Growing as a CPO as your product grows from 0 to $10B valuation | Tomer London, Co-founder at Gusto
E235 | #TheProductPodcast
"Instead of being data-driven, be data-aware. Build your intuition by talking to customers."
In this edition of #TheProductPodcast newsletter, we explore the world of product management with Tomer London, Co-founder and Chief Product Officer at Gusto. With a rich background in building successful products and scaling startups, Tomer shares invaluable insights on product development, customer focus, and leadership in the tech industry.
There are many incredible lessons to learn from Tomer. Here are a few of the top ones:
Customer-Centric Product Development
"When you're trying to build something from zero to one, focus on where there's a lot of emotional reaction to what you're pitching. People are either super pissed off or super excited. The 90% in the middle doesn't matter."
Tomer emphasizes the importance of focusing on strong customer reactions when developing new products. He explains that successful product development lies in creating solutions that elicit powerful emotional responses from users, ensuring that products address real pain points and provide significant value.
Balancing Data and Intuition in Decision Making
"Instead of being data-driven, be data-aware. I'm not saying wake up and decide randomly, but build your intuition by talking to customers."
Tomer advocates for a balanced approach to decision-making in product management. He stresses the importance of being data-aware rather than purely data-driven, emphasizing the value of building intuition through direct customer interactions.
Strategic Customer Segmentation
"The most important question to know about any company is who is the target customer. Choosing a customer is the most important decision."
Tomer highlights the critical role of customer segmentation in product strategy. He explains that identifying and focusing on the right target customer is fundamental to a company's success, influencing everything from product development to marketing and pricing.
Leadership in Product Management
"Stay humble but also confident. You've talked to customers, built intuition, so go build the prototype and ship the V1. Then be humble by listening to feedback and iterating."
Tomer discusses the delicate balance between confidence and humility in product leadership. He advocates for a leadership style that combines decisive action with openness to feedback and continuous improvement.
Scaling Product Development
"We only expanded when we felt like we had extremely high NPS. Only when we felt confident that there was strong product-market fit did we allocate about a third of the team to work on the new thing."
Tomer shares insights on scaling product development in a growing company. He emphasizes the importance of achieving strong product-market fit before expanding into new areas, ensuring that resources are allocated effectively and new initiatives are built on a solid foundation.
🔑 Key takeaways
Focus on creating products that elicit strong emotional reactions from users.
Balance data awareness with intuition built through customer interactions.
Prioritize strategic customer segmentation to guide product development and company growth.
Cultivate a leadership style that combines confidence with humility and openness to feedback.
Scale product development cautiously, ensuring strong product-market fit before expansion.
Use high Net Promoter Scores (NPS) as a key indicator for product success and readiness for expansion.
Allocate resources strategically when venturing into new product areas.
🎧 Check out the full episode here 🎧
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Credits:
Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
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