Product Mindset

In this Focus Forty episode I speak with Jackie Bavaro, Head of PM at Asana, about Leading without Authority, success and more. The one thing we, as product makers, most often ignore is the relationships with our team members, customers and other stakeholders. Secondly, we miss the fact that a lot of our success needs […]The post Why Leading Without Authority Can Help You Succeed? appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode I speak with Amy Jo Kim, world-renowned social game designer, community architect & startup coach about gamification, game thinking and mistakes startups make. She specifically talks about a reason why we see so many failed products in the market. Many companies use “game”in their products. The word we hear a […]The post One Big Reason Behind So Many Failed Products appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode I speak with Amy Jo Kim, world-renowned social game designer, community architect & startup coach about community building and why it should play a bigger and central role in what we create. Communities are a core aspect of the human race, and have played a key role on the internet […]The post Why Community Building Should Be Central To Your Product Strategy? appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Peter Merholz, the co-founder of Adaptive Path. He talks about design leadership and the evolution of design. Design Leadership is growing in organizations that were once never aware of the role of design. This growth also triggers a lot of questions with respect to what it means […]The post How Design Leadership Is Creating Organizations of the Future? appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Peter Merholz, the co-founder of Adaptive Path. I deconstruct his thinking on user centered vs service design, get him to share his biggest learnings and more. The field of design has changed a lot in the last two decades. User centered design is no longer unorthodox. That […]The post Why Service Design Is The New Unorthodox? appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with John Cutler, Senior Product Manager at Zendesk about feature factory, transparency and the role of a Product Manager. There are various skills, techniques and hacks that we need to be good at as product makers. In this episode, I try to understand the top 3 areas that […]The post Busy Creating Inside a Secret Room In Your Basement? Here Are 3 Tips.. appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with John Cutler, Senior Product Manager at Zendesk about the evolving field of Product Management and the role of customer feedback in a world of service touchpoints. Product Management is rapidly changing. With the notion of Products changing rapidly, there is an imminent need for a fresh new […]The post Product Management Is Touchpoint Management appeared first on .

In this Ground Zero episode, I speak with Shay Howe, co-founder of Lead Honestly and a partner at Prota Ventures, co-founder at Chicago Camps about failure and success as a manager and entrepreneur. It's true that as entrepreneurs and makers we get stretched to our limits. The question is not about managing the stretch, but […]The post Why Pay Closer Attention To Failure and Success as a Creator? appeared first on .

In this Ground Zero episode, I speak with Shay Howe, co-founder of Lead Honestly and a partner at Prota Ventures, co-founder at Chicago Camps about building better relationships. No matter how great your products are, if you don't play close attention to your teams, you are staring at a gaping hole. If you are a […]The post Why Should You Focus on Building Better Relationships In Teams? appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with 6 experts about Mastering the Art of Communication, a key Product Mindset topic. I speak with Daniel Zacarias, Kevin Steigerwald, Tristan Kromer, Indi Young, Sarah Doody and Mona Patel. Communication is a key aspect of making products, and yet it is so less talked about. Communication is […]The post DYT 123: Mastering The Art Of Communication appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with 4 Experts about their career success secrets. I speak with Mona Patel, John Vars, Mike Knoop, Kevin Steigerwald who share their successes. Success hacking is a topic everyone is interested in. I speak to four successful people to understand how they think about their success. Here are […]The post DYT 122: 4 Career Success Secrets You Must Know appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Steve Portigal, Principal at Portigal Consulting to talk about the art of listening, user interviews how you should listen to users. Listening is a very important skill for people who serve other people. As product managers and user experience researchers / experts, we are in the job […]The post DYT 121: Master The Art Of Listening | Steve Portigal appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Steve Portigal, Principal at Portigal Consulting to talk about Problem Space vs. Solution Space, UX Muscle and more. Problem Space vs. Solution Space is a topic that every product manager or user-centric product maker comes across every now and then. There is a lot being talked about, […]The post DYT 120: Problem Space vs. Solution Space | Steve Portigal appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with C. Todd Lombardo, Chief Design Strategist at Fresh Tilled Soil about lessons and pitfalls in putting design sprints to action. Design Sprint is a book that C. Todd Lombardo, our guest today, wrote 2 years back (in 2015). The topic of today's episode is however not the […]The post DYT 119: Design Sprints In Action | C. Todd Lombardo appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with C. Todd Lombardo, Chief Design Strategist at Fresh Tilled Soil to understand his journey, success and the role of Process in a Design Sprint. Design Sprint is a book that C. Todd Lombardo, our guest today, wrote 2 years back (in 2015). The topic of today's episode […]The post DYT 118: What's The Role Of Process In A Design Sprint? | C. Todd Lombardo appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Hannah Chaplin, CEO & Co-founder of Receptive, a Product Demand Intelligence for SaaS companies, about transparency and customer feedback. Customer feedback is a very important aspect of any product (or service). That said, the lack of action (or inaction) on customer feedback is one of the most […]The post DYT 117: Are You Being Transparent With Your Customers? | Hannah Chaplin appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Hannah Chaplin, CEO & Co-founder of Receptive, a Product Demand Intelligence for SaaS companies, about data and customer feedback. Customer feedback is a very important aspect of any product (or service). That said, the lack of action (or inaction) on customer feedback is one of the most […]The post DYT 116: How Do You Manage Customer Feedback? | Hannah Chaplin appeared first on .

