Daniel Korczynski

“Tell better stories” - so many product people get this feedback, but no one shares the how (until today)🌵 The biggest mistakes people make: ❌ Not snappy enough ❌ Not relevant ❌ No clear conclusion Instead, the 2 biggest things to focus on are: ✔️ What does the audience want to hear? What’s in it for them? ✔️ What is the morale of the story? (your lighthouse) & remember, story telling isn’t just about ‘the customer’ - it applies to all areas of product from getting buy-in to fighting fires. What else would you add? ⬇️ ————————— Want to get sh*t hot at it? I share sooo many more tips in 1:1 coaching. DM me for the deets 🔥

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5 min guide to product discovery. Applicable at any skill level. Do this: 1) Pick a product, any product. I'll use Duolingo as an example. But you might want to pick a tool in your industry that hasn't been touched for 10 years. - 2) Break it down. Go through every screen, from the initial buying and registration through onboarding and support. Make screenshots of everything. Reconstruct the user flow. If it looks like the London Subway map, you hit gold. - 3) Pick one feature people actually use. In duolingo, I picked the error correction. It tells you what you got wrong, then helps you to review and better understand it, then helps you to train for it. This is missing in 90% of assessment tools out there. No reviews. Zip. Analyze that feature. Why do people use it? What do they get out of it? What do they miss about it? - 4) Package the feature into a product. Could you create something stupid simple that only delivers that as a value? Turns out you can. In coding, tools like sentry.io exist to do that. In language learning, there is languagetool.org But, in your case, who knows? Create a waitlist / launchpage / a social media post to get an indication of the level of interest (ILI). 5) Get customers. You packaged it and people seem to want it? Great, fire up uxpilot.ai, claude.ai, and cursor.ai to build an interactive prototype quickly. Search LinkedIn or Facebook for your ICP. Get 20-30 people on it and see what they think. Improve until they love it. Once they do, create a launchpage with a pre-sale. You're done. If you'd like access to my full product analysis of the Duolingo ecosystem, comment "access," and I'll share it with you. ( Connect with me so I can DM the link. ) #productmanagement #productdiscovery

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This is easier said than done. It's great to be VC isn't it? But the advice is sound. To charge 5x though, you have to be able to create 5x worth of perceived value. That requires some very hard product management decisions and hard work around identifying a segment of customers and a set of features that will resonate with them to justify the price.

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I use a pretty simple 4-part framework for finding Product Market Fit. Nothing can make finding PMF easy, but this structure helps me break it down. Achieving PMF* means solving 4 questions: 1. What problem are we solving? (For the customer, for our business) 2. How are we solving it? 3. What is our market? (who is the customer, and is it big enough) 4. What is our GTM strategy? (Repeatable, scalable growth engine) Using that, we can build a table with four rows, one for each of these questions. We can then add a column for our hypotheses. This is what we think the answer is, based on what we know now (which might be nothing more than a guess). Now, for each of these hypotheses, there’s an underpinning set of assumptions that need to be true in order for the hypothesis to be true*. These assumptions might be about user behavior (“people are willing to buy [x] online”), internal execution (“we’re actually able to do [x]”), performance (“users convert at [x%]”), or spend (“customers pay at least $x”)*. We can then sort these assumptions into two sets: “Probably true” and “Not validated”. Our task is to open up our toolkit — e.g. user interviews, surveys, card sorting, data analysis, modeling, user testing with design prototypes, painted door tests, A/B tests, Pilots, etc. — and find the cheapest & fastest way we can move these assumptions into the “Probably true” column. At some point, we’re going to run into assumptions that prove to be probably NOT true. That’s when we need to go back and iterate on the hypotheses, and restart this entire exercise, with new assumptions born out of the new hypotheses that need to be moved from “Not validated” —> “Probably true”. As you get more experienced, you’ll get faster at 1) spotting the assumptions that are most likely to be wrong, 2) identifying the right tool for the job of testing that assumption, and 3) coming up with hypotheses that are more likely to be right. None of this is easy* and it’s not quick. But I’ve found this way of structuring things to help me not get overwhelmed by the complexity of going 0 → 1, and more quickly get focus on what to do next. I hope it helps you, too. —————— *If you’re interested in reading the footnotes as well as my work-in-progress thoughts (today: r/ProductManagement as a reminder of what Product is like for many people), sign up for my free newsletter: https://lnkd.in/g44P3_rB

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🎙️Tonight is the night! Join Bosky and me for a deep dive into the importance of soft skills in product management. We’ll discuss how EQ can help you grow your career, enhance your products, and build better relationships. See you at 8:30 PM CET at this link 👉🏻 https://lnkd.in/e3RiyHjE

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Breaking up is hard to do.... 🎶 Unless you have a shitty roadmap, in which case, is it really? Plus points for getting the absolute worst/best cover image on YT. Our latest episode is live! #roadmaps #prodmgmt #productmanagement https://lnkd.in/e3zxkndv

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What really changes on the journey from a "Product Manager" to a "Principal Product Manager?" Two things: ambiguity and scope. Let's dig in. At the product manager level, you're handed a problem and a rough solution. Your task? - Dive deep into the business and customer issues. - Polish the solution and test its viability. - Launch, measure, refine. Moving up to senior product manager, the problem is clear, but what is the solution? Not so much. Your role expands to: - Define the solution from scratch. - Drive alignment. - Execute as you did at the product manager level. At the principal level, things get murkier. The problem isn't well defined. Your mission, should you choose to accept it: - Identify the problem. - Drive alignment. - Repeat the Senior Product Manager process. - Have a point of view beyond your own scope. As you ascend the professional ladder, ambiguity becomes a fascinating and ever-present challenge, your constant companion. But here's the good news: If you can demonstrate to your manager and stakeholders your adeptness at handling any ambiguous problem of increasing scope, you can accelerate your journey to success and professional growth.

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Inevitably in every OKR session I run, someone wants to measure NPS as a key result. I don’t like NPS for OKRs because it’s a lagging indicator - meaning the results of the NPS survey lag way behind the actions that are taken. Once we find out the results of the NPS, it’s too late to do anything about it! My advice in this situation is to ask the question, “In order to improve our NPS, what do we believe we need to do about it?” Then take THAT answer and write an OKR.

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In every B2B product-led growth company, expanding the self-serve team/account/workspace is *the most* critical growth tactic. And most of the work falls on product, yet very few product teams pay attention to this... Such a miss! More users within the same team (or account/workspace) bring significant benefits: higher paid conversion, improved retention, and increased expansion. Additionally, they help layering a sales monetization model, ensuring you are not perpetually stuck in PLG. Here are 9 tactics to help you grow your team: 1. Add a team invitation step in the onboarding flow. 2. Offer the option to join an existing team during signup. 3. Add a persistent “Invite” button on the dashboard. 4. Onboard multiple admins to reduce bottlenecks. 5. Allow for some chaos in the free teams mode. 6. Offer a “Domain Lock” paid feature. 7. Surface verified users to Admins. 8. Follow up on invite requests. 9. Allow users to join multiple teams. Details of each tactic on my blog: https://lnkd.in/ey25MY23 And thank you to my wonderful newsletter sponsor: Paragon 🚀 #growth #b2b

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Product Marketing: The diff between "Nailed it" vs "Failed it" 🔨💥 Launching without PMM is like DIY gone wild. Sure, you might save a few bucks... But at what cost? 🤔 Most founders hire PMMs too late. Why? Because they see "strategic resources" as $$$. Yes, PMMs are a strategic investment. You need to flip your mindset. Think about opportunity cost. 💪 PMMS help you: 1. Nail your positioning → Avoid the "me-too" trap 2. Build a go-to-market strategy → Not just a launch plan 3. Align teams & messaging → No more broken telephone 📈 All of that fuels your growth. Think compound interest. Earlier = better. Hire PMMs earlier than you think. Your speed to product-market-fit will thank you ✌️ 👋 P.S. Should a PMM be your first marketing hire? Comment below, share your POV!

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Can a Product Manager own the P&L for a product if the teams building and supporting the product don’t report to the #ProductManager? You must set people up for success if you want them to succeed. Giving a product manager the responsibility of profit and loss over a product without authority over how it is built and maintained is the opposite of setting them up for success. I had a conversation with Ruby Raley about this yesterday. I shared a story about a company I know where the CTO was charged with building a new product. He outsourced it to an IT vendor. They got it built in about 9 months. It was sold to a handful of clients. The clients started using it. The bill arrived from the cloud hosting service and it was $1.2M for the month‼️ The company was going to lose over $1M a month just to run the product. 👆🏻This is what happens when goals and incentives are misaligned and constraints are not communicated. The CTO was not involved in pricing; nor had he considered the cost of the architectural decisions made by the outsource team. I rarely see the engineering organization report into the Head of Product. And even more rarely are product managers setting pricing for the products they manage, or determining the size and quality of their design and development teams. Honestly, I am on the fence about this topic. I see so many product managers struggling with the demands of doing all the things they need to do to manage their products. Many PMs only have 3-5 years of business experience. Do they have the time, skills, training, and aptitude for managing a P&L too? Does the reporting structure support it? Will the executive team support it? I would love to hear from product managers. Do you manage your product’s #ProfitAndLoss? Do you want to?

