Product Pulse: API Transitions, Scaling Teams, and Untapped Growth
Today's product landscape demands adaptability. Whether it's navigating complex API migrations, scaling product teams efficiently, or identifying overlooked growth opportunities, PMs face multifaceted challenges. Success hinges on customer-centricity, data-driven decisions, and the ability to translate user needs into actionable strategies.Key Stories:* API Evolution: Transitioning customers to a new API is rarely smooth. Gary Clift's experience at a travel tech company highlights the critical need for continuous discovery when upgrading APIs. He found that interview snapshots, capturing customer pain points, helped prioritize and advocate for developer needs, ensuring a smoother transition. (Product Talk)* Scaling for Success: As startups grow, product teams often struggle to balance speed with structure. Charlotte King, Lead Product Manager at eBay, shares tools and techniques for scaling product teams. The key: defining product's role during scaleup and building a culture of shared understanding. (Mind the Product)* Unlocking B2B Growth: Pylon, a B2B customer service platform, achieves impressive sales velocity by focusing on an inbound, sales-assisted GTM motion. LinkedIn became their biggest source of pipeline. They close ~30 deals per month per rep with high retention. A hybrid approach that automates scheduling and CRM data creation has been key. (Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged)* Negotiation as Value Exchange: Negotiating compensation isn't just about tactics; it's about demonstrating value. Jacob Warwick shares a framework where PMs can demonstrate how they'll solve specific problems for the company. This requires deep intelligence gathering and aligning with key stakeholders, potentially securing offers well above stated ranges. (Lenny's Newsletter)Why it matters: Product management in 2025 requires a holistic skillset. PMs must be adept at technical transitions, organizational scaling, and strategic influence, all while maintaining a relentless focus on the customer experience. As Wes Kao notes, focusing on what can be done—rather than dwelling on limitations—is crucial for effective communication and leadership.The AI Factor: AI literacy is quickly becoming a core PM skill, but the real challenge lies in applying AI thoughtfully. One must start with the problem and use AI only when it makes sense. A key piece in doing so is building AI responsibly and ethically. As such, the focus has to remain on understanding the user and defining product strategy—AI cannot rescue a poorly defined strategy. (ProdPad, Product-Led Alliance)Mobile vs. Web: Managing mobile products demands a unique skill set. Mobile product management can be overlooked in the product space and growing and launching mobile products requires a different set of challenges and skills. (Mind the Product)Quick hits:* Recognize signals of blind spots to proactively uplevel yourself. Shifting from a product builder to a business owner is key in becoming a general manager. (Product Management IRL)* Implement a framework that works with human psychology. Use this structure to avoid building invisible features: Awareness, Exploration, Habit Formation. (Product Party)
Articles
Articles included in this digest.
TBM 355: Who Should Care?
Some % of product leaders and product managers could care less about how their company works. If something gets in their way, they care—they'll have no shortage of critique and ideas—but once the immediate problem disappears, they'll retu...
Source: The Beautiful Mess | 12:04 AM
Your career ladder is actually an escalator
Steve, the CEO of Tripadvisor, had gathered the company's top executives. As the newcomer—having joined just months earlier—I listened intently as he outlined “the most important initiative in Tripadvisor's history.” For nearl...
Source: Ravi on Product | 04:27 PM
Checklist to Safely Abandon Scrum
Here’s what you should address Scrum might not work for you. That’s perfectly fine. It is not for everyone. For starters, Scrum exists to create value in complex product environments. Your environment isn’t complex? Then Scrum ...
Source: Ageling on Agile | 11:06 AM
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105: Melissa Perri - Why "AI" is a terrible strategist
Melissa Perri drops truth bombs about why most companies fail at AI integration, how legacy giants self-sabotage innovation, and why "slapping AI on it" is the fastest way to irrelevance. Timestamps & Key Moments 05:59 – AI: Innovation vs. ...
