One Knight in Product

Adam Dille's Hot Take - The Product Trio is Outdated - Enter the Product Square! (with Adam Dille, SVP Product Engineering at Quantum Metric)

Adam Dille is the SVP of Product Engineering at Quantum Metric, a company specialising in experience analytics for some of the world's biggest brands. Despite his engineering roots, Adam's relentless curiosity about the WHY behind building products led him to embrace product thinking and how to build products better.
His hot take? The traditional product trio - PM, design, and engineering - isn't enough anymore. He advocates for transforming the trio into a square by adding a customer-facing, "operational" team member. This person, deeply connected to customer needs and speaking to customers every day, can help to bridge the gap between the product team and the customer and enable stronger customer focus and faster iteration cycles.
Find Adam on LinkedIn or check out Quantum Metric.
If you'd like to appear on Hot Takes, please grab a time!

Grace Yusuff's Hot Take - Introversion is a PM Superpower (with Grace Yusuff, Product Manager & Early Careers Mentor)

Grace Yusuff is a London-based "reluctant product manager" and introvert who thought she could never do the job. She has since fallen in love with the role and now works as a product manager and early-career mentor, helping others get into tech.
Her hot take? That introversion is a superpower for product managers and something to be embraced rather than overcome. She is a strong advocate for people to find their own way in product management, and not having to live up to clichés or stereotypes.
Find Grace on LinkedIn.
If you'd like to appear on Hot Takes, please grab a time!

Assaph Mehr's Hot Take - AI Is Just A Tool - What Matters Is How We Use It (with Assaph Mehr, Product Leader and Fantasy Author)

Assaph Mehr is an Australia-based product & people leader as well as a published fantasy author, who also uses his writing chops to produce a newsletter, "Rise of the Product Leader".
His hot take? That LLMs and other generative AI tools are the equivalent of an angle grinder. For those who don't know, angle grinders have big, spinning metal discs that make them ideal tools for certain use cases (like cutting up concrete) but are terrible for anything else. Assaph believes that LLMs have a large number of use cases where we should use them, but that there's still an inevitable need for human decision-making and a sense of taste that AI will never have.
Find Assaph on LinkedIn or subscribe to his newsletter. If you're interested in fantasy novels, check those out too.
If you'd like to appear on Hot Takes, please grab a time!

Matt Maier's Hot Take - AI Will Lead to a Post-Employment World (...and That's Good!) (with Matt Maier, Product Marketer & AI Enthusiast)

Matt Maier is a product marketer and AI enthusiast from Irvine, California, with a background spanning the Air Force, aerospace, healthcare, and startup consulting.
His hot take? Within 5 years, employment as we know it will sharply decline. Matt predicts that advancements in AI will render traditional employee-employer relationships obsolete, because why would companies hire people to do easily automatable tasks? On the other hand, Matt believes this is a good thing and will enable an entirely new way of working.
Find Matt on LinkedIn or drop him an email at Solo Scale AI.
If you'd like to appear on Hot Takes, please grab a time!
Related episodes you should like:
Is Product-Led Growth Really For You? (Leah Tharin, Product-Led Growth Guru & Head of Product @ Jua)
Embracing Change to Innovate in Product Management (Greg Coticchia, CEO @ Sopheon)
The Big Pivot to Reinvent Product Management (Yana Welinder, Founder & CEO @ Kraftful)
Debbie Levitt's Hot Take - Democratising our Work means AI is Going to Steal all our Jobs Sooner (Debbie Levitt, CXO @ DeltaCX and Author "Customers Know You Suck")
Greg Prickril's Hot Take - AI is going to change everything for Product Managers (Greg Prickril, B2B Product Management Coach, Consultant & Trainer)
Andy Walters' Hot Take - We’re Soon Going to be Living in an AI-Assistant-First World (Andy Walters, CEO @ Emerge Haus & Generative AI Expert)
Bjarte Rettedal's Hot Take - AI Models Should Be Under Public Ownership or Completely Transparent (Bjarte Rettedal, UX Designer)
Reinventing the Future of Customer Success with Human-First AI (Nick Mehta, CEO @ Gainsight)