In this Ground Zero episode, I speak with Saravanakumar CP, co-founder and Business Development Lead at LogBase, to talk about early stage marketing strategies, metrics. Who is Saravana? Saravanakumar CP is the co-founder and business development lead at LogBase, a SaaS product startup. He and his team is working on building a cloud-based Point of […]The post DYT 115: Early Stage Marketing Strategies, Metrics | Saravana SlickPOS appeared first on .

In this first Ground Zero episode, I speak with Saravanakumar CP, co-founder and Business Development Lead at LogBase, a product startup, to talk about how they are actively building a SaaS product, SlickPOS, for less than $4500. Who is Saravana? Saravanakumar CP is the co-founder and business development lead at LogBase, a SaaS product startup. […]The post DYT 114: $4000 Bootstrapped Product Startup | Saravana SlickPOS appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Karen Dillon, former editor of Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, co-author of Wall Street Journal best-seller Competing Against Luck with Clayton Christensen about applying Jobs To Be Done for a great career. Who is Karen Dillon? Karen Dillon is the Co-author of Wall Street Journal best-seller Competing […]The post DYT 113: Great Career is Better than Good Resume | Karen Dillon appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Karen Dillon, former editor of Harvard Business Review, Inc. Magazine, co-author of Wall Street Journal best-seller Competing Against Luck with Clayton Christensen about Product Strategy and Jobs To Be Done. Who is Karen Dillon? Karen Dillon is the Co-author of Wall Street Journal best-seller Competing Against Luck: […]The post DYT 112: Choices You Make and Product Strategy | Karen Dillon appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Kevin Steigerwald, a full-stack product designer, Co-founder and CPO of UseNotion about Product Mindset, Future of Products and more. Who is Kevin Steigerwald? Kevin is a full-stack product designer with over 10 years of experience designing, researching, marketing, planning, and building products. From package design in big-box […]The post DYT 111 : Dear Product Designer – Rebundling Is Here | Kevin Steigerwald appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Kevin Steigerwald, a full-stack product designer, Co-founder and CPO of Notion about his success, productivity and unique points of view of products. Who is Kevin Steigerwald? Kevin is a full-stack product designer with over 10 years of experience designing, researching, marketing, planning, and building products. From package […]The post DYT 110 : Full-stack Product Designer | Kevin Steigerwald appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Kelly Goto, an evangelist for design ethnography and Principal of gotomedia about the Rapid UX Research mindset. Who is Kelly Goto? As an evangelist for design ethnography, Kelly is dedicated to understanding how real people integrate products and services into their daily lives. Kelly is principal of […]The post DYT 109 : Rapid UX Research Mindset | Kelly Goto appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Kelly Goto, an evangelist for design ethnography and Principal of gotomedia about the Design Ethnography mindset. Who is Kelly Goto? As an evangelist for design ethnography, Kelly is dedicated to understanding how real people integrate products and services into their daily lives. Kelly is principal of gotomedia […]The post DYT 108 : Design Ethnography Mindset | Kelly Goto appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 6 principles that ideas need to have in order to be sticky. These are principles that Chip and Dan Heath talk about in their book Made to Stick. What will you learn – Sticky Ideas and more! As product managers, we are constantly engaged with different stakeholders at […]The post DYT 107 : 6 Principles of Sticky Ideas | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Mike Knoop, a co-founder and CPO at Zapier to talk about his interest in doing side-projects and he also talks about hiring product managers in a remote-first company. Who is Mike Knoop? Mike is a co-founder and CPO at Zapier, a 100% remote company that aims to […]The post DYT 106 : Product Managers Are Hole-Fillers | Mike Knoop appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Mike Knoop, a co-founder and CPO at Zapier to understand the learnings from his experience scaling idea and building Zapier. He talks about his success, the birth of an idea, the role of Y Combinator, how he eats his own dog food and more. Who is Mike […]The post DYT 105 : Scaling Idea, Building Zapier | Mike Knoop appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 5 kinds of product roadmaps that you should consider using, if you have to use a roadmap. This is from the book Product Management for Dummies. What will you learn – Product Roadmaps types and more! As product managers, we are constantly communicating with different kinds of ‘stakeholders'. […]The post DYT 104 : 5 Kinds of Product Roadmaps | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Matthew Strom, who is the co-founder of Planetary, a design agency, to talk about the role of tools in shaping company culture and more. Who is Matthew Ström? Matt is a designer and developer. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. He co-founded Planetary four years ago, and […]The post DYT 103 : Role of Tools in Company Culture | Matthew Ström appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Matthew Ström, who is the co-founder of Planetary, a design agency, to talk about his views on success, productivity and tools his distributed design agency use. Who is Matthew Ström? Matt is a designer and developer. He lives in Brooklyn, New York. He co-founded Planetary four years […]The post DYT 102 : Distributed Design Agency Mindset | Matthew Ström appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 5 common product launch mistakes that you should avoid. This is from the book Product Management for Dummies. What will you learn – Common Product Launch Mistakes and more! As product managers, not just make products but are also responsible to ensure the product goes through the motions of […]The post DYT 101 : 5 Common Product Launch Mistakes to Avoid | Karthik appeared first on .