Source: Leah’s ProducTea | 01:33 PM
How I Wrote 3 of My Biggest LinkedIn Posts - And The New Trio (PM-PMM-Growth)
Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. Brought to you by: • WorkOS: Your app, enterprise ready • Linear: Plan and build products like the best • Amplitude: Try their 2-min assessment of your company’s digital maturity Today’s Episode...
Source: Product Growth | 11:56 AM
Product Purgatory: When they love it but still don't buy
When even "free" is too expensive.
Source: A Smart Bear | 12:00 AM
How to filter out old email from inbox
Every few years I take a pass at reducing the chaos in my personal inboxes. There are simply too many emails to deal with, and that generally leads to me increasingly failing to follow up on important email. Up to this point, my strategy has largely ...
Source: Irrational Exuberance | 01:00 PM
10 pricing and packaging optimizations you should prioritize, like yesterday.
In a recent newsletter, I introduced the Monetization Council™ - a cross-functional dream team in charge of the big, strategic “how do we make money” decisions. But today we’re talking about everything outside that council. Th...
Source: Elena's Growth Scoop | 03:05 PM
Prioritization Techniques Compared – Part 2
In the first article in this series I reviewed common prioritization approaches, including opinion/consensus/HiPPO, rules-of-thumb, and Cost of Delay. I also explained why prioritization as part of product discovery — prioritizing what to test ...
Source: Itamar Gilad | 10:10 AM
Updates: 7 years at a16z, NYC tour, Speedrun deadline, etc
Hello all! Wow — lots of you read my recent post Every marketing channel sucks right now. It’s now one of the top 5 most widely-read essays. Thank you for that, and wanted to refer to a few other essays** I’ve written previously on ...
Source: @andrewchen | 04:18 PM
INSPIRED in the Generative AI Era
Marty’s Note: The book INSPIRED is available in hardcover, digital, and audio versions, but until now, the audio version was only available in an exclusive arrangement with Amazon, on audible.com. The audio versions of our other books hav...
Source: Silicon Valley Product Group | 01:41 PM
BQ2 - Hybrid Org Structures: Pods, Holacracy and Guilds
If this is your first time reading a “Bigger Questions“ post, I recommend first checking out the background and rationale for these posts, as their not your usual Substack post: Now, let’s get into it Read more
Source: Product Coalition | 09:43 PM
Is it even possible to create a delightful experience in B2B/SaaS?
5 tactics used by successful products to turn reluctant users into loyal fans. Continue reading on UX Collective »
Source: UX Collective - Medium | 11:27 AM
Beyond the AI hype: Asking the right questions to drive meaningful product innovation
AI is everywhere. It’s the biggest buzzword in tech, drawing massive attention and hype. But here’s the uncomfortable truth – most people talking about AI don’t really understand it. For many teams, AI has become the...
Source: Product-Led Alliance | Product-Led Growth | 11:24 AM
Why users ignore your best features.
I once spent weeks perfecting what I thought was a game-changing feature: a sleek button that would help associate bankers transfer calls to licensed colleagues in specific states. The implementation was flawless, the UI polished, and the functionali...
Source: Product Party | 10:02 AM
Tools and techniques to scale product teams – Charlotte King (Lead Product Manager, eBay)
As startups grow, product teams often find themselves caught between speed and structure. In this episode of The Product Experience, Charlotte King, Lead Product Manager at eBay, shares practical insights from her work leading teams through this tran...
Source: Mind the Product | 08:07 AM
Design doesn’t have a value problem—it has a translation problem
Here are a few insights from interviews with six design leaders Continue reading on UX Collective »
Source: UX Collective - Medium | 11:07 PM
The ultimate guide to negotiating your comp
Jacob Warwick gives a masterclass on how to negotiate like a top-tier product leader, using a five-part framework that’s helped thousands secure compensation packages 2-4x above the posted range. In this episode, you’ll learn: • Why negot...
Source: Lenny's Newsletter | 09:02 AM
Mastering the Human Side of Engineering: Lessons from Apple, Palantir and Slack
Scaling software products has always been incredibly difficult, but it’s especially difficult right now. “The market is tremendously crowded,” says Michael Lopp, an engineering leader at Apple. “I could dream up something ...
