Benjamin Lauzier (former VP of Product at Lyft) discusses how Lyft expanded into new markets to compete with Uber despite severe capital constraints.
Insight
Thumbtack pros hated direct bookings because they preferred the thrill of sales
“We knew we're going to improve the ROI by something like 20%, maybe. And we lost this and pros hated it. They hated it because they actually subconsciously, like, they liked the spill of the sale, right? They loved this contact with customer. And they sometime…”
Insight
Product-market fit can exist independently of functional marketplace dynamics
“Maybe this is a hot take, but I feel like product market fit is independent of your marketplace dynamics. You might have, like, you know, a great product, and it provides amazing value to both sides, but you have yet to crack the, you know, the flywheel on the…”
Insight
Granular user feature toggles can unintentionally fragment marketplace supply
“People who build marketplaces tend to want to give a lot of control to the users because this is what users want, or this is what comes up oftentimes in user feedback. Like, oh, we have those two distinct group of users. Those ones, they really want new cars. …”
Insight
Ignoring supplier needs leads to catastrophic churn due to lagging network decay
“Many large, you know,
Marketplaces only thinking about their demand side funnel. So they run ads, they get clicks, they turn those clicks into dollars, and they try to get enough supplies that intuitively the experience is good enough for users. And my advice…”
Assertion Not checkable as stated
Lyft peer driver recruiters outperformed the company's trained professional sales team
“Those guys were outperforming our very best, like, trained salespeople, because it's not like, hey, it's Ben from Lyft, like, hop on the road, please.”
Insight
Rigid French labor laws reduce product manager autonomy compared to the US
“I think in France, the market is much less liquid. So it's incredibly difficult to change jobs, and it's very expensive to fire someone in France. So it seems to lead to two effects beyond the obvious job security. One is, I think PMs tend to have less autonom…”