The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.
◆Hot Take· 2
◆Hot Take30:00
Culture Is the Second Product You Build (for Employees)
Riffing on an idea from HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah, Shishir reframes company culture as a product. Every company builds two products: one for customers and one for employees, and that second product is culture. He adds that rituals are the mirror of culture, which is why people describe a company's culture by naming its rituals.
Companies build two products: one for customers, one for employees
The product built for employees is culture
Rituals are a mirror of culture
When asked about a company's culture, people answer by describing its rituals
“we actually build two products we build one for our customers and we build another one for our employees”
“that's the product we built for employees”
#culture#rituals#leadership#teams
◆Hot Take1:20:30
Reference Checks Beat Interviews as a Hiring Signal
Shishir's strongest hiring opinion: if you stack-rank hiring signals, the reference check sits at the top, above interviews. Colleagues have worked with someone for years, so their read beats anything you can learn from 30 minutes of artificial interview scenarios. He does reference checks as early as practical, and they lead him to not hire 'all the time.' The second-best signal is a real work exercise.
Reference check is the #1 hiring signal, ahead of interviews
30 minutes of artificial interview scenarios can't match years of real coworking
He runs reference checks as early in the process as possible
References lead to a no-hire 'all the time'; a real work exercise is the second-best signal
“i generally value the reference check over interview signals you know if i had the stack rank in interviews what is the best signal the…”
“what you're gonna get out of 30 minutes of artificial scenarios it's just like never going to compare with what a good reference check will…”
#hiring#reference-checks#interviewing#leadership
✶Explainer· 3
✶Explainer11:30
Why Coda Only Charges the Person Who Makes a Doc
Shishir explains Coda's 'maker billing' pricing, which breaks from every other document product. Instead of charging editors and makers, Coda charges only when someone creates a document, so a team needs just one paid license. The reason is strategic: he wanted zero friction on the share action, because sharing is the product's growth moment.
Most document products charge for both editors and makers; Coda charges only for makers
A team using paid features needs only one paid license
The goal was 'no dollar signs' at the moment of sharing, the key growth loop
Charging at the share moment (as most productivity tools do) would kill sharing
“we're only going to charge for people when they make a document”
“i wanted no friction on the share end”
#pricing#growth#saas#coda
✶Explainer1:17:00
How to Run a Reference Check That Gets the Truth
Reference-check answers are distorted by perverse incentives: people don't like criticizing others and fear blowback. Shishir's techniques counter this by drawing contrast rather than asking directly. The ideal is to not even name who you're asking about, instead asking who on the team is best at a given thing. Alternatively, offer four personas as an 'out' so the reference can speak freely, and never reveal which trait you value.
People have perverse incentives in references and avoid criticizing others
Ideal: don't name the person, ask 'who on your team is best at X?'
Offer contrasting personas (finds problems / solves them / gets teams moving / executes a playbook)
Don't tell the reference what trait you value, or you'll bias the answer
“you don't even tell them who you're asking about right you say when you think of your teams who is best at that”
“if i want to know where they stand on this axis don't tell people what you value”
#hiring#reference-checks#interviewing#leadership
✶Explainer1:21:30
Home Court, Away Court, Neutral Court Interview Questions
Shishir frames interview questions in three types. Home-court questions ('what would you do about X at our company?') just test whether a candidate reached the same answer you did, which is a weak test. Away-court questions about the candidate's own past can hide whether the problem was actually hard. He favors neutral-court questions like the teleportation puzzle, plus a candidate presentation designed to let them 'upper bound' themselves rather than be lower-bounded by standard questions.
Home court: 'what would you do at our company?' only tests if they matched your answer
Away court: questions about their past can hide how hard the problem really was
Neutral court (e.g. the teleportation question) is fairest and least dependent on inside knowledge
The candidate presentation is a deliberate 'away court' brag session to upper-bound them
“a common mistake people make is they do all questions in home court”
“we're trying to lower bound you like how bad could this be i want you to upper bound us”
#hiring#interviewing#product#leadership
❝Story· 6
❝Story31:30
Ariana Huffington's 'Reset' Meeting Ritual
Shishir shares one of his favorite rituals, from Ariana Huffington. Each person records a personal one-minute breathing-exercise video with images, quotes, and music that matter to them. Meetings begin by spinning a wheel to pick someone at random and playing their reset, giving the team both a shared calming moment and a way to learn about each other.
A 'reset' is a personal one-minute breathing-exercise video
Videos include personal photos, favorite quotes, and music
Meetings start by randomly picking someone ('spin the wheel') and playing their reset
It doubles as a calming reset and a way to learn about colleagues; the music people pick is the most revealing
“they start meetings by randomly picking someone they call spin the wheel”
“actually the music people pick is one of the most interesting”
#rituals#meetings#wellbeing#teams
❝Story33:00
Gusto Puts Your Whole Interview Panel on the Offer Call
Shishir describes a Gusto hiring ritual that surprised him. Instead of a recruiter alone delivering the offer, the entire group of people who interviewed the candidate joins the call and each says why the candidate is amazing and should join. Even people who voted no are on the call, because they'll work with the new hire and are expected to welcome them.
