Brought to you by: • BuildBetter—AI for product teams — Kevin Yien leads product for merchant experiences at Stripe. Before that, he meandered his way from being a technical designer to a product manager, built the restaurants business and ecosystem team at Square, and most recently was head of product and design at Mutiny. He also makes ice cream and teaches for fun. In our conversation, we discuss:
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube. Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unorthodox-pm-wisdom-kevin-yien Some takeaways:
Where to find Kevin Yien: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinyien/ • Website: https://kevinyien.com/ In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Kevin’s background (02:00) The story behind Kevin’s profile picture (08:41) The role of a product manager (10:48) Getting started in product management (12:47) The importance of writing skills (15:06) Becoming a better writer (19:10) The PM’s role with engineering and design (28:41) Drawing the perimeter for your team (31:37) Feedback tips (35:13) Decision logs and product sense (45:36) Unorthodox hiring strategies (47:01) The unsell email strategy (54:01) Automating user research (01:02:27) AI in everyday life (01:06:05) Lessons from failure (01:14:34) Lightning round Referenced: • Chris Dixon’s website: https://cdixon.org/ • Stripe: https://stripe.com/ • Twilio: https://pages.twilio.com/ • Figma: https://www.figma.com/ • Paul Graham’s website: https://www.paulgraham.com/ • Joan Didion quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/264509-i-don-t-know-what-i-think-until-i-write-it • Anthony Bourdain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_Bourdain • Write Simply: https://paulgraham.com/simply.html • How to Write Usefully: https://paulgraham.com/useful.html • Write Like You Talk: https://paulgraham.com/talk.html • Several Short Sentences About Writing: https://www.amazon.com/Several-Short-Sentences-About-Writing/dp/0307279413 • Bruce Bell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brucebell/ • Square: https://squareup.com/ • Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-product-at-stripe-jeff-weinstein • Jaleh Rezaei on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jalehr/ • Mutiny: https://www.mutinyhq.com/ • Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, the three levels of product work, why most execution problems are strategy problems, and ROI vs. opportunity cost thinking: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/episode-3-shreyas-doshi • LNO framework: https://x.com/shreyas/status/1492345184171945984 • Bending the universe in your favor | Claire Vo (LaunchDarkly, Color, Optimizely, ChatPRD): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/bending-the-universe-in-your-favor • Shopify: https://www.shopify.com/ • Life Inside One Big Text File: https://www.43folders.com/2005/08/17/life-inside-one-big-text-file • The Unsell Email: https://kevinyien.com/blog/unsell.html • Zappy: https://zapier.com/zappy • Bethany Hills on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethany-hills/ • Teresa Torres on how to interview customers, automating continuous discovery, the opportunity solution tree framework, making the case for user research, common interviewing mistakes, and much more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/teresa-torres-on-how-to-interview • Patrick Collison’s website: https://patrickcollison.com/ • Midjourney: https://www.midjourney.com/home • The Courage to Be Disliked: The Japanese Phenomenon That Shows You How to Change Your Life and Achieve Real Happiness: https://www.amazon.com/Courage-Be-Disliked-Phenomenon-Happiness/dp/1668065967 • What to Know About Adlerian Theory: https://www.verywellmind.com/alderian-theory-definition-techniques-and-efficacy-5213796 • Jungian psychology: https://www.routledge.com/blog/article/what-is-jungian-psychology • The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories: https://www.amazon.com/Paper-Menagerie-Other-Stories/dp/148142436X • Sean Rose on X: https://x.com/seanrose • The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f • Physical: 100 on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81587446 • Magnetic trays: https://www.amazon.com/VASTOOLS-Magnetic-Holder-Stainless-Socket/dp/B07MSH6K86 • Circuit app: https://mahanti.co/circuit/ • Joey Chestnut’s website: https://www.joeychestnut.com/ • Manny’s Steakhouse: https://mannyssteakhouse.com/ Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed. You're currently a free subscriber to Lenny's Newsletter. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription. |
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Unorthodox PM wisdom: Automating user insights, unselling job candidates, logging every decision, more | Kevin Yie…
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