In this episode of Success Factors, I speak with 4 product makers – Jeff Gothelf, the Co-founder of Neo Innovation, Melissa Perri who is the CEO of Produx Labs, Paul Yokota, Director of PM at Animoto and Sarah Doody, a user experience designer & consultant. They share their success secrets and about leading with curiosity. […]The post DYT 100 : Leading with Curiosity & other Success Secrets | Medley appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Mona Patel, the Founder and CEO of Motivate Design on getting customer feedback and hearing NO as YES. Who is Mona Patel? Mona Patel is a dynamic entrepreneur with 17 years experience convincing leaders at some of the world's biggest brands to understand, value and optimize their […]The post DYT 099 : Customer Feedback & Hearing YES when they Say NO | Mona Patel appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 9 ways you can influence people and align them with your thinking. What will you learn – how to Influence People and more! As product makers, we are constantly interacting with people like coworkers, customers, partners and more. The secret to our success as product makers is deeply embedded […]The post DYT 098 : 9 Ways to Influence People as Product Makers | Karthik appeared first on .

In this episode of Success Factors, I speak with 5 successful women – Laura Klein, Kate Rutter, Donna Lichaw, Christina Wodtke & Indi Young to understand what makes them successful as product makers. I ask them one question – “What makes you successful / different as a product maker?”. What will you learn about these successful […]The post DYT 097 : Successful Women in Product & Design | Medley appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Paul Yokota who is the Director of Product Management at Animoto. He talks about his success, the learning mindset and shares some excellent tips for product managers. Who is Paul Yokota? Paul is Director of Product Management at Animoto, a New York City-based startup dedicated to make […]The post DYT 096 : Learning Mindset & Product Management appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 6 ways you can win people and make people ‘like' you and want to work with you or involve themselves in initiatitves you take. What will you learn – how to Win People and more! As product makers, we are constantly interacting with people like coworkers, customers, partners and more. […]The post DYT 095 : 6 Ways to Win People & Make People Like You | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with John Vars, who is currently the Chief Product Officer at Varo Money about listening to customers, soft skills and the pursuit of growth that many startups are on to. Who is John Vars? John Vars is the Chief Product Officer at Varo Money, an all-in-one mobile banking […]The post DYT 094 : Customers, Soft Skills & Pursuit of Growth | John Vars appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with John Vars, who is currently the Chief Product Officer at Varo Money about his journey from an Engineer to Entrepreneur of a Pets Social Network. He talks about his experience starting Dogster and the lessons he learnt. Who is John Vars? John Vars is the Chief Product […]The post DYT 093 : Engineer to Entrepreneur of Pets Social Network | John Vars appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode I talk about the differences between Marketing Research and Design Research. I talk about the similarities and differences and also share a short real-world example. What will you learn – Design Research and more! There is a big difference between designing for the user and designing for the market. In […]The post DYT 092 : Design Research & Marketing Research | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with the CEO of The 280 Group, Brian Lawley, where he talks about biggest mistakes Product Managers make, be a holistic product manager and tips