Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)

2023-06-18 · 75 min · 31 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ references Radical Candor Revised Kick Ass Humanity book

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375
→ references Leaders Eat Last Together Others book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591848016/r
→ references Untethered Soul Journey Beyond Yourself book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379
→ references Lean Women Work Will Lead book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947
→ references Four Agreements Practical Personal Freedom book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
→ hosted by Lenny Rachitsky person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Lenny Rachitsky
→ discusses Technology company

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology
→ discusses Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
→ discusses Entrepreneurship concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Entrepreneurship
→ references penname.co website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://penname.co/
→ references chat.openai.com website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://chat.openai.com/
→ references Glossary website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://productplan.com/glossary/daci
→ references webflow.com website

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evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://webflow.com/
→ references How To Monetize A Freemium Business website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://ycombinator.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-freemium-business
→ references Winning Time The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://hbo.com/winning-time-the-rise-of-the-lakers-dynasty

Entities found in this episode

websites 12

mentioned penname.co website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://penname.co/
mentioned chat.openai.com website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://chat.openai.com/
mentioned Glossary website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://productplan.com/glossary/daci
mentioned webflow.com website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://webflow.com/
mentioned How To Monetize A Freemium Business website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://ycombinator.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-freemium-business
mentioned Winning Time The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://hbo.com/winning-time-the-rise-of-the-lakers-dynasty
references penname.co website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://penname.co/
references chat.openai.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://chat.openai.com/
references Glossary website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://productplan.com/glossary/daci
references webflow.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://webflow.com/
references How To Monetize A Freemium Business website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://ycombinator.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-freemium-business
references Winning Time The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://hbo.com/winning-time-the-rise-of-the-lakers-dynasty

books 10

mentioned Radical Candor Revised Kick Ass Humanity book

0.90

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375
mentioned Leaders Eat Last Together Others book

0.90

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591848016/r
mentioned Untethered Soul Journey Beyond Yourself book

0.90

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379
mentioned Lean Women Work Will Lead book

0.90

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947
mentioned Four Agreements Practical Personal Freedom book

0.90

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319
references Radical Candor Revised Kick Ass Humanity book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375
references Leaders Eat Last Together Others book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591848016/r
references Untethered Soul Journey Beyond Yourself book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379
references Lean Women Work Will Lead book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947
references Four Agreements Practical Personal Freedom book

0.77

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)": https://amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319

concepts 5

mentioned Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
mentioned Entrepreneurship concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Entrepreneurship
mentioned Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva concept

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evidence rules-v4
Building high-performing teams | Melissa Tan (Webflow, Dropbox, Canva)
discusses Business concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
discusses Entrepreneurship concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Entrepreneurship

persons 2

mentioned Lenny Rachitsky person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Lenny Rachitsky
hosted by Lenny Rachitsky person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Lenny Rachitsky

companys 2

mentioned Technology company

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology
discusses Technology company

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology

Episode description as stored

Brought to you by AssemblyAI —Production-ready AI models to transcribe and understand speech | Mixpanel —Product analytics that everyone can trust, use, and afford | Eppo —Run reliable, impactful experiments — Melissa Tan is an advisor, investor, and growth expert. She’s worked with fast-growing startups like Dropbox, Canva, Grammarly, and Miro, and for the past 2.5 years has been the Head of Growth at Webflow. There, she led the company's self-service business across Product, Marketing, and Growth, in addition to leading the charge on pricing and packaging. Prior to Webflow, she was Head of Growth for Dropbox’s B2B product, where she played a pivotal role in propelling their growth. In today’s episode, we discuss: • Attributes of high-performing teams • Tips for developing talent and seeking a mentor • How to create a strong culture of ownership • Frameworks for hiring PM and growth talent • Common pitfalls companies face when implementing growth strategies • Lessons from scaling Dropbox • The DACI framework for increasing team velocity • How to actually embrace first-principles thinking — Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-high-performing-teams-melissa — Where to find Melissa Tan: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/melissamtan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissamtan/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Melissa’s background (04:12) What’s next for Melissa (06:45) Lessons learned from Dropbox (11:49) When to add sales to product-led products and vice versa (14:28) Managing people with a people-focused and results-oriented approach (17:14) An example of people-focused leadership (20:26) The importance of talent development and why Melissa invests in it (22:26) Tips for finding a mentor (24:58) Specific questions to ask when you are interviewing for a role (27:49) Companies Melissa has worked with (28:33) Attributes of high-performing teams (31:38) Creating a sense of ownership among team members (34:36) Building a team-first culture (36:54) Avoiding burnout by knowing your limits (39:24) Developing talent and unlocking potential within your organization (42:45) Melissa’s hiring practices and what she looks for in a product manager (44:40) The exact interview sequence Melissa utilizes (49:58) Common pitfalls when creating growth teams (53:43) “Flying formation” and the DACI framework (56:48) Who should own revenue (58:19) When to invest in growth (1:01:06) What to look for in your first growth hire (1:04:35) When it’s appropriate to hire an advisor (1:06:19) First-principles thinking (1:09:50) Lightning round — Referenced: • Jiaona Zhang on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiaona/ • Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead : https://www.amazon.com/Lean-Women-Work-Will-Lead/dp/0385349947 • Tim Ferriss: How to Find a Great Mentor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RVo1aZCyfO4 • Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity : https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375/ • How to Monetize a Freemium Business: https://www.ycombinator.com/blog/how-to-monetize-a-freemium-business • DACI framework: https://www.productplan.com/glossary/daci/ • Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don't : https://www.amazon.com/Leaders-Eat-Last-Together-Others/dp/1591848016/r • The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself : https://www.amazon.com/Untethered-Soul-Journey-Beyond-Yourself/dp/1572245379/ • The Four Agreements : https://www.amazon.com/Four-Agreements-Practical-Personal-Freedom/dp/1878424319 • Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/winning-time-the-rise-of-the-lakers-dynasty • ChatGPT: https://chat.openai.com/ • Webflow: https://webflow.com/ — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsorin