Path2Product's Mission is to bridge the gap in product management experience for aspiring product managers, so the Lessons In Product Management podcast is here to support that effort, as well as provide valuable insights to existing PMs and PM leaders.
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Episode Summary In this season premiere of Lessons in Product Management , John Fontenot introduces a new direction for the podcast - one focused on the intersection of artificial intelligence, product management, go-to-market strategy, product-market fit, and organizational alignment. While AI is transforming how products are built and launched, many organizations are discovering that faster execution doesn't automatically lead to better outcomes. In fact, AI often exposes existing weaknesses i...
Megan O'Rourke, Executive Director of Product Management at MetaLab, discusses the agency's unique design-led product management philosophy and how it shapes product experiences. She highlights the distinct advantages of agency PM roles, offering diverse experiences and rapid learning. The conversation also delves into evolving client needs, particularly concerning the strategic integration of AI, and MetaLab's critical role in challenging the
🎙️ Episode Title: How Klaviyo is Redefining B2C CRM, Services, and AI with Grant Deken 🧑💼 Guest: Grant Deken – Head of Product, Klaviyo Services 📅 Episode Overview: In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , host John Fontenot sits down with Grant Deken , Head of Product at Klaviyo Services, to explore how Klaviyo is reimagining customer relationships in the B2C space. From the convergence of marketing and service to the real-world implications of GenAI in product development, this ...
John Fontenot discusses strategies for product managers to combat vaporware sales, starting with upstream fixes like clear product vision and go-to-market strategy to align teams. He then provides a tactical approach: instead of building promised features, PMs should engage customers to understand underlying needs, reframing the conversation with sales to deliver truly valuable, differentiated solutions. This fosters ethical partnerships, builds trust, and empowers PMs to be strategic partners rather than just feature fulfillers.
In this episode, Shobhit Chugh, former Google PM and founder of Intentional Product Manager , shares practical strategies for moving beyond execution and becoming a standout product leader—even when you don’t have formal authority or a supportive manager. 🔑 Key Takeaways 1. Don’t Mistake Productivity for Progress Just being busy doesn’t mean you’re growing. Like Amazon’s press release approach, define what you want to be known for before the next review cycle. Align your work to that vision and...
🔑 Summary: In this insightful conversation, Daria Love unpacks the often-blurred boundaries between product marketing and product management. She shares practical frameworks for collaboration, the importance of go-to-market (GTM) roadmaps, and how product managers and marketers can set each other (and the product) up for success. The episode is packed with strategic and tactical takeaways for PMs looking to deepen partnerships with product marketers. ⏱️ Key Topics & Timestamps: 01:45 – Dari...
🎙️ Guest : Irene Yu Founder & CEO of SkipLevel – a company helping PMs become more technical without needing to code. Skiplevel article on how AI is changing the PM role 🔑 Key Topics & Timestamps [00:00 - 02:25] Irene's Background Irene shares her transition from software engineer to starting SkipLevel. [02:26 - 04:45] Identifying the Technical Gaps Her early software development experience revealed a lack of technical knowledge in PMs which created communication issues with engineers....
John discusses the importance of becoming a T-shaped product manager, highlighting the need for deep expertise in one area coupled with broad knowledge across technical, UX, data, and go-to-market functions. He explains how PM roles are evolving, particularly with generative AI, and provides advice on identifying strengths and weaknesses to build a career growth roadmap, essential for remaining competitive.
In this episode, Paul Lunow discusses how product managers can improve their relationships and communication with engineers. Topics include creating psychological safety, the necessary technical knowledge for PMs, avoiding common anti-patterns, managing workload effectively, and earning engineers' trust by supporting shipped features. Paul also shares insights from his career and promotes his new novel.
Podcast Summary: Megan Shulby on Post-Launch Product ManagementIntroduction & Megan’s Background 01:24 - 02:01 – Megan Shulby is introduced; she and John connected via LinkedIn due to her content on underrated product management topics. 02:01 - 04:39 – Megan shares her journey from Hollywood entertainment (e.g., The Biggest Loser ) to digital marketing, leading to product management. She pursued graduate studies in Information Systems and Marketing to gain technical expertise. 04:40 - 05:47 ...
