Without a Roadmap

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Aggelos Mouzakitis to the show! Aggelos is one of the few -so called- Customer-led Growth Product Managers, who has worked with more than 100 SaaS companies, and trained thousands through his physical and online courses.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Rachel Decker to the show! Rachel is a Senior PM at Vendr, and has previously worked at companies like ezCater and Hubspot. With a background and passion for UX research and design, Rachel brings a unique perspective to the world of product.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Cassidy Fein to the show! Cassidy is the Director of Product for Organizations at Vimeo, an instructor at Mind the Product, and has over ten years of B2B product experience. She loves empowering people through technology and solving hard problems for real human beings.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Christina Tong to the show! Christina is a Senior PM at Peloton, who previously spent 4 years as a Google product manager leading launches across the Maps, Augmented Reality, and Shopping teams. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of AsylumConnect and is passionate about growing inclusive and scalable product teams.*Christina's views are her own and not those of any past or current employers.*

Take our survey!Cam and Yonas are taking this week off to load up on turkey and mashed potatoes, and we figured we'd take this time to turn the mic towards you. Got a topic you've always wanted to hear us cover? A guest you've wanted us to speak with? Some pet peeve about us that you're desperate to get off your chest? We want it all! The survey will take you less than a minute, you can answer as many or as few questions as you'd like, and you'll get to have a say in the future of the podcast!You can take the survey here, or feel free to send any additional comments to our producer at casey@parlor.io.Happy Thanksgiving!

Cam and Yonas welcome Kim Beinborn to the show this week! Kim is the Head of Customer Success at Slack, and has previously worked at companies like LinkedIn, BuiltIn Chicago, and GE. After beginning her career in talent acquisition, Kim transitioned into the CS space and has been curating excellent customer experiences ever since.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Stephen Boak, VP of Product Design at Datadog, to the show! Stephen's winding career through architecture, devtools, and design has led him to the San Francisco tech scene where he is helping to build the product design team at one of the fastest growing startups in the country.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Ronni Gaun to the podcast! Ronni is an Enterprise CSM at Zoom who has built her career in Customer Success around the idea of human to human connection. She's the co-founder of two different organizations, CS Ladies and The Innovation Inquirers, and is passionate about curating the best experience possible for customers and developing lifelong relationships

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Tara Shipp to the show! Tara is a digital product designer at Pura, and has previously worked at companies like Purple, and Pluralsight. She is passionate about implementing ethical human centered design and has spent the past few years sharpening her UX design skills.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Bethany Baymore to the show! Bethany is a Program Manager of Customer Experience at Rapid7, and has previously worked at companies like Yesware and Forrester. She is focused on creating the best possible experience for her customers and is helping to expand the Customer Experience team at Rapid7.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Mariah Hay to the show! Mariah is the Chief Experience Officer at Help Scout. As a leader in digital product development and human-centered design, Mariah helps organizations ensure that delivering value to the user is at the center of everything they build.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Kelly Schaefer to the show! Kelly is the Head of Enterprise Product at Stripe. She's previously worked at companies like Google and IDEO, and has spent the past year at Stripe building the enterprise product team up from scratch.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Stacy Justino to the show! Stacy is the Director of Customer Happiness at Wistia, and has been running their support team for the past three years. She's worked her way through the support ranks and has a deep understanding of how to help her customers not just succeed, but excel.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Jill Crawford to the show! Jill is the Senior Director, Customer Development, Retention and Advocacy at Workhuman. With 17 years experience in marketing across many disciplines and a passion for mentoring and team growth; Jill brings a unique flavor to customer development and advocacy marketing.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Mike Lemire to the show! Mike is the VP of Customer Success at Toast, and has previously worked at companies like Notarize, Hubspot, and Yahoo. After starting out in the music industry, he transitioned into account management and eventually customer success, where he's spent the past few years building scalable SaaS teams.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome DeeDee Fallon to the show! Deedee is the Director of Customer Success at Klaviyo, and previously worked at Hubspot. She's been in the Customer Success space for the past eight years and is passionate about driving long term success for her customers.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Geoffrey Arruda to the show! Geoffrey is the Team Manager of Account Management at CarGurus, and oversees five different Team Leads with about 25 individual contributors. He's been at CarGurus for almost 7 years, and has in-depth experience in Customer Success and Client Services.

