Jona Babi

Opinion: We will want to make a big change in how we hire and grow PMs, and ourselves, when AI can do most of the "visible work": HARD skills like having an analytical mindset and detail-orientation will become less important than SOFT skills like flexibility and growth-mindset. Thoughts? #GenAI #LLMs #people #career

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Regarding the "chaos at Amazon on RTO" headlines, I am reminded of how media once claimed when apple was bringing back hybrid that 90% of employees want indefinite remote and 40% might leave It was a giant nothing burger and such a massive clickbait -It was data collected from employee survey done at Apple -It was done by Apple Employees themselves -It was done in a slack group specifically meant for people invested in remote work . DUH!!! so whenever I see these giant headlines like 40% , 30% might do this my skepticism meter goes into alert mode Develop some skepticism https://lnkd.in/dEsAesF

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After 6 years at Meta, and 13 years in tech, it's time for a total career change: my new goal is to produce healthy food that restores ecosystems and sequesters carbon. That combination of positive impacts may sound like a mid-life crisis pipe-dream, but I think it's possible. Here's how: grazing bison regeneratively. This results in nutritious and humanely treated meat that brings back species of plants and animals while revitalizing soils which enables them to store tons of carbon. Oh and bison tastes great too. In other words: it's guilt-free, delicious food. More detail in case you're curious: Nutrition: Meat from grass-fed bison is really healthy. If you want to optimize for: -low fat, calories, and cholesterol with +high protein, iron, and vitamin B12 then you should eat grass-fed bison over any other meat. Sidenote: animal protein builds 40% more muscle than plant-based protein. Ecosystem Impact: many grassland species depend on bison to survive. For example, birds use bison hair to build their nests when they migrate to the prairie (and cows don’t shed like bison do). What's more, grasslands are the most threatened and least protected ecosystem on earth. Carbon: grazing can help plants grow deeper roots while enabling new plants to germinate. These plants use the power of photosynthesis to transform sunlight into stored organic matter (AKA carbon in the form of roots, bugs, worms, microbes, fungi, etc) in the soil. This carbon storage can completely offset all emissions from raising the grazing animals. Besides, everyone loves a comeback story, right? 30-60 million bison roamed the Great Plains of North America before humans slaughtered all but ~600 of them. Together, we can bring bison back to heal ourselves and the planet.

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In the recent US Presidential elections, we saw Elon Musk actively supporting Donald Trump, and posting his political views on Twitter, now X, frequently. I wonder how the politics of the leader of the company, and the face of the brand, affects the products that he/she has built. It has a chance to alienate a large chunk of your customer base, who may not align with your political views, and (rightly?) stop using your product. On the other hand, this should not stop anyone from airing their own political views, and supporting whichever ideology they choose to. It is a risky move for the brand and the business, but I am keen to understand the impact of such actions on the products they offer. Do customers indeed stop using products that they loved or found extremely convenient because their political views did not match with the leader of that product? The Seattle Times published their analysis of Musk’s political positions and how it may have affected Tesla car sales in the recent months. While the data is not conclusive, it is an interesting effort to understand the impact of the founder’s political leanings on the product metrics. #productmanagement

With the progress of Waymo and the Tesla event yesterday, something I wrote about in 2021 could become true as soon as 2027. In some industries (like ride sharing), marketplaces are just an intermediary step to aggregate independent suppliers. Ultimately, companies will figure out how to provide the service themselves at scale, and we'll have a few very large "super-suppliers". But in other industries (like e-commerce) where the consumer values creativity, consolidated suppliers won't be able to provide all of the new and interesting things that customers want, and we'll still need independent suppliers. Those industries will stay in marketplace mode much longer.