Why Product Managers Should Care About Behavioural Science (with Yael Mark, Behavioural Design Product Consultant)

Yael Mark is a behavioural scientist turned product manager, who is passionate about helping others unlock the power of user-centred product design by embracing behavioural science. She believes that understanding human behaviour and cognitive biases can drive better product decisions and stakeholder alignment, as well as make sure we do it ethically.
Episode highlights:
 
1. Behavioural science helps product managers design for real-world users
Behavioural science is the study of how people think, act, and interact with their environments. By understanding human "bugs" and irrational behaviours, product managers can create products that align with user needs, addressing pain points inside and outside the app.
2. Ethics matter when applying behavioural science
It's important to align behavioural tactics with user goals. Ethical applications, like encouraging language learning with Duolingo streaks, contrast with manipulative design patterns that exploit users for profit without delivering real value.
3. Cognitive biases can be leveraged for better product outcomes
Cognitive biases are the shortcuts our brains take to help us make decisions. Common biases like anchoring, cognitive dissonance, and the sunk cost fallacy have an impact in product decisions. For example, Amazon Prime uses cognitive dissonance to encourage consolidated deliveries, appealing to users' environmental consciousness while reducing costs.
4. AI offers opportunities and challenges in behavioural science
AI can accelerate behavioural research by simulating user responses, though it is not yet capable of replicating cognitive biases fully, even when told to exhibit them. However, biases in AI training data may introduce new challenges, requiring vigilance in its application.
5. You can prove the ROI of behavioural science through small wins
Some people will be sceptical, so it's important to tie behavioural science theory to measurable KPIs and you can use A/B testing to demonstrate value. Not everything has to be a big development effort. Even reworking copy to focus on gains instead of losses can drive changes in user behaviour.
Contact Yael
You can find Yael and learn more on YouTube at ProductBS or connect with her on LinkedIn
Related episodes you should like:
Valentine's Special! A Love Letter to Problems, not Solutions (Uri Levine, Founder @ Waze & Author "Fall in Love with the Problem, not the Solution")
Understanding & Interrupting Cognitive Biases in Product Design (David Dylan Thomas, Author "Design for Cognitive Bias")
Using Solution Tests to Make Sure You're Building Products Users Want (Jim Morris, Founder @ Product Discovery Group)
Standing up for User Research... and User Researchers (Debbie Levitt, CXO @ DeltaCX and Author "Customers Know You Suck")
Building Life-Centred Products with Collaborative Product Discovery (Sophia Höfling, Co-founder & Head of Product @ Saiga)
Betting on the Value of Product Design at the Organisational Poker Table (Andy Budd, Executive & Design Leadership Coach & Founder @ Clearleft)
Moving Beyond Survival and Paying Off Your Vision Debt (Radhika Dutt, Consultant and Author "Radical Product Thinking")
Bjarte Rettedal's Hot Take - AI Models Should Be Under Public Ownership or Completely Transparent (Bjarte Rettedal, UX Designer)

Commercialize! Get your Productized Services to Market (with Eisha Armstrong, Author "Commercialize", "Fearless" and "Productize")

Returning guest Eisha Armstrong is the co-founder of Vecteris and author of books like "Productize" and "Fearless", which talk about that tricky journey from a professional services to product organisation. She's back to talk about her latest book, "Commercialize", which gives us the skinny on how to monetise, sell, and market productised offerings in transforming B2B professional services firms.
Episode highlights:
 
