Ravi Mehta (former CPO at Tinder and Product Director at Facebook) compares product decision-making processes at established tech giants versus early-stage startups.
“At a startup, you can't do that. You just don't have those users to test with. And I think a lot of startups make the mistake of trying to use an experimental approach too early, where it just takes either way too long to get statistically significant results, which reduces that latency, or those results aren't as valid because you have to use a much smaller Sample set.”
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More from Ravi Mehta
Insight
Mehta: Startups win on iteration latency, while big companies win on velocity
“Bigger companies can always get more done. They can always spend more. They can always move with a higher degree of velocity than smaller companies. The advantage a smaller company has really is in latency. You can have an idea one day. You can test it the nex…”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 9:23How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Insight
Mehta: Goal-first product planning blinds teams to long-term strategic context
“Typically what happens is goals are almost the start of a strategic process rather than the end of it. A company will say, we need to increase our revenue by X. We need to increase our retention by Y. What's our strategy to be able to do that? And what I found…”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 42:49How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Insight
Mehta: Goal setting must target understanding before trying to move metrics
“And if you don't understand how to move a particular metric, then the right goal is to set a goal to increase your understanding, not to move that metric.”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 49:30How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Opinion
Mehta: Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Mark Zuckerberg are micromanagers
“Some of the most innovative leaders in tech are famous micromanagers. Steve Jobs was a micromanager. Elon Musk is a micromanager. Mark Zuckerberg is a micromanager.”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 1:07:22How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Insight
Mehta: Effective leadership requires scalable autonomy or temporary selective micromanagement
“So I think the two really effective functional ways of leading are scalable leadership where the team has autonomy. You have confidence or selective micromanagement where for a brief period of time, you might take away some of the team's autonomy to set them o…”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 1:09:22How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
Insight
Ravi Mehta: One-on-one coaching cannot be replaced by courses or media
“There was nothing that could really replace the opportunity to have a conversation with someone who had the ability to ask the right questions, had the ability to help you see around corners, do the experiences that they had had.”
Ravi MehtaJan 19, 2023▶ 7:24How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)
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