Rocketship.fm

In our final episode of the product series we explore what it really means to be a product-driven company. More than anything, it's an exercise in restraint. Don't just build because you can, or because technology allows, but because you're advancing a larger vision. Laura Roeder of Edgar shares just what that means for their company, and how it's helped them follow a guiding light to success.

Ryan Singer the Product Manager at Basecamp, talks with us today about what the process looked like when designing and then releasing the newest version of Basecamp. He talks about how he used the JTBD framework to establish clarity when deciding the core mechanics of his product, and how using that framework enabled him to bring focus to the product launch.

In the fourth episode of our product series we bring you the story of eBay and Amazon in the early 2000s, and how their fierce competition for market share came down to two different, specific product approaches. It's a great story that few know, with some key lessons baked in. We'll also share something that Jeff Bezos does to this day to ensure the customer is always represented in product meetings.

Benjamin Gilbert Co-Founder of Pioneer Square Labs, talks with us about what it is like to be apart of a company that constantly creates, tweaks, and publishes products. He digs into the process of building his products and how using customer feedback, working with a great team, and how being willing to experiment with products can lead to new and successful ventures.

In this third episode of our Product series, Ben Foster and Bob Moesta share stories and insights about how the key to gathering customer feedback is through the deeper, often unstudied observations. Leslie Bradshaw then joins in with the idea it's never too early to start testing a new product, we just have to be willing to put it to paper. Then Ben Foster closes the interview with a story about how a company was able to pull data from bike thieves in a creative way, and how the company used that data to create the ideal product.

Bob Moesta President of The ReWired Group and one of the architect's of the JTBD framework, talks with us about how the Job's To Be Done framework was developed, and how he has used it throughout his work to be successful. Bob then shares with us from his deep knowledge of product marketing, and how asking the right questions can lead you to the perfect solution to a customer's problem.

In this second episode of the Product series, we dive into some practical examples of the Job's To Be Done (JTBD) framework. With Eric White we look into how Bob Moesta was able to transform the selling ability of condominiums. We then take a look at how Clay Christensen used the JTBD framework to find the job that needs to be done with a milkshake. From there we finish off the episode with Alan Klement talking about how Dan Martell used the JTBD framework to find a need, and then fulfill it inside of the Startup world. Links: (Jobs to be done) http://www.jobstobedone.org (JTBD on Medium) https://jtbd.info/ (Bob Moesta) https://twitter.com/bmoesta (Eric White)https://twitter.com/ericmwhite (Clayton Christensen) https://twitter.com/claychristensen (Dan Martel Episode) http://rocketship.fm/episodes/ep-101-dan-martell/ (Alan Klement) https://twitter.com/alanklement (Clarity) https://clarity.fm/ (Brand Bucket) http://brandbucket.com/rocketship (ChargeBee) http://chargbee.com/rocketship

John Vars a project manager at TaskRabbit, talks with us about he has was able to come into a relatively new company and create a structure to achieve higher results. He shares some tools that he uses to keep things organized and on track such as the OKR system, Goal Matrixs, SMRIs, and Sequencing. John also talks about some recent changes he oversaw at TaskRabbit, and how ultimately a project manager is someone with a broad skill set that is able to connect each department to the overall vision.

In this first episode of our Product series we track the start, evolution and explosion of growth that occurred in the baseball cap industry. We look at how a few key people and decisions caused a once non-existent product to bloom into a two billion dollar market. We then segue from a highly successful product, to a highly successful product manager, Ben Foster. Ben defines what makes a project manager crucial and effective, and what the difference between a good and great product manager is.

George Santino musician and author of Get Back Up: From the Streets to Microsoft Suites, shares with us his story and how he used his street smarts and hard work to maneuver through multiple career changes to eventually end up as a Microsoft partner. George pulls from his experiences at Microsoft to give us keys on: leadership, management, feedback, and creating new opportunities, all from the perspective of having been inside one of the world's leading technology company.

Raghav Bahl, Co-Founder of Quintype and The Quint, talks with us about how he launched himself into the TV and Media market which made him a crucial part in bringing in multiple networks such as CNBC to India. He then discusses four keys on how to establish good partnerships: trust, transparency, flexibility, and being able to see from the other person's point of view. He then wraps it up by talking about what inspired his latest SaaS venture Quintype, and how he was able to pivot by leveraging connections from his other businesses.

Eliot Peper author of Neon Fever Dream and Cumulus, talks with us about how we are signing over our data in exchange for free services, and what questions we should be asking before signing the dotted line. Eliot also compares his fiction book Cumulus to the world around him, and how very much of the systems that tore down his fictious society are already in place within our own world.

In this final episode, we summarize how big companies are using our data as a new currency. With companies such as Google and Facebook we are trading our data in exchange for the benefits of their product. Is the solution to stop giving big companies our information, or is it about recognizing how companies are using our data and making a conscience decision of what information we give away? We tackle these questions and more on this week's episode.

JR Little, author of Listening Brands, and is the Global Head of Innovation at Carat, talks with us about how brands can leverage social data to increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. He also shares the importance of using data points to see the trends and commonalities of how people relate to your brand, which in turn will give you a stronger competitive advantage.

In this fifth episode of the data series we look into some examples of companies using big data in unique ways. Yelp is using modern search terms to find the perfect restaurant, businesses are changing their marketing depending on the current weather, Google tracks their employee's patterns to see if they are thinking about quitting, and Joel Selanikio discusses about using big data to transform global health policy.