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Why does a content-first approach to product development work so well? It helps avoid having to fill spaces in a wireframe with copy that there's "... no evidence users want or need, that clutters the page, and makes important content harder to find and digest." Content decisions for your digital presence should always be evidence -based. A skilled content designer knows how to use research to identify the content your target audiences need. This is a fantastic introduction to the value of content design from the team at SPARCK https://lnkd.in/gcuYdgd9

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Vlad Loktev taught me more about product management than anyone else I've ever worked with, and is responsible for the biggest inflection in my PM career. Vlad spent 10 years at Airbnb where he started as an IC PM and quickly advanced to lead product, and then GM the entire Airbnb homes business, managing over 1,000 people and reporting directly to CEO Brian Chesky. He recently left Airbnb and joined Index Ventures as their newest partner. Prior to Airbnb, Vlad spent a year at Zynga, where he helped grow Words with Friends to over 14 million daily active users. In our conversation, we discuss: 🔸 Insight into Brian Chesky’s leadership style 🔸 Why success as a PM is all about impact, impact, impact 🔸 Why chaos can be good 🔸 Why as a leader it’s OK to let some fires burn 🔸 Why you should learn to “poke the bear” 🔸 Balancing product release speed with quality 🔸 Lessons on prioritization, decision-making, and organizational design 🔸 Advice for founders on building company culture 🔸 Much more Listen now 👇 - YouTube: https://lnkd.in/gMrECh5z - Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gG8yRXh2 - Apple: https://lnkd.in/g8rKdAjm Some key takeaways: 1. Relentlessly focus on impact. Start by identifying the highest priorities for your organization or team. Each day, ask yourself: What are the most critical tasks or projects that align with these priorities? Ensure your efforts are directly contributing to these goals. 2. Don’t be afraid to “poke the bear”: When you have a strong opinion or concern, don’t shy away from voicing it, even if it challenges the status quo. Poking the bear means confronting difficult issues constructively and openly, which can drive meaningful change and improvements. 3. Lead with curiosity and dial down advocacy: When entering a conversation or meeting, start by asking open-ended questions to understand others’ perspectives fully. This approach shows respect for differing opinions and helps you gather important information. Only after you have actively listened and absorbed the other viewpoints should you advocate for your own perspective. 4. Let some fires burn. You can’t address everything at once, and if you feel a need to do so, that’s a sign you don’t understand what’s most important for your business. You need to be explicit with yourself and your team about what the priorities are and what you’re willing to let burn in service of them. Aligning on this in advance will help you resist the urge to put out fires as they start. 5. Two tools to help you calm your mind: a. The serenity prayer: “Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” b. The shit bucket: Designate a specific place, like a physical trash can or a digital file, as your ‘shit bucket’ for frustrations and issues you can’t change.

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Should product teams listen more to sales feedback, or CSM feedback? Naturally, what I've seen from product teams, is to pay closer attention to CS. But that's not always the best source of feedback to help prioritize features. If controllable churn is a massive problem, then you need to stop the leaky bucket. Build what's needed to plug the holes. Makes a ton of sense to have CS be the loudest voice in the room here. But what if NRR isn't a problem? What if you're at 120% NRR, with very little churn? And what if most of the churn is for reasons out of your control (like M&A for example)? This is where boosting your business acumen in Product will really impact how you prioritize features. Take a look at the spreadsheets your executive teams operate out of. What's the business strategy? What are the main KPIs? And what are the main sources of growth? For most companies <$20M ARR, the vast majority of growth comes from sales channels. Spend time unblocking deals, and you'll grow faster. If you're a larger company, then your source of growth might be selling additional products to existing customers. You might do this by launching new things, or through M&A. Then it makes sense to index heavier on CS feedback to make sure everything is going smoothly. But knowing where growth is coming from for the next 18 months is critical for making trade-offs in product. Focus on the wrong growth lever, that isn't aligned with the company strategy, and you'll really slow down revenue. This is why a ton of SaaS companies have flat growth right now. The various teams (Sales + CS + Product + Eng) aren't aligned to "where is growth going to come from." Makes it hard to grow a company when there's misalignment. Decisions take a lot longer. Then the competition leapfrogs you.