Cam and Yonas welcome Yoofi to the show this week! Yoofi Quansah is a Software Engineer at InfluxData, and graduated from the University of Southern California with both a Bachelor's and Masters in Computer Science. He previously worked as a software engineer at the shopping platform Honey during their acquisition by PayPal.

Tacita Morway is the VP of Engineering and Product at ActBlue, and has previously worked at companies like Zipcar, Ditto Labs, and Salsify. With an unconventional background taking her everywhere from construction to software development to art school to web design, Tacita brings a unique perspective to the world of tech.

Identifying specific lifecycle stages that a customer goes through during their journey in your product can help both customer success teams and product teams identify areas that need improvement and better understand what resonates with users and what doesn't. Cam and Yonas dive into specific lifecycle stages that can be used to identify these issues and how they can help your team improve the customer experience.

No guest this week, but the guys sit down to give some updates on Parlor and to talk through the product adoption process! From best practices to biggest struggles to what to do even after the initial adoption phase, Cam and Yonas cover everything a product manager needs to know about product adoption.

Maggie Crowley is a Senior Director of Product Management at Drift and the host of their podcast, "Build with Maggie Crowley." After a few years in Consulting, Maggie attended Harvard Business School where she received her MBA and learned about the great world of Product Management. Since then, she's worked her way up the Product career ladder at Boston-based companies like TripAdvisor and Drift. 

Lilli Kulak has been a Senior Data Analyst at GrubHub for over a year now, and she received her Bachelors degree in Mathematics and Economics from Northeastern University. She previously worked at LevelUp, a platform that creates personalized guest experience for restaurants, which was acquired by GrubHub in 2018. She chats with the guys about collaborating cross-functionally as a data analyst, her experience with LevelUp and GrubHub, and best practices when enlisting the help of a data analyst. Check it out!

Stephanie Roulic is the Founder and Lead Organizer of Startup Boston, an organization driven to strengthen the New England startup ecosystem by connecting, educating, and celebrating the people in the tech community. She's also a co-founder of nDash, a CSM at Goldcast, and was named one of Boston Business Journal's Power 50 for 2020.

Cam and Yonas welcome Teri Harwood to the podcast this week! Teri is a proven strategic leader with over a decade of experience in product leadership at companies such as Nike, TabbedOut, and Affinipay. She's currently working as a consultant to provide tech companies with expert product management advice that makes a measured business impact and solves customer needs through a focus on user experience. She chats with the guys about the difference between consulting and in-house product management, what to look for in a product position, and how networking can be the best path to breaking into product. Check it out!

Cam and Yonas welcome Jordan Perry to the podcast this week! Jordan is the Founder & CEO of SimpMe, a digital education platform that provides individuals with helpful analogies to explain complex concepts. He is also an MBA Candidate at the NYU Stern School of Business where he is studying Product Management & Entrepreneurship. He chats with the guys about his MBA experience, what he's learned from starting his own company, and the future of digital learning. Check it out!

Cam and Yonas welcome Ashlee Jeannot to the podcast this week! Ashlee is the founder of letsSTARTtogether LLC and the author of Knowing How to Talk About Race in the Classroom, a guidebook for White educators to develop racial literacy and the tools needed to engage in conversations and discussion centered around race. Ashlee received her M.A. from Tufts University in Diversity and Inclusion Leadership and is currently working at Salsify as their Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Educator. She chats with the guys about the importance of not just diversity but equity in a company culture, her inspiration to join the field, and offers advice on how companies can do better in the fight for equality.