1. Product strategy is the heart of successful commercialisation
A successful product commercialisation strategy needs five key elements: Clear market understanding, monetisation approach, marketing strategy, sales process and plan for renewability. More than anything, company leaders need to think about this stuff upfront and not just wing it.
2. Selling to existing customers is often the most effective strategy for B2B services companies
The data shows that selling products to existing service customers, especially as bundles, is typically more successful than trying to enter new markets. It's tempting to try to go downmarket with cheaper, standardised offerings, but this is challenging due to lack of brand recognition and relationships.
3. Packaging is more critical than pricing for success
Many leaders focus on pricing, but packaging is often the bigger challenge. Packages should be designed around market segment needs rather than defaulting to simple "good, better, best" tiers without clear rationale. There must be a clear story for why customers would upgrade from one package to another.
4. Companies need to invest in new capabilities for product success
A common mistake is trying to commercialise products using existing service-oriented sales and marketing teams. Organisations need to plan and budget for different kinds of capabilities and talent, rather than expecting current staff to develop new skills while maintaining their existing responsibilities.
5. Moving to recurring revenue requires organizational change
Shifting from one-time service engagements to recurring product revenue requires changes in how companies measure success, moving from annual revenue targets to customer lifetime value. This transition typically takes several years and requires sustained leadership commitment to stay the course.
Buy "Commercialize"
"More and more professional services firms are “productizing” their services to grow and scale. But successfully marketing and selling standardized services or products is very different from marketing and selling traditional professional services. Commercialize, a follow-on book to Productize, explores why commercializing new ideas is the most significant stall point when B2B services organizations productize. The book then outlines how the most successful firms commercialize packaged services and new products and get to revenue impact fast and efficiently."
Check it out on Amazon or the book's website.
Contact Eisha
You can find Eisha and learn more on the Vecteris website or connect with her on LinkedIn (mention you heard her on the podcast when connecting!)
Related episodes you should like:
Survive the Feature Factory by Applying Product Thinking to Product Thinking (John Cutler, Product Evangelist & Coach @ Amplitude)
The Seven Deadly Mistakes of Productization (Eisha Armstrong, Co-founder @ Vecteris & Author "Productize")
Making Sure you REALLY Know your Customers and Pulling out of Growth Stalls (Adrienne Barnes, Founder @ Best Buyer Persona)
Fearlessly Defeating the Four Horsemen of a Product-Friendly Culture (Eisha Armstrong, Co-founder @ Vecteris & Author "Productize" & "Fearless")
OKIP LIVE! Is Product/Market Fit Really Dead, or Just Resting? (Andrea Saez & Dave Martin, Right To Left)
Chris Locke's Hot Take - Product Leaders Need to Adopt a VC Mindset (Chris Locke, CEO @ Aspire)
Jeremy Kirouac's Hot Take - Founders Need Product Management Training (Jeremy Kirouac, Fractional Product Leader)
Servitising Product Management & Setting Up Product Teams For Success (Jas Shah, Product Consultant)

Solving the Growth Equation to Derive Product/Market Fit (with Andy Budd, Author "The Growth Equation")

