▲Takeaway04:30
You Don't Need to Post Online to Win — Just Do the Work
Noam has been hugely successful in tech while barely tweeting, writing, or podcasting. He argues you should lean on what feels authentic and energizing rather than forcing an online presence because you think it leads to success. If you do what genuinely fills you up, you're likely to become one of the best people at it.
- Noam gets deep on one thing at a time and finds broad multitasking (like public posting) hard
- The best people often aren't tweeting or on LinkedIn — they're doing the work
- Do what you like; you'll be far better at things that excite you
- Leaning on what's authentic to you tends to make you one of the best at it
“I get really focused on the thing that I am working on and get really deep in the thing that I am working on and…”
“do what you like. You're you're generally going to be a lot better at the things that like really fill you up, that really get…”
#career#authenticity#personal-brand#product-management
▲Takeaway16:30
Prioritize What's Best for the Business, Not Just the User
A PM's job is to work backward from what's best for the business broadly — not always the user, and not the team's own goals. At Thumbtack, the ordering was customers first, pros second, Thumbtack last, guided by the insight that what pros most need is more (and higher-quality) customers. Guiding principles help navigate thorny tradeoffs like raising prices that hurt marketplace liquidity.
- Best-for-user and best-for-business overlap but not always
- Thumbtack's principle: customers first, pros second, Thumbtack last
- What pros need most from the marketplace is more high-quality customers
- Guiding principles help resolve conflicts and avoid local maxima (e.g. price hikes that kill liquidity)
“So, it was customers first, pros second and then Thumbtack last.”
“we we always just felt that what the pros need from us is more customers.”
#prioritization#marketplaces#product-strategy#thumbtack
▲Takeaway19:30
The Real Question Isn't When to Quit — It's When You Run Out of Stamina
Noam says what kills most projects and early companies is stamina, not money. High-ambiguity work with weak signal demands ungodly faith and resilience. The right time to move on is usually when a team runs out of steam and stops bringing its best self — often before it runs out of money.
- Stamina, not money, kills most projects and early companies
- High-ambiguity work requires 'faith and stamina' because signal is weak
- A motivated team's inertia and quality are a completely different game
- Sometimes a burned-out team just needs a change of scene or pace
“I think the reality is is that what kills most projects most early companies is is stamina.”
“Marco the CEO used to say that it feels like we're running up hill and chewing glass”
#resilience#startups#when-to-quit#product-management
▲Takeaway22:00
A One-Channel Growth Company Is Always a No-No
Thumbtack grew brilliantly on SEO — but SEO is live-by-the-sword, die-by-the-sword, and when Google changed its algorithm, growth went negative. Depending on a single growth channel is dangerous because it can dry up without warning. The fix is to diversify proactively — turn on paid, referrals, and other organic channels before the main channel breaks.
- SEO is 'live by the sword, die by the sword' — Google changes hurt Thumbtack badly
- A one-channel growth company is always a no-no
- Diversify into paid, referrals, and other organic channels before trouble hits
- Now Noam's 'paranoia' perks up whenever a product leans on a single channel
“SEO is a sort of like a live by the sword die by the sword you know channel of of growth and I think that…”
#growth#seo#distribution#thumbtack
▲Takeaway32:00
The Disruptor Test: What Would Someone Starting Today Do?
Lenny shares the lens he used at Airbnb: ask what a fresh disruptor starting now would build — and for Airbnb it was obviously 'make it instant.' Noam adds that any product involving 'bits and atoms' is exponentially harder than pure-software products, and something as seemingly simple as 'make it instant' turns out to be incredibly deep and hard to pull off on an existing business.
- Ask: if a disruptor started today to become the new us, what would they do?
- For Airbnb the answer was obviously to make booking instant
- Products involving 'bits and atoms' are exponentially harder than software-only
- Simple-sounding changes like 'make it instant' are deceptively deep, especially mid-growth
“you should be asking yourself, if somebody was to come into our space and disrupt us and start now to become the new Airbnb, what…”
“any product you work on that involves like bits and atoms is exponentially harder than products that just involve bits.”
#product-strategy#disruption#airbnb#marketplaces
▲Takeaway35:30
On a Leadership Team, No One Is a Bystander on Product Strategy
When growth goes negative, the CEO's staff — CFO, head of sales, head of people, engineering — must tackle product strategy together, even though they rarely do project work as a group. Just because 'product' is in your title doesn't make you the only one thinking about product strategy. PMs are the connective tissue, but the whole leadership team should feel their fingerprints are on the company's strategy.
- CEO-staff peers rarely have natural ways to do project work together
- In hard times, that group's ability to tackle problems jointly is critical
- Having 'product' in your title doesn't make you the sole owner of product strategy
- Everyone must feel their fingerprint is on the strategy, or it becomes 'their world vs ours'
“no one had no one can be a bystander on product strategy.”
#leadership#product-strategy#org-design#collaboration
▲Takeaway46:00
The Incentive System Makes or Breaks an Internal Startup
The single biggest thing when building a startup within a big company is the incentive system — smart people game toward whatever it rewards. If you evaluate your zero-to-one incubator on a twice-a-year performance review, you've already killed it: it's the wrong time frame and creates adverse selection. Give teams startup-like autonomy over infrastructure, leveling, and pay, and think about real upside and longer time horizons — Nike's incubation lab was a strong example.
- Smart people game toward the incentive system even unintentionally
- A twice-a-year performance review is the wrong time frame for an incubator and kills it
- Wrong incentives cause adverse selection in who you attract
- Let internal-startup teams choose their own infrastructure and throw away code freely
- Compete with people starting their own thing: think upside and startup-length time horizons (Nike's lab as a model)
“if you're large organization and you do some performance management process like twice a year and that's how you're going to evaluate and incentivize people…”
#innovation#incentives#zero-to-one#org-design
▲Takeaway59:30
Take the Jobs That Stretch You — the Pain Precedes the Promised Land
You can't predict with certainty which job or bet will hit, but you can develop a nose for people you'll succeed with, and you can reliably find situations that stretch you. Noam has always prioritized roles that cause a lot of growth and learning — which is often painful — because on the other side of that pain is the promised land.
- You can't forecast success with certainty, but you can develop a nose for the right people
- You can reliably find situations that will stretch you
- Prioritize roles that force growth and learning, even though it's painful
- On the other side of that pain is the promised land
“I always try to prioritize putting myself in positions that are going to cause a lot of growth and learning.”
“on the other side of that pain, I think is is is the promised land.”
#career#growth#advice#learning