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Double feature! Check out these two insightful articles on the latest trends in Silicon Valley in National Politics: Seismic shift alert! Silicon Valley leaders are signaling a seachange in the sociopolitical landscape #SiliconValley #SociopoliticalShift 1. Read the full WSJ article here: https://lnkd.in/egzici5N 2. Read the full Bloomberg article here: https://lnkd.in/emjyt3d9

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AI is evolving faster than we thought. ARK Investment’s latest AI whitepaper highlights how it’s reshaping different industries—and the changes are already here. This shift will redefine how we build and manage products moving forward. Here’s my perspective on the key takeaways for product managers: 1️⃣ Leverage AI’s Potential, But Stay Smart AI brings massive opportunities, but it’s not all smooth sailing. As product managers, we need to tap into AI’s potential while being aware of its unpredictability. I’ve found that balancing innovation with caution is key—especially when AI errors could damage a brand. 2️⃣ Proactive, Not Reactive We can’t afford to wait and see. The pace of AI is too fast for the “fast follower” approach. Personally, I’ve learned that being proactive—experimenting with AI-driven features and pushing the envelope—is the only way to stay ahead. 3️⃣ Keep an Eye on Unlikely Competitors What surprised me most is how AI is thriving outside traditional tech. Industries like healthcare and autonomous driving are making huge leaps. It’s a reminder for us to look beyond tech for innovation—and potential competition. 4️⃣ Rethink Your Data Strategy With companies like Tesla gaining an edge through real-world data, it’s clear that our traditional data strategies might need a refresh. I’ve found that exploring niche markets and unique data sources can create unexpected advantages. 5️⃣ Prioritize AI Talent and Literacy As AI becomes more central to product development, having a team that understands AI is crucial. Personally, I’m focusing on building a culture of AI literacy, making sure everyone on the team is ready to leverage this shift. 💭 What do you think? Share your thoughts in the comments! 🔄 If this resonates with you, give it a repost and follow for more product management insights. https://lnkd.in/gAxuW7D3

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In 2017, Uber was on the brink of collapse—a "dumpster fire on wheels." Scandals plagued the company, including 215 harassment complaints and a mass exodus of 200,000 users in a single week. The chaos reached its peak when its founder and CEO, Travis Kalanick, was ousted amidst controversy. The company was toxic, chaotic, and teetering on the edge of disaster. Enter Dara Khosrowshahi. He wasn’t the flamboyant, brash leader many might expect for a turnaround. Instead, he was a steady, strategic force who didn’t just step into Uber’s mess—he rewrote the playbook entirely. When Dara took the reins, Uber was bleeding—a $4 billion loss on $7.9 billion in revenue in 2017. By 2023, revenue had surged nearly 5x to over $37 billion, and for the first time, the company posted an annual profit of $1.1 billion. But that’s not even his most significant achievement. Dara’s real triumph lies in his cultural overhaul. He inherited a toxic "bro culture" and dismantled it piece by piece, replacing the reckless "move fast and break things" mindset with a new ethos: "move fast and do the right thing." Transforming the DNA of a 15,000+ employee organization isn’t just challenging—it’s one of the hardest feats in leadership. Companies, like people, need different leadership at different stages. Flamboyant founders often drive early growth, but without evolving, they risk taking their companies off a cliff. Uber was headed down that path, and Dara pulled it back. Today, Uber stands tall as a $150 billion powerhouse—a testament to what bold, decisive leadership can achieve, even in the face of near-certain collapse. Sometimes, it takes hitting rock bottom to uncover the kind of leader who can rebuild from scratch. And Dara Khosrowshahi? He’s that leader. Not every hero wears a cape—some quietly rewrite history.

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**"Twelve years down at Google and I'm still amazed by the incredible people and opportunity to serve billions of users. Grateful especially for the lifelong friendships I've gained. Thank you: 🌟 Sanjay Datta for opening my horizons for how strategy is drafted and teams are built 🌟 James Beser for taking a chance on me with a 20% PM role 🌟 Sameer Samat for encouraging me to take the biggest leap I could, to truly find my footing when i was leaving Google 🌟 Josh Woodward for trusting me to incubate a few ideas for the next billion users 🌟 Stavan Parikh for making me believe that anything is possible if you are a passionate owner 🌟 Sanaz Ahari Lemelson for introducing me to the world of Comms on Android 🌟 Jan Jedrzejowicz for teaching me how to do more with less 🌟 Jonathan Gonzalez for inspiring me with the coveted team culture of trust, rigor and ownership you establish around you #Google #Googleversary"**

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Say you have mission critical parts, interesting new products to develop, and invest hugely in R&D in hardware, but you had to use the same horizontal procurement software that everyone else uses and was built 20-40 years ago. No automated RFP and invoice management, no supply chain risk scoring (vendor or part based), no dynamic assessment of critical needs and potential delays. That sounds... suboptimal. Forge (YC W24) gives hardware teams the tools to accelerate.

