Merci Grace

Activation metrics should be derived from data analysis and represent the minimum threshold where the product's core value is realized.

"We had a activation metric that we got to through some initial regression analysis, and then we tested the hypotheses that we developed from that regression analysis and made it into the product. And..."

Growth strategies should focus on empowering 'social' personas who are naturally inclined to invite others.

"It's a lot easier to get someone to send more invites than it is to get someone who's a little shy to even send one. So I thought it was much easier to get those people to share the product with bigge..."

Don't let the feedback of non-sharers prevent you from placing invite prompts where social users can find them.

"You need to have invites early and often so that you catch people who want to share it, are social people. And then for the people who would never participate in that, they can ignore it or skip it. B..."

Conversion timing is often driven by the customer's internal business cycle rather than the length of a trial.

"For every week that you continue to let people use it, you get incrementally more people who do convert because their timing on buying your product has nothing to do with your schedule or how quickly..."

The guest provides extensive, specific advice on designing product onboarding, drawing from game design principles, and critiques common mistakes like using carousels or non-native frameworks.

"My thoughts and feelings about onboarding really go back to my experience designing games where I would design the game from the onboarding experience."

Work samples are the most effective way to evaluate a candidate's problem-solving, technical intuition, and communication skills.

"For a standard PM role, I always make people do work... I really use that as a way to see into how someone thinks, the quality of the solutions that they bring, how they communicate. There's just so m..."

In narrative-driven cultures, a candidate's ability to frame data within a compelling story is as important as their analytical skills.

"Whether someone was able to tell a compelling story was huge, especially at Slack, which was a very product-driven company, a very narrative-driven company. If you were going to present data, it neede..."

A clear, shared understanding of the product's core purpose (e.g., 'a tool for work') simplifies complex decision-making across the team.

"One of the best things, honestly, that the early founding team at Slack did and were able to give to those of us who followed them was the understanding that this is a tool for work. And that made tho..."

Early diversity creates a flywheel effect that makes the company more attractive to all underrepresented groups.

"It's one thing to have a team of all white men, but if you have two African American people in your first 20 people, you could have a lot more diversity and not even amongst just that one group. Women..."

Great leadership and fundraising are often driven more by the founder's ability to command a room and tell a story than by business fundamentals alone.

"I think one of the things that is quite obvious from the get-go... is how different really great CEOs and startup leaders are at storytelling, at coming up with a pithy answer, at owning the room. The..."

Hook your audience immediately by starting your narrative at the climax or the most exciting part of the business.

"Every pitch should start in the middle of the action, like a thriller or like a drama, like Mission Impossible movies always start with Tom cruise doing some crazy shit in the middle of the job right..."

Lead with your most unique insight or competitive advantage to ensure investors don't tune out.

"If you are going to say that you're the only founder that could start this company, or you have this really unique insight, start there. Even though it feels like you haven't built up to it yet, or an..."

Regular, direct observation of users signing up for the product is essential to maintain empathy and identify friction.

"Once a month, ideally, you should just have some sort of a schedule for yourself where if you're at a larger company and you have a user researcher who can recruit people for you, that's great, but if..."

Hire your first salesperson when founder capacity is reached or when the target customer segment requires a human touch to close deals.

"The point at which you should start to hire someone else to do that is when you, as the founder, absolutely cannot meet the demand... And then the other time to do that, apart from just being maxed ou..."