Mike Hudack, former CPO at Deliveroo, explains product philosophy after learning in Madrid that customers outside normal delivery zones were willingly ordering distant food despite minor quality trade-offs.
“One of the great insights, one of the things that I really learned here was that it's so important to allow people to make their own choices. It's just so important to let people make their own choices. Like, if somebody wants a soggy burger, and you've given them enough information, like, they know how far away it is. You know, it's not like they have any illusions about what's going to happen to this burger over that period of time. Let them order the soggy burger. You know, they deserve it. If it's sashimi, then they know that it's going to be fine. Let them order the sashimi.”
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More from Mike Hudack
Insight
Hudack: Product teams should be 6-8 people and PMs are optional
“I think every product team should be probably between six to eight people. Most of those people should be engineers. If possible, one of those people should be a data scientist. One should be a designer. And then I think a PM is optional.”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 0:10Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Hudack: Respect founders who shut down with cash over burning to zero
“I can speak for myself as an angel investor. The level of respect I have for somebody who comes to me with half of the money still in the bank and just says, hey, we were wrong about this, and has a conversation either about selling the company or shutting it …”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 12:48Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Disclosure
Hudack argued strongly against Monzo shipping crypto products
“I argued very strongly against, against shipping crypto products. You know, I didn't think it was the right thing to do for our audience, for our user base at the time.”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 47:18Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Mike Hudack: Big tech managers often fail at zero-to-one startups
“Don't mistake Good, you know, managers or ICs at a large company for people who are going to do well going from zero to one in a startup, you know, think about what that means.”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 1:03:08Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Hudack: Founders should not write code before establishing a theory of the world
“I really believe that before you build something, you should have a theory of the world. You should, you know, understand who your user is, what they want to accomplish. You should understand your strengths and weaknesses in doing that and have a, you know, a …”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 10:05Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
Insight
Hudack: Users lie in research and tell builders what they want to hear
“You can do user research along the way, but, you know, the reality is that, that users lie when you talk to them, and they will always tell you what they think you want to hear.”
Mike HudackSep 13, 2024▶ 10:58Mike Hudack: How Facebook, Monzo and Deliveroo Build Great Products | E1201 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings
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