for Product Managers to be successful. Who is Brian Lawley? Brian Lawley is the CEO and Founder of the 280 Group. He is the […]The post DYT 091 : Holistic Product Manager | Brian Lawley appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with the CEO of The 280 Group, Brian Lawley, to understand his journey from a Product Manager to a CEO, people who influenced him and the Product Mindset of a CEO. Who is Brian Lawley? Brian Lawley is the CEO and Founder of the 280 Group. He is […]The post DYT 090 : CEO & the Product Mindset | Brian Lawley appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I talk about 10 productivity hacks that has worked for me in recent times, some suggested by my guests and some I picked from reading books. What will you learn – 10+1 Productivity Hacks! You will learn 10 productivity hacks that I learnt (and relearnt) in the last 3 months. […]The post DYT 089 : 10 Productivity Hacks that Work | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Sarah Doody who is a UX Designer and creator of the UX Notebook to dig deeper into the User Experience Mindset, UX Notebook and future of products, user experience and more. Who is Sarah Doody? Sarah Doody is a user experience designer and product consultant based in […]The post DYT 088 : The User Experience Mindset & UX Notebook | Sarah Doody appeared first on .

In this Focus Forty episode, I speak with Sarah Doody who is a UX Designer and creator of the UX Notebook to explore the Product Mindset and her love for doing side projects. Who is Sarah Doody? Sarah Doody is a user experience designer and product consultant based in New York City. She helps product […]The post DYT 087 : Experiment with Side Projects & Being Fearless | Sarah Doody appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I share 3 characteristics of excellent customer interviews and outline 10 tips to run awesome customer interviews. What will you learn – Run Awesome Customer Interviews and more! You will learn actionable tips to make your customer interviews really productive, insightful and useful. The tips are based on personal experience […]The post DYT 086 : 10 Tips to Run Awesome Customer Interviews | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Dan Olsen, the author of the Lean Product Playbook and a Lean Product Consultant about lack of problem-space thinking, divergent thinking and other mistakes product teams make. Who is Dan Olsen? Dan Olsen is a product management and Lean startup consultant, speaker, and author based in Silicon […]The post DYT 085 : Mistakes Product Teams Make | Dan Olsen appeared first on .

In this Ferris Wheel episode, I speak with Dan Olsen, the author of the Lean Product Playbook and a Lean Product Consultant about his transition into Lean, Product Management, his coaching style and the Lean Product Mindset. Who is Dan Olsen? Dan Olsen is a product management and Lean startup consultant, speaker, and author based […]The post DYT 084 : Lean Product Mindset | Dan Olsen appeared first on .

In this Friday Fifteen episode, I introduce you to the Tiny Book of Triggers, an eBook that is designed for Product Managers and Designers to seek newer areas and skills to learn and stay focused on growing their expertise and careers. What will you learn – Tiny Book of Triggers for Product Managers? You will […]The post DYT 083 : Tiny Book of Triggers for Product Managers and Designers | Karthik appeared first on .

In this Topical Zoom episode, I speak with Patrick McGinnis, an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and the author of The 10% Entrepreneur about how you can go about starting your first side-project and becoming a 10% entrepreneur. Who is Patrick McGinnis? Patrick J. McGinnis is a venture capitalist and private equity investor. At Dirigo Advisors, after […]The post DYT 082 : Become a 10% Entrepreneur Now | Patrick McGinnis appeared first on .