In this captivating episode of Rocketship.FM, host Mike Belsito sits down with Rahul Vohra, founder and CEO of Superhuman, to explore the company's groundbreaking journey into AI-powered email. Vohra shares insights on how Superhuman recognized the potential of AI early on and made the bold decision to pivot their entire product strategy. He details the challenges of integrating AI features, from assembling the right team to developing a new "theta mode" of operation that accelerated their innov...
Aug 29, 2024•40 min•Season 17Ep. 25
In this episode of Rocketship.fm, host Mike Belsito dives deep into the challenging world of tech job hunting with Phyl Terry, author of "Never Search Alone: The Job Seeker's Playbook." With nearly half of US tech workers looking for new roles in 2024, this timely discussion offers invaluable insights for navigating the current job market. Phyl shares the three big ideas behind the book and "Never Search Alone" movement: understanding your candidate market fit, the power of job search councils, ...
Aug 22, 2024•39 min•Season 17Ep. 24
In this insightful episode of Rocketship.fm, host Mike Belsito sits down with Bruce McCarthy and Melissa Appel, co-authors of "Aligned: Stakeholder Management for Product Leaders." The conversation delves into the often challenging world of stakeholder management, offering practical advice for product managers and leaders looking to navigate complex organizational dynamics. Throughout the episode, McCarthy and Appel share valuable strategies from their book, covering topics such as understanding...
Aug 15, 2024•43 min•Season 17Ep. 23
In this episode, host Mike Belsito sits down with Elliott Poppel, a product leader who's experienced both sides of the tech world - from managing products at Meta (formerly Facebook) to founding his own startup, General Collaboration. Elliott shares his journey, highlighting the stark contrasts in resources, decision-making processes, and product development approaches between tech giants and startups. Listeners will gain valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities each environment p...
Aug 08, 2024•39 min•Season 17Ep. 22
In this eye-opening episode, Mike Belsito sits down with Jason Fried, CEO of 37 Signals, to discuss their revolutionary "Once" family of products. Fried explains how 37 Signals is challenging the dominant SaaS model by reviving the concept of paying once to own software forever. The conversation includes the (re-)launch of Campfire, a group chat tool, and Writebook, a simple online book publishing platform, both offered under this unique model of "you host it, you own it." Listeners will gain in...
Aug 01, 2024•48 min•Season 17Ep. 21
In this episode of Rocketship.FM, we dive deep into one of the most monumental tech failures in recent history - the CrowdStrike glitch that brought the world to a standstill. From grounded flights to disrupted emergency services, we explore how a single software update caused chaos on a global scale, affecting millions of people and businesses worldwide. Join host Mike Belsito as he breaks down the incident, featuring recordings of commentary from industry experts and CrowdStrike's own CEO. We'...
Jul 25, 2024•28 min•Season 17Ep. 20
In this episode of Rocketship.FM, host Mike Belsito talks through the crucial skill of leading without authority with guest Jocelyn Davis, author of The Art of Quiet Influence . Drawing from ancient Eastern wisdom and modern leadership research, Davis offers invaluable insights for product managers and leaders who must guide teams and influence stakeholders without formal power. The episode explores three key themes: participation, power, and progress, providing practical strategies for building...
Jul 18, 2024•42 min•Season 17Ep. 19
In this episode of Rocketship.FM, host Mike Belsito explores the rapid evolution of AI in product development through an engaging conversation with Francois, the Chief Product Officer of Amplitude. Francois shares insights into Amplitude's journey of integrating AI features into their analytics suite, including the challenges and unexpected learnings they encountered along the way. The discussion revolves around the new mantra "move fast and build AI," emphasizing the importance of speed and exp...
Jul 12, 2024•40 min•Season 17Ep. 18
In this episode of Rocketship.FM, host Mike Belsito dives into essential career advice for product managers, featuring insights from Jackie Bavaro, co-author of "Cracking the PM Interview" and "Cracking the PM Career." The episode explores strategies for advancing in your product management career, including the importance of finding a balance between being a diligent worker and an overly vocal self-promoter. Jackie emphasizes the need to create a personal career roadmap, partner effectively wit...
Jul 04, 2024•43 min•Season 17Ep. 17
In this episode of Rocketship.FM, host Mike Belsito takes listeners behind the scenes of Shopify's latest product launch. Featuring an exclusive interview with Glen Coates, Shopify's VP of Product, the episode explores the company's innovative approach to introducing new features and products through their biannual "Editions" events. Coates shares insights into Shopify's product development process, the challenges of maintaining a startup mentality in a large organization, and the theme of their...