Episode Summary: In this episode, John Fontenot explores a thought-provoking topic: the potential consolidation of Product Management (PM) and User Experience (UX) roles due to advancements in Generative AI. He examines the overlap between these two disciplines, the evolving responsibilities of PMs and UX designers, and how organizations may react to increased efficiency through AI. Key Takeaways: 1. Understanding the Unique Roles of PM and UX Designer (00:25 - 02:32) PMs focus on business objec...
In this episode of Lessons in Product Management , host John Fontenot tackles a listener's question: How can a product manager succeed in a waterfall environment? He acknowledges that while Agile is often the preferred framework, many industries and organizations still operate in waterfall models, making adaptability key. Fontenot offers two approaches: The Ideal Scenario – Where leadership is open to change, product managers can integrate discovery into waterfall planning by validating key assu...
Do you feel constantly pressured to ship new features? Do you get the space you need for proper discovery? Most Product Managers feel this pressure, and I was recently asked on LinkedIn why this is the case. What about our company cultures or human nature drives this desire for more new stuff? In this episode, I attempt to break down the top 3 reasons why I believe Product culture drives outputs over outcomes, even we say we want the opposite. Linkedin Post If you're looking to get your shot at ...
On today's Lesson in Product Management, this one is for the perfectionists out there. If you consider yourself a "creative" or an artist, you might be tempted to hide your work until you deem it "perfect" - but that could be hurting you more than you know. On this episode we break down why perfectionism hurts you and those around you and ultimately will set you back in your career and the progress you seek to make for customers. If you're looking to get into product management but lack the year...
It's easy to get overly focused on "doing your job" as a product manager. Unfortunately, we risk taking too narrow of a view of what our job actually is. When it comes to working with PMMs (product marketing managers), it's no different. And it's about time we start treating them like partners rather than someone we throw releases over the wall to and expect them to make our products sell. If you're looking to get into product management and want the training and experience you need to get there...
This episode challenges the common advice to "lean into your strengths," arguing that while it's useful in the short term, it can become a significant career handicap if it prevents you from addressing weaknesses. The host shares a personal journey of overcoming a non-technical background to excel as a product manager, emphasizing the critical importance of developing a well-rounded skill set across customer, business, and technology domains for true product leadership and growth.
On today’s episode, I got to chat with Bob Ainsbury, Chief Product Officer at Granicus. Bob is a long-time Product leader who has had a winding journey from engineering to sales and marketing leadership to leading strategy and now in the C-suite as a Product executive. For most of Bob’s career, he’s been in highly regulated spaces like Healthcare and government. On today’s episode, we dive into Bob’s experience in leading product in regulated industries and cover a bunch of fun topics such as: P...
What is your relationship like with your stakeholders? If you're not treating them like partners, I can promise you it's not great. In this episode, we share how to build great relationships with your "stakeholders" and create win/win relationships that stop making stakeholders feel like blockers to your desired progress. If you're looking to get into product management, join us at Path2Product to get the knowledge, experience, and coaching you need to make that transition and accelerate your ...
Host John Fontenot shares a personal story about working in a highly process-driven Scrum environment where strict adherence to rules, like not adding work mid-sprint, significantly slowed down a crucial integration project. He explains how research tasks being delayed across multiple sprints impacted timelines. The episode details how John successfully advocated for a more agile approach with leadership, proving that flexibility and listening to team insights are essential to prevent process from killing progress.
Host John Fontenau explains the crucial distinction between traditional management's "bring solutions" approach and product management's "bring problems" philosophy. He shares personal lessons on why simply accepting stakeholder solutions without understanding the root problem is ineffective. The episode offers practical advice on tactfully uncovering underlying issues through curiosity, fostering collaboration, and avoiding defensiveness, ultimately benefiting a product manager's career.