This week's guest may sound a bit familiar to our loyal listeners- Marc Hurdle is back! Your favorite product manager from Indiegogo rejoins Cam and Yonas to discuss imposter syndrome within Silicon Valley tech, diverse hiring, and a company's political/social justice responsibility.

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Ekow Essel to the podcast! Ekow began his product journey at financial firms like American Express and Goldman Sachs. Following a recent stint in the Silicon Valley big tech scene, he found his way back East at the New York media company, Endeavor, where he's currently a Product Lead. He chats with the guys about how his education at MIT and Tufts University helps him in product, and the differences between product management in both startups and large companies.

As product folks, we're always figuring it out as we go, and the only way to do that is to learn and reflect, which is exactly what today's episode is about! Cam and Yonas take some time to look back on the Customer Success 101 series they just wrapped up to pull out some key insights and learnings to bring with them going forward as product managers.

As we get back into the swing of things in the New Year, Cam and Yonas take a moment to reflect on the past year and focus on their goals and resolutions coming up, particularly as product managers at a small tech startup.What are some of your goals for this year? What are you planning to do for your career? Let us know!

It is officially the holiday season, and that means (unfortunately) no new Without a Roadmap episode this week. But Cam and Yonas wanted to hop on real quick to wish everyone a happy and safe holiday and to revisit an old podcast episode! With COVID-19 and everything happening in the world, responsibilities and priorities at a small tech startup are constantly shifting, and even since we released this episode in July, things at Parlor have changed a lot. So it's always important to be ready for any challenge that comes your way and to prepare for any situation!Cam and Yonas will be taking next week off for the holidays as well, but they'll be back in 2021 with a brand new series that focuses on the ins and outs of the product lifecycle and all things product management. So with that, leave us a review or a comment, subscribe to the podcast, and have a happy holiday season!

This episode officially marks the end of the Customer Success 101 series (brb, holding back the tears), but we're closing it out with a very special guest. Elizabeth Bukys joins the boys this week to share her perspective as Head of Customer Success at Flatfile! Elizabeth joined the Flatfile team after spending some time as a Technical Account Manager, and gives us her definition of customer success, the overlap it has with product, and why it's never too early to start up a customer success team.With the closing of our newest series, we want to hear what you think! Leave us a review, share it with your friends, give us a follow on LinkedIn or Twitter (we follow back!) Did you like the series? What would you want to see Cam and Yonas cover next?

This week on CS101, Lauren Franklin joins the boys to talk all things customer success! A Senior Customer Engagement Manager at Uplevel, Lauren chats with the boys about everything from the importance of customer engagement to the overlap with product management.

CS101 is back baby, and if our guest sounds a little bit familiar to you, it's because we had our first return on the podcast! John Papale, CSM at Zappi, joins Cam and Yonas once again, this time to talk all things customer success. After hearing from some high level CS folks, it's time to hear from the frontline workers, the people working with the customers day in and day out and hear their perspective. JP and the guys cover everything from daily responsibilities to best practices for CSMs and how Product Managers can work with them to create a better product.

Well folks, if you live in America, then you know it's the week of Thanksgiving, so unfortunately that means no new episode this week. Cam and Yonas jump on the podcast (along with producer of the show, Casey Paxton) to wish you all a happy (and safe!) Thanksgiving, and to let you know that we'll be back next week with an all new episode of everyone's favorite series, CS 101!

Episode 2 of Customer Success 101 is here! Erica Ayotte, VP of Customer Success at Privy, joins Cam and Yonas this week to discuss the relationship between product and customer success, and how miscommunication can lead to misalignment.

Director of Customer Success at LinkSquares, Nikki Oliveri, join Cam and Yonas as they kick off a new series this week! Welcome to Customer Success 101, where we'll be bringing on different Customer Success leaders to walk our favorite product managers through their processes, what it's like working in CS, and what they want product folks to know about customer success.