Jun 27, 2024•37 min•Season 17Ep. 16
In this episode, Mike Belsito sits down with Bob Moesta, one of the early pioneers of the Jobs to Be Done framework, to dive deep into what Jobs to Be Done is all about. Bob shares his wealth of knowledge on how to truly understand your customers by looking at the world through their eyes and examining the progress they are trying to make in their lives when they "hire" a product. From key concepts like struggling moments, pushes, pulls, and anxiety to best practices for conducting in-depth cust...
Jun 20, 2024•37 min•Season 17Ep. 15
In this episode, longtime former Google product leader and current Executive Coach to Product Leaders, Ken Norton, shares his wisdom and insights, offering guidance that is essential for anyone working in tech product management. From navigating the early stages of your journey to making strategic decisions that will shape your professional path, Ken's advice is practical, inspiring, and timeless. While this episode is a must-listen for those just starting out in product management, it's also pe...
Jun 13, 2024•34 min•Season 17Ep. 14
In this episode, we hear the origin story of DoWhatWorks from it's Co-Founder and CEO, Andres Glusman. The conversation unravels the journey from initial struggles to pivotal moments of success, illustrating how the founders' commitment to experimentation and customer feedback led to a groundbreaking product. Discover how DoWhatWorks transitioned from a backyard idea to a company that helps businesses optimize their online experiences using a vast dataset of experiments. With a vision to become ...
Jun 06, 2024•38 min•Season 17Ep. 13
In November 2014, Brian Crofts prepared for a crucial meeting with two top-level executives at Intuit. One was CeCe Morken, his boss, overseeing Intuit’s Professional Tax (ProTax) business—a $422 million enterprise selling tax preparation software to accountants. The other was Sasan Goodarzi, in charge of Intuit’s $1.8 billion TurboTax division, providing software directly to consumers. Crofts had spent three years developing a new product, TurboTax PersonalPro, bridging the gap between these tw...
Apr 25, 2024•22 min•Season 17Ep. 12
You will be treated to the fascinating beginnings of Pendo, a product experience platform company now valued at over two and a half billion dollars. We'll highlight Pendo's growth from an initial sponsor to a prominent supporter of product conferences. Todd Olson, Pendo's CEO, joins to recount his journey prior to Pendo at Rally Software and the subsequent challenges that inspired the creation of Pendo. Todd delves into the significance of the close-knit founding team and their collective decisi...
Apr 18, 2024•41 min•Season 17Ep. 11
In this episode of Rocketship.fm, hosts Michael Sacca and Mike Belsito take listeners through an in-depth examination of the pivotal business concept known as product market fit. They begin by acknowledging that, despite frequently using the term, they haven't fully dissected its meaning in previous episodes. They outline the importance of product market fit, describing it as a critical transition point that can propel a startup from uncertainty to being a market leader or at least demonstrating...
Apr 16, 2024•31 min•Season 17Ep. 10
Are you keeping up with the TikTok saga? The tides are shifting yet again, and this time the app faces a significant crossroad in the United States. Join us on the latest episode of Rocketship.fm as we delve into the complexities surrounding TikTok's potential ban and what it could mean for the tech industry and beyond. This podcast is brought to you by: Go to http://porkbun.com/RocketshipFM24 to get $1 off your next desired domain name at Porkbun! Miro: Go to Miro.com/podcast and get your first...
Apr 05, 2024•27 min•Season 17Ep. 9
In this episode, Michael Sacca and Michael Belsito drop some major news before diving into the latest developments in the AI space. They discuss the tempered expectations surrounding generative AI and its impact on tech giants and consumers alike. Amidst the AI hype, companies are cautious about investing in new AI services due to high costs and questionable productivity gains. Later, they explore the product-market fit journey of Sprig, a product research platform, with CEO Ryan Glasglow. Glasg...
Apr 01, 2024•28 min•Season 17Ep. 8
In this episode, join us as we revisit the predictions made last year and assess their impact on the tech landscape. The forecast of an impending recession, particularly hitting the tech sector first, has proven true, with notable companies facing multiple rounds of layoffs. The unsettling trend of stocks rising amidst job cuts continues to raise eyebrows, painting a complex economic picture. On a brighter note, the prediction that AI is here to stay is reaffirmed. Far from being a passing fad, ...
Mar 08, 2024•30 min•Season 17Ep. 7
On todays episdoe we discuss Dagster, a data orchestration platform developed by Dagster Labs, founded by Nick Schrock in 2018. Schrock, known for co-founding GraphQL, envisioned Dagster as a solution to the challenges of managing complex data pipelines reliably and at scale. The discussion centers on exploring Dagster's history, particularly focusing on the journey to finding product-market fit. Sacca mentions his recent interview with Pedram Navid, the Head of Data Engineering and DevRel at Da...