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Friendly Reminder: Be Aware of #Phishing Emails and Messages Hi everyone, it has come to my attention that some people in my network have received phishing emails or messages using my name (together with my new job title)🤬. I want to take a moment to alert you and prevent anyone from falling for these scams. Recently, a scammer almost tricked one of my ex-coworkers using an email from [email protected] claiming support was needed from an AppLovin partner. Another phishing attempt reached out to a BU alum, incorrectly spelling AppLovin while pretending I was hiring. Please be aware that I will never use a Gmail account for business communications. For any business-related connections, I always use my official business email. Additionally, I take pride in professionalism and would not make obvious spelling mistakes like these. If you ever receive a suspicious email or message claiming to be from me, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly to verify. Stay safe and always trust your instincts!

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I mentor colleagues formally and informally both at Meta and outside of Meta, and enjoy learning from diverse perspectives. Recently, a colleague mentioned how the product questions posed by senior execs are almost always stupid because execs don’t have the full context. So it is a waste of time to try to answer them. I could see where this remark came from and agreed that the more senior you are, the less context you have about the product features, roadmap or on-the-ground feedback. You are more likely to have a high-level understanding of the product functionality and benefits to clients. However, I challenged my colleague and will challenge everyone here to not disregard the question if it doesn’t make sense. Instead, I encourage you to: 1) Go back to the exec, ask them why they are asking that question: Understand the context, their goal and how will they use this info? 2) Tell them the right question to ask to get what they need to drive their goal. Succinctly explain why you’re recommending what you’re recommending. 3) Finally, help them answer the question that you outline for them in step 2. This would help you build both your influence and relationships with senior executives. #leadership #mentoring

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When I was at LinkedIn, the product team’s mission was to build insanely brilliant and simple products that change peoples lives. It’s a lofty mission, and one that can take a lifetime (or at least several years or decades) to achieve. Recently I experienced the Google Waymo service in San Francisco that resonated with this mission. Three things that struck me the most about my Waymo ride: - User delight is delivered through a combination of thoughtful features – there’s no single ‘aha’ feature: the rider’s initials are displayed on the outside so that you’re not hunting to see the license plate number to confirm your car; the clear voice instructions that reassure you of your privacy, the display of the route on the screen in the passenger row, the ability to choose your music genre, … - Safety is a pervasive design choice – when a couple started down a crosswalk even as my car was halfway across the intersection, the car waited patiently and safely until they had crossed the street. We have all heard stories of a Waymo refusing to move when another driver or pedestrian makes an unsafe maneuver. Waymo has realized that the only way to inspire confidence in its riders is to take the most conservative stance when it comes to safety. - Humans are quick to adapt to great experiences – I was comfortably staring at my phone screen within minutes of getting in the car, completely oblivious to the fact that there was no human behind the wheel. The last time we got that quickly comfortable with a product unlike any we had experienced before was probably the button-less iPhone. My one feature request for Waymo? When two Waymo cars pass each other, the screen should light up with a wave or a nod 😉 Have other products inspired awe and delight in you recently? 