Well folks, all good things must come to an end, even this series. In their last myth-bustin' episode, Cam and Yonas cover three more common misconceptions about product management, and share their experiences about what's actually true. But worry not- your favorite product managers will be back with a brand new series, which will focus on the turbulent, exciting, and often misunderstood relationship between product management and customer success. What do you think? Be sure to let us know in the comments, reviews, or shoot us an email and tell us your thoughts about the new series!

We're here with part three of our myth-bustin' series! This week, Cam and Yonas cover three common misconceptions: 1. Assuming that product managers are essentially just UX designers or marketers. 2. Product management requires a lot of technical knowledge. 3. You have to be a specific type of product person in order to succeed.What do you think? Agree? Disagree? Have your own product myths you've heard? Let us know- we'd love to hear from you!

We're back with Episode Two of our Product MythBusting series! Cam and Yonas spend today chatting through misconceptions they've heard about the day to day responsibilities of a product manager (there seem to be a fair amount- does anyone really know what a product manager does?!) So what do you think? Agree? Disagree? Heard any product myths of your own? Feel free to let us know in the comments and shoot us an email! We'd love to hear from you.

And we're back with a brand new series! Cam and Yonas will spend the next few episodes dispelling different myths and misconceptions about product management. In this episode, they cover myths related to the responsibilities of Product Managers, including: 1. Product Managers are mini-CEO's. 2. Product Managers are the sole decision makers. 3. Product Managers are the same as Project Managers.Come back next week for more product myth-busting! And be sure to leave a comment below and let us know what you think of the new series and if you've heard of any other product management myths.

To celebrate their one year anniversary at Parlor, Cam and Yonas take a look back at where Parlor started and how we got to where we are today. Plus, they discuss their plans for a brand new series on the podcast, so be on the look out for some exciting news!

Requirements gathering is a process that every product manager will go through at some point when preparing for a new feature release, and there's almost countless ways to go about it. Cam and Yonas walk through the steps of one specific process this week (https://toolkit.mozilla.org/method/feature-ideation/), and talk through its pros and cons.

With every product roadmap, you'll eventually reach a crossroad; do you work on the item that will help your product grow, or do you work on the item that will improve existing functionality? Cam and Yonas continue their conversation on prioritization this week, and debate the merits of product improvements and product growth.

This week on the podcast, Cam and Yonas welcome Ethan Kopit, a Product Manager at Hubspot! Ethan chats with the guys about his journey into product, and what it was like joining Hubspot as a PM after starting his own company.

If you google "Roadmap Prioritization Methods", you'll get hundreds of frameworks and methodologies that claim to be the best. And while some of these can be super helpful, it can be really difficult to decide what works best for your company and what's the right way to go. Cam and Yonas chat on the podcast this week about the struggles of deciding what to prioritize next, and what has worked best for them in the past.

This week on the podcast, Cam and Yonas take some time to talk through all the changes that Parlor has gone through during quarantine and how it's affected their daily worklife. As Product Managers, you have to be able to tackle whatever challenge comes your way, so Cam and Yonas talk about their experience with new responsibilities and changing roles within the company.

This week on the podcast, Cam and Yonas welcome Anna Eaglin to the show! Anna works at Innovatemap as a Principal Product Owner, and she chats with the boys about her transition into product from UX, the ins and outs of product at Innovatemap, and what it's like being the host of the Better Product Podcast!

This week, Cam and Yonas welcome Andrew Capland to the podcast! Andrew is the Head of Growth over at PostScript, and he chats with the guys about what the term 'growth' even means and how it often overlaps with the goals of product folks.

Cam and Yonas welcome Joel Alonzo to the podcast this week! Joel is a Senior PM at Dell Boomi, and he chats with the guys about his journey into product, what qualities actually make you a good PM, and the differences in working in product at startups versus enterprise level companies (PS, don't forget to wish Joel a happy birthday!).