Feb 22, 2024•28 min•Season 17Ep. 6
Mike Belsito and Michael Sacca reflect on the common occurrence in the consumer tech industry where new competitor products emerge to overshadow original popular products, citing examples like the iPhone overtaking the Blackberry and Facebook surpassing MySpace. They discuss the rarity of a new competitor product being priced significantly higher than the original, such as the iPhone compared to the Blackberry's price point. This conversation leads them to introduce the main focus of the episode...
Feb 20, 2024•30 min•Season 17Ep. 5
Today, hosts Michael Sacca and Mike Belsito dive into the intricacies of a product that has sparked both admiration and frustration among its users: Asana. As they unpack Asana's evolution, they explore its inception by co-founders Justin Rosenstein and Dustin Moskovitz, with Dustin's departure from Facebook marking the genesis of a vision for modernizing project management. From its beta days to the 2011 public launch, Asana's rapid growth and intuitive interface captured the hearts of users, b...
Feb 09, 2024•28 min•Season 17Ep. 4
Tune in to the latest episode of Rocketship.FM as hosts Mike Belsito and Michael Sacca dive into the exciting world of tech products and innovations. In this episode, they explore recent developments from the 2024 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and discuss the latest trends shaping the tech landscape. From deepfake robocalls impersonating political figures to groundbreaking AI-powered devices like the rabbit r1, listeners will gain insight into the ethical implications and practical application...
Feb 01, 2024•28 min•Season 17Ep. 3
The podcast episode discusses Andrew Wilkinson's entrepreneurial journey, particularly focusing on his founding of the company Flow, a task tracking and productivity app for teams and small businesses. The conversation delves into the challenges faced by Flow as a bootstrapped business in a competitive market dominated by venture-backed giants like Asana. Despite their focus on product design and passionate user base, Flow struggled to compete against well-funded competitors like Asana, which ha...
Jan 25, 2024•44 min•Season 17Ep. 2
In the first episode of 2024, hosts Mike Belsito and Michael Sacca kick off the new year with a fresh format. Introducing a segment on Product News and featuring insightful interviews, they dive into the evolving realm of Product Operations. With a special focus on the recently published book "Product Operations: How Successful Companies Build Product at Scale" by Melissa Perri and Denise Tilles, the hosts explore the origins, necessity, and future trends of Product Operations. Unpacking recent ...
Jan 16, 2024•46 min•Season 17Ep. 1
Today we talk with Ben Foster the Chief Product Officer at GoCanvas and former product manager at Ebay. Ben is a wealth of Product knowledge and experience and today we discuss the topic of A/B testing and how he's evolved his focus to be vision driven so that he doesn't miss the big opportunities to solve customer problems. This was a hard learned lesson and we hear about his experience A/B testing features with moderate success and what caused him to shift if focus. This podcast is brought to ...
Dec 28, 2023•22 min
The history of Nintendo traces back to 1889, when it was founded to produce handmade hanafuda. Nintendo Co., Ltd. (任天堂株式会社, Nintendō kabushikigaisha ) is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It eventually became one of the most prominent figures in today's video game industry, being the world's largest video game company by revenue. Today we explore their 130 year history from making handmade playing cards to one of the largest video game console m...
Dec 26, 2023•20 min
From his first awkward pitch to investor Chris Sacca, to their acquisition by Spotify, Alex Blumburg has built one of the most influential companies working in Podcasts today. The company was founded in 2014 by Alex Blumberg and Matthew Lieber, who serve as the company's CEO and president respectively. In February 2019, Spotify announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Gimlet for $230 million. This podcast is brought to you by: Miro: Go to Miro.com/podcast and get your firs...
Dec 21, 2023•31 min
Mike's in a bit of a predicament. His 10-year-old son is asking for a phone. But like many parents, Mike isn't sure when the right time is to get his kid his first phone. On this episode, we weigh the positives and negatives of getting a phone, and look at how parents can be proactive in handling their children's phone use. This podcast is brought to you by: Shopify: Start selling on Shopify today. Go to Shopify.com/Rocketship now. Ampla: Go to getampla.com to fill out your five minute applicati...
Dec 20, 2023•35 min
Join us as we explore the intricate relationship between human authors and AI content generation. We'll navigate the complexities of this debate at the heart of the writer's strike. Is AI an innovation to embrace or a challenge to confront? What does it mean for the future of literature, journalism, and storytelling? This podcast is brought to you by: Miro: Go to Miro.com/podcast and get your first three Miro boards free forever. Hubspot: Listen to The Science of Scaling wherever you get your po...
Nov 03, 2023•26 min•Season 16Ep. 71
