Lenny’s Podcast: Product | Growth | Career
Technology
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Geoff Charles is VP of Product at Ramp—the fastest-growing SaaS startup of all time, Fast Company’s #1 Most Innovative Company in North America, and a company I believe we should all study for how they operate, execute, and hire. At Ramp, Geoff has led the product team from the early days, including the development and release of 60+ products and features in the past year alone. He has been building financial services for over a decade, and his interview in Lenny’s Newsletter quickly became one of the most widely read newsletter issues of all time. In today’s podcast, we will discuss:
• How velocity is at the heart of Ramp’s culture and success
• How writing can unlock clarity, creativity, and rapid problem-solving
• How to empower your product team through context sharing
• How to practically approach problems from first principles
• How Ramp approaches hiring in a unique way
• Suggestions for breaking into the world of product management
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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/velocity-over-everything-how-ramp-became-the-fastest-growing-saas-startup-of-all-time-geoff-charl/#transcript
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Where to find Geoff Charles:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/geoffintech
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrey-charles/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Geoff’s background
(04:49) An overview of Ramp
(06:20) The importance of velocity at Ramp
(08:50) Single-threaded goals and how to keep teams away from distractions
(13:20) Setting lofty goals
(15:17) How Ramp empowers teams
(17:37) How Geoff’s management style has evolved at Ramp
(19:55) The product design process at Ramp
(21:19) Ramp’s system for sharing feedback
(23:07) How Ramp handles bug fixes
(24:15) Advice for PMs who want to move faster
(29:29) Why velocity and impact can help protect against burnout
(32:33) Planning vs. doing
(37:54) Ramp’s strategy documents
(40:55) Finding your unique positioning
(42:46) OKRs
(44:53) The importance of first-principle thinking
(48:53) How to use writing to think through problems
(51:46) How Geoff carves out time for deep work
(54:05) How Geoff manages tasks and stays organized
(57:15) Why other roles share the PM load at Ramp
(1:00:30) PM responsibilities at Ramp
(1:01:46) Identifying A+ talent
(1:06:02) The skills Ramp looks for when hiring
(1:07:33) Advice for people wanting to break into product management
(1:10:37) Lightning round
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Referenced:
• How Ramp builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-ramp-builds-product
• Bill: https://www.bill.com/
• Expensify: https://www.expensify.com/
• Concur: https://www.concur.com/
• Coupa: https://www.coupa.com/
• Nicole Forsgren on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-to-measure-and-improve-developer-productivity-nicole-forsgren-microsoft-research-github-goo/
• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/
• Getting Things Done: https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0143126563
• When Breath Becomes Air: https://www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Becomes-Paul-Kalanithi/dp/081298840X
• The Bear on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/the-bear-05eb6a8e-90ed-4947-8c0b-e6536cbddd5f
• Whoop: https://www.whoop.com/
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
The things engineers are desperate for PMs to understand | Camille Fournier (author of “The Manager’s Path,” ex-CTO at Rent the Runway)
Land your dream job in today’s market: negotiation tactics, job search councils, and more | Phyl Terry (Author, “Never Search Alone”)
How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn)
The original growth hacker reveals his secrets | Sean Ellis (author of “Hacking Growth”)
Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product)
How to consistently go viral: Nikita Bier’s playbook for winning at consumer apps (co-founder of TBH, Gas, advisor, investor)
Succeeding as an introvert, building zero-to-one, and why you should PM your career like you PM your product | Deb Liu (CEO of Ancestry, ex-Facebook, PayPal, eBay)
Unorthodox PM wisdom: Automating user insights, unselling job candidates, logging every decision, more | Kevin Yien (Stripe, Square, Mutiny)
Improve strategy, influence, and decision-making by understanding your brain | Evan LaPointe (founder of CORE Sciences)
How embracing emotions will accelerate your career | Joe Hudson (executive coach, Art of Accomplishment)
Lessons from scaling Uber and Opendoor | Brian Tolkin (Head of Product at Opendoor, ex-Uber)
The ultimate guide to performance marketing | Timothy Davis (Shopify)
5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)
What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)
Building a world-class data org | Jessica Lachs (VP of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash)
Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)
Pattern Breakers: How to find a breakthrough startup idea | Mike Maples, Jr. (Founding Partner at Floodgate, ex-Product at Silicon Graphics)
Dylan Field live at Config: Intuition, simplicity, and the future of design
The social radar: Y Combinator’s secret weapon | Jessica Livingston (co-founder of Y Combinator, author, podcast host)
Making an impact through authenticity and curiosity | Ami Vora (CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG)
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