Drift

Today on Build, Maggie sits down with Ellen Chisa, CEO and co-founder of Dark, which is making it possible to build an app in a single afternoon. Maggie and Ellen talk through her journey from PM to product leader to founder & CEO. Plus her years of experience at Microsoft, Kickstarter, Lola.com and now her latest venture, Dark. Also on Build, learn how to set up a product team and listen to what Ellen’s reading now, from fiction to the best reads for product leaders.

From PM to Product Leader to Founder with Dark’s Ellen Chisa

As a product manager or product leader you have to be able to see a future in which your team has solved problems for users, because only once you’ve seen that future can you work backwards to figure out how to get there. Then, you have to be able to motivate your team and get them to buy into that vision for the future. To do that you’re going to need creative energy and a somewhat relentless but realistic optimism. Unfortunately, keeping that optimism going, especially coming off of the year that we’ve all had, can be tough. So in today's episode, Maggie shares a short rundown of the tricks she uses to stay motivated and fight product burnout. Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends. You can also connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

Staying Motivated in Product

An ongoing debate in product is whether or how much to pay attention to the competition, which gets even more tricky when the space that you're building in is extremely crowded. In this episode, Maggie talks with Nash Ahmed, Founder and CEO of Undock, about what it's like to build a company in a space as crowded as calendaring. Nash shares the role of brand, how to go up against the biggest incumbents, and why having a strong point of view is the real key. Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends. You can also connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

Building in a Crowded Market with Undock's Nash Ahmed

Thinking about a new job? Don't make the mistake of prepping for just the interview: to get the best possible outcome you also need to prep for the negotiation. In this episode, Maggie spoke with Linda Zhang, former Group PM turned founder and the author of an article about how she negotiated, then walked away from, a massive PM offer at Facebook. Linda shares her negotiation strategy, how she prepares, her top advice, and why it is so important to talk openly about topics like pay. Check out Linda's article and other product thinking here: https://www.productlessons.xyz/ Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends. You can also connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

How to Negotiate a Job Offer with Linda Zhang

Ever heard that the product manager role is different company to company? One big difference can be identified with one question: is your job as a PM to manage a backlog? In this episode, Maggie talks with Ravi Dev, SVP Product at GoodRx, about the PM role, A/B testing, backlog management, and why none of that is really the job that the best product managers are doing. Like this episode? Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review, hit the subscribe button, and share the pod with your friends. You can also connect with Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

Good Product Management Explained, with GoodRx's Ravi Dev

In this episode, Maggie shares a cautionary tale about what can happen when you rely on data too much and lose sight of what your customers have to say. This lesson is part of a talk that Maggie is giving at the Women in Product conference this year, so you’ll have to check that out in May to hear the rest! Like this episode? Hit the subscribe button and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review. You can also follow Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

One Quick Lesson About (Over) Relying on Data

Putting together a strategy isn't even half the battle for product leaders. The real challenge is how you put together a plan and actually execute on that strategy. To learn more, Maggie talked with Jon Fan, the VP of Product at Benchling, about how to do strategic planning well. They get into how to treat your planning process like a product, stack ranking, and why there might never be a "right" answer. Like this episode? Hit the subscribe button and leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ review. You can also follow Maggie on Twitter @maggiecrowley

What Comes After Strategy with Benchling's Jon Fan

Build gives you the inside track on all things product and product management. Host Maggie Crowley, former Olympian turned Harvard MBA turned Director of Product Management at Drift, sits down with the best of the best across product management, design, and engineering to bring you lessons from product greats at Atlassian, Pluralsight, VMware, and more.

Build with Maggie Crowley

From PM to Product Leader to Founder with Dark’s Ellen Chisa

From PM to Product Leader to Founder with Dark’s Ellen Chisa

More Episodes

Staying Motivated in Product

Building in a Crowded Market with Undock's Nash Ahmed

How to Negotiate a Job Offer with Linda Zhang

Good Product Management Explained, with GoodRx's Ravi Dev

One Quick Lesson About (Over) Relying on Data

What Comes After Strategy with Benchling's Jon Fan