up growth.
  • Being vulnerable and naming what's hard forms deeper connections and better solutions.

the first seven or eight years that I was at Facebook every single week I felt like an imposter I had no idea really what…

Julie Zhuo · 12:30

I am much better at asking for help now than I was earlier in my career you know I used to actually just try and…

Julie Zhuo · 17:00
#imposter-syndrome#career#leadership#growth
Story19:30

The Teleportation-Device Interview Question

Shishir Mehrotra shares his favorite interview question: you're told scientists invented a teleportation device and you must bring it to market, but you only get to ask two questions before delivering a plan. The exercise reveals whether a candidate can find the one or two 'eigenquestions' that actually drive the answer.

  • Candidates get to ask only two questions, then must produce a go-to-market plan.
  • The best answers zero in on the few questions that matter (e.g. is it safe for humans, is it cheaper to buy or to run).
  • Those two answers map to quadrants that dictate completely different use cases.
  • Kids are naturally great at simplifying to the core questions; it's a skill adults train out of themselves.

a group of scientists have invented a teleportation device they've hired you Lenny to be their sort of business counterpart bring this to Market

Shishir Mehrotra · 19:30

almost every kid will like quickly get to two pretty good item questions again kids are incredibly good at simplifying these things out it's actually…

Shishir Mehrotra · 22:30
#interviewing#product-management#decision-making#hiring
Story54:30

Smaller Teams Often Get More Done

Matt Mochary describes how companies he coached did layoffs early in the 2020 pandemic and then, within 60 days, reported operating better on an absolute scale, shipping more features and code with higher NPS. His explanation: fewer people means less coordination overhead, because every added person requires context, information flow and morale management that grows geometrically.

  • Payroll is about 80% of costs in a tech company, so cutting costs means letting go of people.
  • Within 60 days of layoffs, CEOs reported the company operating better on an absolute scale.
  • Fewer people reduces coordination friction, so output goes up.
  • Every additional person adds geometric overhead in context, information flow and morale.
  • Companies like WhatsApp, Instagram, Linear and Notion succeed by keeping teams small.

the CEO reported back to me it's insane I don't know how this happened but the company is now operating better

Matt Mochary · 55:30

with fewer people in the organization things work better that's the big realization that most people never discover

Matt Mochary · 56:00
#team-size#management#layoffs#productivity

Tool· 1

Tool57:00

How to Have a Hard Conversation Without Triggering the Amygdala

Matt Mochary shares his method for difficult conversations: warn the person a hard conversation is coming so they can brace, then deliver the message, then invite them to release the emotion. Pre-warning blunts the amygdala's surprise response, and actively listening while sitting with their pain helps them move through it.

  • Open by saying it's going to be a difficult conversation and give them a few seconds to prepare.
  • The amygdala is triggered by surprise, so a warning stops it firing as hard.
  • Deliver the message clearly, then name the likely emotions (anger, fear, sadness) and invite them to share.
  • Actively listen and sit with their pain rather than running from it, then help them get through it.

whenever I have a difficult conversation I started off hey this is going to be a difficult conversation I want you to take a few…

Matt Mochary · 57:00

amygdala gets triggered is often because of surprise and so if you give someone just a few seconds to mentally prepare then the amygdala often…

Matt Mochary · 57:30
#management#communication#difficult-conversations#empathy