Source: First Round Review | 03:13 PM
What you give airtime to will expand
👋 Hey, it’s Wes. Welcome to my weekly newsletter on managing up, leading teams, and standing out as a high performer. For more, check out my intensive course on Executive Communication & Influence for Senior ICs and Manage...
Source: Wes Kao's Newsletter | 12:02 PM
Inside a high velocity sales-assisted GTM motion
I got word that an emerging startup was closing as many as 30 deals per sales rep each month. It’s a purely inbound motion, leading reps to close upwards of $2 million in new business ARR per year – for what’s effectively an SMB or ...
Source: Kyle Poyar’s Growth Unhinged | 10:50 AM
Mobile vs Web Product Management, what’s the difference?
Mobile product management is an area often overlooked in the product space. For those working in the space, growing and launching mobile products requires a different set of challenges and skills. To unpack these, we spoke with Shir Inbal, Senior Pro...
Source: Mind the Product | 09:00 AM
Build Like a Product Manager, Think Like a General Manager
It's happening to product managers everywhere—in-place "promotions" from a product manager to a general manager. An in-place "promotion" strikes in a leadership vacuum. Your direct manager has to handle something important, and you need to do y...
Source: Product Management IRL | 10:43 PM
Never Search Alone: Review from the Author
Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube. Brought to you by: • Linear: Plan and build products like the best • Maven: I’ve just launched my unique curation of their top courses • Amplitude: Try their 2-min assessment of your company’s d...
Source: Product Growth | 07:02 PM
The 14 Most Important Product Manager Skills in 2025
The expectations and demands that Product Managers need to meet are always changing. What made a PM good 10 years ago certainly doesn’t make them good today. The most sought-after Product Management skills are in constant flux, and each year, a new c...
Source: Product Management Blogs and Articles | ProdPad | 04:00 PM
The ultimate guide to negotiating your comp
👋 Welcome to a 🔒 subscriber-only edition 🔒 of my weekly newsletter. Each week I tackle reader questions about building product, driving growth, and accelerating your career. For more: Lenny’s Podcast | How I AI...
Source: Lenny's Newsletter | 12:03 PM
How To Drive Exceptional Performance With Exceptions
I attended a large portion of elementary school in China before the 2000s, where strict rules controlled every aspect of daily life. I often wanted to be the exception in the classroom. Could we do gym class indoors when it was raining? Could we leav...
Source: The Uncommon Executive | 01:14 PM
9 Best Product Management Podcasts You Need to Be Listening to in 2025
We’re very lucky as Product Managers to have so many amazing voices and resources to lean on when we need to learn something. There are countless Product Leaders in the industry worth listening to, offering actionable advice through newsletters, blog...
Source: Product Management Blogs and Articles | ProdPad | 01:00 PM
Product in Practice: Transitioning Customers to a New API
Continuous discovery is for everyone. You don’t have to be building a consumer-facing app or website to enjoy the benefits of this way of working. But we understand there’s reluctance about adopting discovery outside of traditional business to consum...
Source: Product Talk | 01:00 PM
Public company comparables.
A few years ago I wrote about reading a Profit & Loss statement, which is a foundational executive skill. I also subsequently wrote about ways to measure your engineering organization. Despite having written those, I still spend a lot of time won...
Source: Irrational Exuberance | 02:00 PM
Product Pitch to Sales Play - follow up story
What happened after writing a recent Product Management IRL article? These insights are for premium subscribers to Product Management IRL. This week’s backstory is about making a sales playbook: What Prompted This Article? I work on a multi-pro...
Source: Product Management IRL | 11:17 PM
6 transferable skills to break into product management
Product management is now one of the most sought-after careers across the world. It offers a unique and creative opportunity to develop a compelling product strategy and vision, inspire cross-functional teams, and uncover viable solutions that ...
Source: Product-Led Alliance | Product-Led Growth | 02:00 PM