Host John Fontenau shares his personal journey into product management, highlighting the challenges of a "broken" talent acquisition process that demands experience from aspiring PMs. He argues that side projects are a vital solution, offering aspiring PMs hands-on experience and providing employed PMs with ownership, a creative outlet, and mental health benefits. The episode also covers ethical considerations, skill development through "reps," and the ultimate fulfillment of creating value while maintaining life balance.
Hello and welcome in to another episode of Lessons in Product Management, I’m your host, John Fontenot, and on today’s episode I have Paul Turaew on to talk about his journey into product management and we riff on a number of topics in research. Paul’s a long-time PM, having held a variety of Sr. IC and Director of Product Management roles in Healthcare. Some of the topics we cover on today’s episode include the tension between research and shipping products, what’s the “MVP” of research, changi...
On today’s episode, I got to speak with Stephanie Jerome, Product Manager at Akoya. Stephanie has a ton of experience managing internal products, and that was the focus of our conversation today. Stephanie also shared how she got her start in product management and lessons she’s learned along the way. If you’re managing or considering managing internal products or looking to get your first shot at a PM job, this is a great episode to check out! If you're looking to get into product management, y...
On today’s episode, we have Emilia Kortrynska, Head of Marketing at UserPilot. In the discussion with Emilia, we talk about some incredibly interesting research that came out of UserPilot recently about how Sales Led Growth appears to beat Product Led Growth in many categories. Which to PLG evangelists like myself, really caught me off guard. But we discuss why quant data is only one piece of the story and why you need to balance quant with qual research and the benefits of research in general. ...
It's a hotly debated topic, whether you should always pay customers for their time when sourcing and conducting interviews. Spoiler alert! I think you're doing yourself a huge disservice if you make it a habit of paying customers for feedback. In this episode, we unpack all the reasons why you should never pay customers for interviews and the benefits you'll see as a result. If you're looking to get into product management or interested in up-leveling your product sense through a portfolio proje...
There are pros and cons to preparing for user research. As they say, too much of a good thing can be a bad thing. And the same is true with prepping for research. On this episode, we break down the benefits of user interview preparation and the potential drawbacks if you let perfection become the enemy of progress. If you're looking to get into product management but lack hands on experience, check out Path2Product where you get high-quality PM training AND the ability to put your learning into ...
After taking a year off to focus on work and life, we're back and excited to be back! We've been building ResearchRepo for Product teams to collaborate, consolidate, and communicate research that ties back to company goals and objectives. I've started a new role as VP of Product at Terlumina But we're doubling down on Path2Product to help aspiring and junior product managers get the experience and practice they need to land their first job or uplevel their product sense...
This is a crazy and turbulent time in Tech. Companies are hitting financial hard times or restructuring as the economy is forcing extreme prioritization of resources. If you find yourself on the unfortunate end of these layoffs, I have someone on the show who has been through several and helped several others through this process. Don't miss the great advice on this week's episode of Lessons in Product Management!
Dan Balcauski is a pricing expert and dropped by the pod to share key insights, hot takes, and practical advice for product teams and leaders to help unpack the pricing process, key variables, and mistakes to avoid. Show notes: 0:00-0:30 - Episode Intro 0:30-1:55 - Dan’s Intro/Background 1:55-4:55 - From Engineer to Pricing Guru 4:55-6:42 - Biggest Pricing Pitfall 6:42-19:00 - Segmentation Myths and Realities 19:00-21:00 - defining value (3 Types) 21:00-26:35 - The Value Cascade 26:35-36:45 - Ho...
There are great frameworks for prioritizing features, but what if prioritizing features isn't the right approach? We dig into why opportunity costs are the most underrated variables in prioritizing Product decisions. If you're looking to get into product management, come join us at Path2Product to gain the hands-on PM experience you need to land your first product role. 0:00-4:20 - Episode Intro 4:20-6:54 Opportunity Cost in Action 6:54-8:50 - Economics in Product Management? 8:50-17:52 - NFL Dr...