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𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿, 𝗶𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝗶 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗮 𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝘃𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁. A habit of learning from product people outside of my immediate bubble. And it was probably also the year in my career in which I learnt the most. Beginning of November we launched the first episode of The Hotfix Podcast. 🗣️ In these last two months I talked to 25+ product leaders, PMs, and coaches from various organizations. 🎙️ Stefan and I published 5 podcast episodes (many more to come! 🫶🏻). 📝 In 2024 I posted 56 times on LinkedIn, reached 15k+ people and gained 600 new followers. Approx 75% of that happened after November. 🎓 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗜 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻? / 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁𝘀 𝗺𝘆 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲? Starting a podcast is a great way to talk to people you wouldn't normally be able to talk to. Would I recommend everyone to start a podcast? Probably not. Starting a podcast is not free. Publishing episodes involves a not insignificant amount of cost, time and energy. I believe there are more efficient ways for most people to learn from other PMs. I'd recommend everyone though to start a 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗹𝘆𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗲𝗹 🎡 besides your regular job. Mine looks like this: 🔁 Learn 🔁 Synthesize 🔁 Share 👉🏻 Start from top The combination of podcasting and creating content on LinkedIn works great for me in that regards. It has helped me expand my passion for product management and deep dive into topics I wouldn't have been able to learn about otherwise. I also think though that there’s other options to get into a learning flywheel. A good way to start is joining a product community! I joined two this year (shoutout to Hustle Badger & Lenny's Newsletter 📣) and it has been a great way to connect with PMs & to discover content. One other advice: 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴. I know it's not easy to get into it. But it works wonders if you do it regularly. It helps you to structure your thoughts. It helps you become a better communicator. And for me, it's a meditative exercise. 🙏 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂 all for every single engagement on LinkedIn, thanks for listening to The Hotfix Podcast and thanks for being part of my journey! Special thanks to Stefan Pernek, Mirela Mus, Malte Scholz, Nils Stotz, Alex Ciorapciu, Nesrine Changuel, PhD, David Payne, Martin Frühwirt, Tom Ansell, Maayan Rossmann, Onisim Gabrian, Richard Arnatt, Amy Mitchell, Philip Olivier, Paul M., Yulia Lamonova, Ross Webb, MBA, Elisabetta C., Thomas Ziegelbecker, Buket Holzemann and many more for the inspiring conversations this year! 💡

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Thanks, Olga Berezovsky! I'm delighted to contribute to your Data Analysis Journal. As you say... maximizing product KPIs truly comes down to understanding the causal relationships between metrics and user actions. I hope that your subscribers find the detailed (conversion, retention, engagement, and funnel) analyses, the insight on feature impact throughout the user lifecycle, and other information, such as building an opportunity sizing model, practical and inspiring advice that helps them drive growth for their companies! #productgrowth #causalml

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High-growth companies don't just happen. 🚀 Behind every success story is a product marketing team that’s killing it. 💪 Here’s what they do exceptionally well: 1. **Deep Market Understanding**: They don’t just know their customers, they live and breathe their pain points and aspirations. They predict needs even before the customer realizes them. 2. **Flawless Communication**: They craft messages that resonate deeply with their audience, turning complex ideas into compelling narratives. They make the product not just a solution, but a necessity. 🗣️ 3. **Data-Driven Strategy**: They leverage data not just for insights, but for foresight. Every campaign, every launch is backed by meticulous research and analytics, ensuring precision in every move. 📊 High growth isn’t an accident. It's the result of strategic brilliance. 🌟 What’s one thing your product marketing team excels at? #productmarketing #leadership #strategy #gotomarket #cmo

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Product-market fit timeline 📅 Notice something? PMF can take months or years. But... I do see 2 clear patterns. You find PMF faster when you: 1) Invest in product marketing early Product marketing speeds up your time to PMF cycle. PMMs should be one of your early strategic hires. Too many companies wait too long to hire PMMs. Prioritize a PMM early. Not at 150+ headcount. 2) Launch and iterate live in your market Research only gets you so far. You need to test the waters. Then iterate. In market. Not on whiteboards. 👋 P.S. What else would you add? Credit Lenny Rachitsky for the awesome visual timeline!

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