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I recently wrote a PRD with AI and it worked out surprisingly well. Tomorrow, I'm sharing a new post with: - My personal PRD template - My AI prompt to fill in the template with real customer feedback - My favorite PRD examples and AI tools 📌 Sign up to get my PRD template, AI prompt, and examples in your inbox: https://creatoreconomy.so/

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New way for Berlin-based Engineering Managers to improve their management and leadership skills. I see 3 common ways people learn how to improve management and leadership skills: ➡️ Test and learn on the job at their company ➡️ Get a mentor or coach ➡️ Consume content The first one is great but can lead to painful mistakes. The second one is necessary but not always available The third one is good but rarely practical. That's why I believe Oleksandr Golub Engineering Management Katas are a great way to develop these skills. Because an EM Kata is a safe sandbox where Engineering Managers and Leaders can practice their skills and receive immediate feedback. You can practice, get mentored and learn without fearing of making a costly mistake. The next edition will be happening on July 2nd at Netlight. Book your seat with the link below if you want to join! 𝗢𝗹𝗲𝗸𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮-𝟯 𝘀𝗲𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗿 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱, 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿 & 𝗰𝗼𝗮𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 (𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝟰 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀) 𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗠 𝗞𝗮𝘁𝗮. 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗠 𝗵𝗶𝗺 𝗼𝗿 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗯𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 :)

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Marissa was involved in the development of more than 100 products and features for Google. Beyond Google Earth, she played a part in shaping Street View, Google News, and Gmail 👇 I'm starting a new series of posts. Dedicated to first product managers 🥇 Or what I call 'first PMs' 😉 And who better than Marissa Mayer to start this series? Marissa's role evolved from managing specific products. To oversee entire product lines 🔛 She eventually became Vice President of Google’s Search Products. A holy grail in the tech world! Let's dive in! _____ Marissa Mayer was one of Google’s first-ever employees. Employee number 20, to be precise. She joined Google in 1999 as the company’s first female engineer. You might remember when search engines filled their home pages with ads. News, weather reports, and other features. Marissa had other ideas... She decided to keep Google’s homepage as clean as possible 🧼 An approach that prioritized speed and ease of use. Marissa understood that people came to Google primarily to search 🔍 So she insisted that Google pare down the homepage. To make it as easy as possible for users to do just that:  This is how Google stood apart from its competitors 🏆 This minimalism established Google as the go-to search engine for millions. The stripped-back design allowed for faster loading times. While ensuring users could immediately understand exactly what Google was. If you’re looking for an underlying cause of Google’s rapid growth in popularity in the late 90s and early 00s, here it is. By 2005, Google had around 5,000 employees... And Marissa was overseeing the launch of Google Maps 🗺️ At the time, mapping services provided basic map views difficult to read 😣 She & her team decided to push for satellite imagery into Google Maps. Which would turn out to be a game-changer! Marissa understood satellite imagery provides a more detailed view. Yet more intuitive 👍 And that this would be much easier for users to understand. This decision meant investing significant resources. But it all paid off! It resulted in a visually engaging tool for navigation. Which helped set Google Maps apart from its competitors.  Insisting on simplicity in search 🔍 Each of these examples demonstrates Marissa’s commitment. Her commitment to user-centric design. And her willingness to take on immense technical challenges For the sake of improving the user experience. These are all qualities that Marissa had developed at Google. Which she retained even after spending years in the company 🔥 ____ This is the first PM mindset! And it’s a mindset that Google as a whole has embraced. Which has put the company at the forefront of technological innovation. Hope this story sparks a few ideas 😃 Enzo #firstpm #marissamayer

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Discover 200 Venture Capital Firms in #SiliconValley Check out our curated list of #SiliconValley VC firms. Access it here https://lnkd.in/du-fGmbp #startup #startups #vc #venturecapital #investmentbanking #privateequity #managementconsulting #b2b #founders #entrepreneurs

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With tech layoffs still ongoing, finding a product manager role is tougher than ever. I'm sharing some helpful PM interview content (from my own interviews) to help others navigate this challenging market. They span almost all stages from screening to behavioural to product sense. Topics covered: Product Management Interview Process - https://lnkd.in/grPHFbsg The Backgrounder - https://lnkd.in/gyv5FRZe Company Research - https://lnkd.in/gMdKkZsw Why You (Screening Interview) - https://bit.ly/PMWhyYou Questions To Ask - https://lnkd.in/g3Hb3JiQ Behavioural Questions - https://lnkd.in/ggs3YCiY Product Sense / Product Design - https://lnkd.in/gSHZcfQj Metrics - https://lnkd.in/g3YWEYYJ Links in Comments #productmanagement #product #PM

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