Podcast
Unsolicited Feedback
Hosted by Brian Balfour & Fareed Mosavat · EN
Tired of interview podcasts? Us too. That's why we created Unsolicited Feedback - the podcast that should have come out 5 years ago, but we're making it anyway. In this podcast, Brian Balfour (Reforge, HubSpot), Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack) and friends provide unfiltered feedback on the products they actually use, along with key product lessons.
Essentially, we're taking the conversations that happen between experts at invite-only happy-hours and delivering them to the podcast platform of your choice.
Although no one asked for their opinions, they're sharing them. It's like eating Goodles when you want Kraft Mac n Cheese, or Olipop when you want Pepsi - it feels wrong, yet so right.
Each week, they analyze recent announcements, features, and releases across product and growth. The hosts make predictions about where Threads and Twitter will be in a year, and analyze unparalleled growth loops at LinkedIn. They give respect where it's due, but also deliver tear-downs when the writing’s on the wall. Sorry, not sorry!
13episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Revolutionizing Productivity: Feedback on Loom, Linear, and Even LaunchDarkly w/ Claire Vo
May 9, 2024Tap to summarizeRevolutionizing Productivity: Feedback on Loom, Linear, and Even LaunchDarkly w/ Claire VoIn part two of our "Unsolicited Feedback," host Fareed Mosavat and our esteemed guest, Claire Vo (CPO at LaunchDarkly, Founder of ChatPRD), explore significant advancements in AI and collaboration tools, with a spotlight on Loom and Linear's latest innovations. The episode delves into how these tools are not only enhancing productivity but also potentially reshaping communication norms in professional environments.Check out a full summary of the takeaways and lessons at ➡️ https://www.unsolicitedfeedback.co/ 00:00 Introduction02:17 Exploring Loom's Innovations and Atlassian Integration06:57 The Future of Collaboration: Video, Audio, and AI14:42 Loom's Role in Atlassian's Ecosystem and Future Directions17:33 Linear's Approach to Enhancing Product Development20:55 The Challenge of Integrating Docs and Tasks30:41 The Power of Being Your Own Customer35:47 Embracing New User Experience and OnboardingThank you for listening to Unsolicited Feedback!Don’t forget to hit subscribe on the podcast network of your choice!And sign up for our mailing list at ➡️ https://www.unsolicitedfeedback.co/
Transcribe →
Building ChatPRD and 🌶️ Takes on the Future of Product Management in the AI-Era w/ Claire Vo
May 7, 2024Tap to summarizeBuilding ChatPRD and 🌶️ Takes on the Future of Product Management in the AI-Era w/ Claire VoIn this week’s episode of "Unsolicited Feedback," we're excited to welcome back Claire Vo, CPO of LaunchDarkly and the founder of ChatPRD. As a repeat guest, Claire delves into the intricacies of building her AI tool, ChatPRD, and shares her incisive perspectives on the evolving roles in product management as AI reshapes the industry in 2024 and beyond.Check out a full summary of her hot takes at Unsolicitedfeedback.co!00:00 Introduction02:22 Rethinking the 'No' Mantra in Product Management06:42 Leveraging ChatPRD for Career Growth and Efficiency20:29 Navigating the Challenges of Building AI Products26:50 The Accessibility of Software Engineering for PMs31:01 The Impact of Low Friction Analytics on Deep Analysis46:39 Efficiency and Organizational Design in Product Teams
Transcribe →
Claire Vo (Color) Tackles Monetization Strategy for AI Businesses and Protecting the Super ICs in Product
Oct 12, 2023Tap to summarizeClaire Vo Tackles Monetization Strategy for AI Businesses and Protecting the Super ICs in ProductThis week, Unsolicited Feedback is thrilled to welcome Claire Vo to the virtual table. Claire, the CPO at Color and former CPO at Optimizely, is known for her prolific Product HotTakes on X! Join us as we dive into an engaging conversation with Claire and get ready for some hot takes as:1️⃣ This week’s trio analyze the real cost and pricing challenges of new AI products (starts at 10:37)2️⃣ Brian & Fareed deliver some Unsolicited Feedback on Claire’s views on managing efficient product teams (starts at 48:14)AI’s Monetization ChallengesToday’s discussion starts with a Wall Street Journal article detailing how GitHub's Copilot is in the red due to the costs of AI. The debate is fascinating, but ultimately we walk away with three big takeaways:🏢 AI favors the incumbents: 🏢Why? High start-up costs, high incremental costs of delivery, and competitive advantages in terms of user base and data richness.Further, large companies like Replit can afford to offer their AI for free as a loss leader, bearing the expense until the cost of delivering AI decreases.💰 Value-based pricing appears to be the early winner: 💰Seat-based pricing will eventually decline to zero and may not have an attractive total addressable market (TAM).Brian highlights that cost-plus pricing, where pricing is determined by applying some margin to the cost of goods, presents a few challenges: Is it a strong enough counter-positioning move from a business model perspective to compete against incumbents with more cash, data, and users? How do users perceive value when tokens are introduced? Do tokens inadvertently create friction? If you can develop a solution that delivers tangible and measurable value, and customers can easily recognize this value is lower than their best alternative, the purchase is an easy yes.🤔 It's not about real value. It's about perceived value. 🤔Claire says perceived value is often a function of two things.Firstly, it considers the cost of having a human or a group of humans with limited expertise perform a certain task.Second, it considers the amount of enterprise value you know the product will produce.💡 "I think both of those things are very quickly going to shift in folks' minds over the next couple of years. I think the perceived value of human expertise is going to collapse." 💡- ClaireIn fact, Claire envisions a future where a department head, instead of thinking about headcount, thinks about budget. They can then decide what portion of that budget to allocate to humans versus AI!Managing Efficiency in Product❗️The problem: ❗️"Almost everything about growing the size and scale of your team has an immediate and detrimental impact on the thing that matters most: building awesome products.Unless you actively fight against these effects, you'll wake up one day with a very effective bureaucracy, but a very poor product." - Claire💪 How do we battle against this? 💪1) 😎 Smaller teams to achieve big things: 😎Actually ingraining this mentality in an organization that needs to grow is difficult because all of the industry incentives are just fundamentally flipped in the opposite direction.2) 🔑 Protect and Incentivize Senior ICs: 🔑Teams are best served by more star players on the field, not by more coaches on the sidelines.How to fix it? Eliminate financial incentives to becoming a manager by making the IC path equally or even more attractive.This means that folks who actually choose the coach path do it for the right reasons, and not the wrong reasons.3) 🚀 Lead by example if you are a product leader: 🚀Emphasize that "there's no pride in size and scope. There's only pride in output and impact." - Claire
Transcribe →