The whole interview panel joins the offer call, not just the recruiter
Each interviewer says something about why the candidate should join
Interviewers who voted 'no' still attend and help welcome the person
The ritual signals to the company how important hiring is
“they have the entire group of people that interviewed you join the call and they all say something about why you're amazing and you should…”
“it doesn't matter you're on the call you're going to work with this person”
#hiring#rituals#onboarding#teams
❝Story34:30
A Coinbase Trick That Fixed Coda's Decision-Making
Coda's 'pulse' ritual (everyone writes their opinion privately first) risked feeling like consensus voting, leaving decision-makers unsure whether they needed everyone to agree. Shishir borrowed a nudge from Coinbase's decision ritual: label each person's role (approver, responsible, decider, informed) and have the meeting owner pre-fill exactly what they need from each person. It preserved the anti-groupthink benefit while removing the consensus-to-a-fault problem.
Coda's 'pulse' could feel like voting or consensus-building
Decision-makers didn't know if they needed all responses to be yes
Coinbase organizes participants by role and asks the meeting owner to pre-fill what's needed from each
Coda added a role column to pulse; it fixed the consensus-to-a-fault danger
“the person running the meeting pre-fills that with what they want from that person”
“i think consensus building is a good thing but consensability to a fault is not”
#decision-making#rituals#meetings#coda
❝Story47:00
The 'Modern Family' Question That Split YouTube in 2008
In 2008 YouTube was seen as Google's first bad acquisition, and one of its hardest internal debates was the 'Modern Family question': people searched for the top TV show but YouTube didn't have it, so should YouTube link out to abc.com? The company split into a 'do right by the user' camp and a 'don't send traffic away' camp. Shishir reframed it as a bigger question, whether the video market would reward consistency or comprehensiveness, which made the original decision easy.
In 2008 YouTube was viewed as Google's first failed acquisition, losing money with big lawsuits
'Modern Family' was a top search query, but YouTube didn't host the show
The company split: link out to abc.com (user-first) vs don't (content-partnership fears)
Reframing to 'consistency vs comprehensiveness' resolved it; ~15 years later he believes they were right
“people would come search for one family one big ball we didn't have modern family on youtube”
“i value consistency over comprehensiveness”
#youtube#product#decision-making#strategy
❝Story51:30
Taking the YouTube iPhone App Back From Apple
Because YouTube decided it valued consistency over comprehensiveness, Shishir drove to Cupertino and told Scott and Phil that YouTube would take back the iPhone YouTube app that Apple had built, which was missing nearly half the catalog and many features. Apple warned they'd start from zero downloads and break the old app, but agreed to notify users. Within about six months of relaunch YouTube had roughly 80% share.
Apple's built-in YouTube app couldn't play back nearly half the catalog
Shishir told Apple YouTube would rebuild and take over its own app
Apple warned: zero inherited downloads and the old app would break
The negotiated ask was that Apple tell users a new app existed; ~80% share within six months
“so i drove down to cupertino and i sat down with with scott and phil and said hey we're gonna have to take back the…”
“we would much rather be on fewer phones or the more consistent experience than beyond all of them with an interesting experience”
#youtube#apple#product#strategy
❝Story59:00
The Teleportation-Device Interview Question
To test whether a candidate can spot the questions that matter, Shishir poses a low-stakes puzzle: scientists have invented a teleportation device and hired you to bring it to market. After the candidate generates lots of questions, he reveals the scientists will answer only two of them, then expect a plan. Great candidates quickly zero in on the one or two questions (like 'is it safe for humans?' and 'is it cheaper to buy or to run?') that determine everything else; he notes kids are especially good at this.
The prompt: bring a scientists' teleportation device to market
Twist: the scientists will answer only two of your questions, then expect a plan
Strong candidates find the one or two questions that unlock the rest (safety; buy-cost vs run-cost)
He argues skills like this are best practiced in frivolous, low-stakes situations, not high-stakes ones
“they've decided that they will answer only two of your questions and after that they expect a plan what two questions do you ask”
“we tend to only practice it in real world scenarios that are high stakes”
#hiring#interviewing#product#decision-making
✦Tool· 2
✦Tool42:30
Book Rec: 'Switch' for Changing Things When Change Is Hard
Shishir recommends 'Switch' by Chip and Dan Heath, saying it would take two slots on a five-book list. Its model of a rider on an elephant on a path maps onto three levers for driving change: direct the rider (tell people what to do), motivate the elephant (branding, giving a ritual a name), and shape the path (make the desired behavior as easy as possible).
'Switch' subtitle: how to change things when change is hard
Model: a rider on an elephant on a path
Direct the rider = tell people what to do (e.g. teach the ritual before their first Friday)
Motivate the elephant = branding / naming the ritual; shape the path = make it easy to follow
“they use this analogy of an elephant a writer on an elephant on a path”
“the subtitle the book is how to change things when change is hard”
#books#change-management#rituals#leadership
✦Tool1:24:30
Book Rec: 'Understanding Comics'
In the lightning round, Shishir recommends 'Understanding Comics', a comic book about comic books that he says you don't need to like comics to love. Its premise is that communication drifted to two extremes, written form and single pieces of art, and comics are the hybrid of drawing and writing. He values it because a diagram that crystallizes an idea is central to how he thinks and communicates.
'Understanding Comics' is a comic book about comic books
You don't have to like comics to love it
Thesis: communication split into written form and art; comics are the hybrid
It reinforces his belief that diagrams crystallize ideas
“it's a comic book about comic books and you don't have to like comic books at all to love this book”