The happiness and pain of product management | Noam Lovinsky (Grammarly, FB, Thumbtack, YT)

Noam Lovinsky has had a distinguished career in product, leaving an indelible mark at Facebook, KZbin, Thumbtack, and currently as the chief product officer at Grammarly. At Facebook, Noam helped establish the New Product Experimentation team; at Thumbtack, he was chief product officer; and at KZbin, he was one of the early product leaders overseeing the consumer experience. In our conversation, we discuss:
• Challenges and lessons from reviving growth at KZbin and Thumbtack
• Lessons from building Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team
• Insights into Grammarly’s success
• Knowing when it’s time to kill your project
• Why diversifying your growth channels is critical
• The power of visioning and storytelling in shaping product strategy
• How to create space for innovation at large companies
• The resilience and motivation of Grammarly’s team in Ukraine
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Find the transcript and references at: www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/th...
Where to find Noam Lovinsky:
• X: / noaml
• LinkedIn: / noaml
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: / lennysan
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Noam’s background
(04:18) Noam’s lack of online presence
(08:06) Lessons from KZbin: advocating for what’s best for yourself and the team
(14:31) Prioritizing what’s best for the business
(19:37) Knowing when it’s time to kill a project
(21:47) Lessons from Thumbtack: diversifying growth channels and overcoming challenges
(26:24) How Thumbtack turned growth around
(31:44) Building Airbnb’s instant booking feature
(35:28) Lessons from Thumbtack: team collaboration and product strategy
(38:38) Lessons from Facebook: building the New Product Experimentation team
(40:43) The importance of starting small and building community density
(46:07) Advice for building a startup within a startup
(48:52) Having an incentive system
(49:34) Lessons from Grammarly: adapting to changing user needs and building for the masses
(54:20) The scrappiness and profitability of Grammarly
(56:56) The resilience and motivation of the Grammarly team in Ukraine
(59:08) General career advice
(01:01:02) When to pull back
(01:02:58) Closing thoughts
(01:03:56) Lightning round
Production and marketing by penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [e-mail].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

[@nurudeenolamide0107]

Incredible discussion I must say...I really learnt a lot on this

[@user-dc3ij7lo9m]

Lot to learn from his experiences! Great episode

[@hamadamek]

Noam mentioned at the end that he had a podcast on hiring leadership. I would love to hear it!! Please share

[@leadgenjay]

A lesser-known tactic is leveraging 'integration marketing', where you integrate your service into existing platforms or ecosystems your target audience already uses, creating a seamless path for user acquisition. It's like finding a side door when the front door is crowded.

[@mPajuhaan]

Your videos are engaging, and I enjoy watching them👍👌. Out of curiosity, a lot of content aligns with Silicon Valley's ecosystem, where many attribute their success to luck and access to resources. Are there any examples of individuals or companies that achieved significant success with extremely limited resources and access? If so, please consider interviewing them.

[@farhanishrakfahim4266]

If I found any statement interesting, may I post it to social media? Do not worry. I would not post it as I am saying. I would post like you have said in the video. I may slidely edit the statement but rest assure that I would not change the main message. The main message will be same.

[@zerodiscount8812]

Grammarly is one of the only things blocked by my employer’s IT. And that should tell you something.

[@olemew]

Why?

[@saadatkhan9583]

I'm 41 minutes in, and I am very disappointed. Why focus on the orgs he worked in, and not ask about how he thinks about building products that customers will.pay.for, what are his key questions, etc. If he was to.work for a brand new company, how would he go about building killer features.

[@olemew]

Not everything is about "killer features". There's a lot to be said about who gets involved in Product strategy, how to coordinate the C suite, how to diversify growth channels, how to set up discovery teams for success, etc. He gave lots of insights that he himself would apply in his next role, so that should answer your "future vs past" complaint.

[@whattimeisitnow124]

Grammarly is a joke

[@sathwikdhanya5400]

True, use grammarly once it will show your English is bigger joke

[@Void-fg2hl]

😂