Andy Budd is a designer-turned-venture partner who founded one of the UK's first UX agencies before pivoting to help early-stage startup founders make good product decisions and get to product/market fit. He's recently released "The Growth Equation", a book that distils some of the common themes he sees across early-stage companies and aims to give them the best chance of success. We spoke all about the themes from the book, as well as where product management fits into the early-stage equation.
Episode highlights:
1. The Growth Equation is made up of a combination of factors that both drive and drag growth efforts
Driving factors include audience size, audience motivation, speed of value delivery, stickiness and virality. Dragging factors include friction and competitive pressure. There's no specific solution to the Growth Equation, it's about optimising the factors to deliver startup success.
2. Most founders massively overestimate the scale of their MVP, and it could kill their company
What founders think is "minimal" often isn't. Startups burn months and months on what they think is a minimal solution, but it rarely is. There are stories of startups spending 18 months getting their first version out, getting excited, seeing no traction, and then repeating the doom loop. It's important to get stuff out there and into people's hands quickly to see if you can get traction rather than get stuck building things that no one wants.
3. Targeting sophisticated ICPs too early is a death trap
Early-stage founders often aim to attack a broad Ideal Customer Profile, believing that it gives them the best chance of getting traction. They make the mistake of tackling sophisticated, mature customers with a never-ending list of "yes, but also..." requests. It's important for early founders to target beach-head customers so you can land and expand. You also need to ensure that you can respond and adapt your early ICP based on real-world feedback.
4. Founders might not enjoy things like Sales or Marketing, but they've got to do what's right for the company
Being a startup founder means you get to do things you love, like building a product, but you're also responsible for getting it to market. Early sales efforts must be led by the founders; it's a mistake to hire experienced salespeople too soon and expecting them to build your GTM playbook, and external SDR agencies are not going to get your target customers excited about your vision.
5. In early-stage companies, the product manager is generally a project manager and has to bide their time
It's a common problem: A startup founder is encouraged to hire a product manager, but they're still too close to the vision to want someone to join and start challenging everything. They just need to get the ideas out of their head and into the world. "Proper" product management can come later, developed over time, rather than arguing the toss upfront and never getting anywhere.
Buy "The Growth Equation"
"The Growth Equation is your roadmap to early-stage growth, designed specifically for founders navigating the toughest part of the journey: from zero to one. Finding your first customers, figuring out your go-to-market strategy, and scaling your revenue can feel overwhelming when you're up against limited resources and conflicting advice. That's why this book provides clear, actionable steps to help you break through those barriers and take your startup to its first $1M in revenue and beyond."
Check it out on Amazon or the book's website.
Contact Andy
You can catch up with Andy on LinkedIn. You can also check his website.
Related episodes you should like:
Moving Beyond Founder-Led Product Development & Setting PMs up for Success (Jennifer Yang-Wong, VP of Product @ Contrary)
Nailing your Product/Market Fit Strategy by Focusing on the Mission Critical (Maja Voje, Growth Strategy Expert & Author "Go-To-Market Strategist")
The Big Pivot to Reinvent Product Management (Yana Welinder, Founder & CEO @ Kraftful)
Building Great Companies through Community-Led Growth (Lloyed Lobo, Author "From Grassroots to Greatness")
Nailing your Brand Marketing by Embracing your Zone of Genius (Orly Zeewy, Brand Strategy Consultant & Author "Ready, Launch, Brand")
Helping Superhero Startup Founders Stay Away from their Kryptonite (Richard Blundell, Founder @ Vencha & Co-author "The Go To Market Handbook for B2B SaaS Leaders")
Upping Your Odds of BEATING the LinkedIn Algorithm (Ivana Todorovic, CEO @ AuthoredUp)
Jeremy Kirouac's Hot Take - Founders Need Product Management Training (Jeremy Kirouac, Fractional Product Leader)

Jas Shah's Hot Take - Product Management isn't as Glamorous as People Think (with Jas Shah, Fintech Product Consultant)

Jas Shah is a fintech product consultant based in London who helps small startups and management services organizations build winning products, whilst keeping his pulse on the fintech scene.
His hot take? That product management is one of the least glamorous functions in an organisation. It's often portrayed as a sexy role where you're the "CEO of the product" with autonomy and responsibility, but for most product managers, the role is arduous and grating, involving invisible work like coordinating between teams, dealing with competing interests, and working with less authority than expected.
Find Jas on LinkedIn or check out his newsletter, Fintech R&R.
If you'd like to appear on Hot Takes, please grab a time!
Related episodes you should like:
Survive the Feature Factory by Applying Product Thinking to Product Thinking (John Cutler, Product Evangelist & Coach @ Amplitude)
John Cutler's Hot Take - The Instagram-ification of Product Management is Driving us Crazy (John Cutler, Product Educator & Author @ The Beautiful Mess)
The Five Dysfunctions of Product Management Teams (Saeed Khan, Founder @ Transformation Labs)
Practice Makes Perfect: Embracing the Messy Reality of Product Management (Matt LeMay, Product Management Consultant & Author "Product Management in Practice")
Applying Product Management Principles to Life (Miloš Belčević, Author "Build Your Way")
Dean Peters' Hot Take - There's More to be Said About the Instagram-ification of Product Management (Dean Peters, Principal Consultant & Trainer @ Productside)
May Wong's Hot Take - Product Management is a Team Sport (May Wong, Product Operations Consultant & Coach)
Chris Butler's Hot Take - Product Managers DON'T Need to be Technical (Chris Butler, Staff Product Operations Manager @ GitHub)