How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)

2022-10-23 · 65 min · 17 entities

episode page audio

Asserted relationships

→ hosted by Lenny Rachitsky person

0.55

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

0.40

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

0.40

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

0.40

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

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://penname.co/
→ references amplitude.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://amplitude.com/
→ references reforge.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://reforge.com/
→ references Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader book

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://reforge.com/blog/crossing-the-canyon-product-manager-to-product-leader

Entities found in this episode

websites 6

mentioned penname.co website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://penname.co/
mentioned amplitude.com website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://amplitude.com/
mentioned reforge.com website

0.45

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://reforge.com/
references penname.co website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://penname.co/
references amplitude.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://amplitude.com/
references reforge.com website

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://reforge.com/

concepts 5

mentioned Business concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
mentioned Entrepreneurship concept

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Entrepreneurship
mentioned Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar concept

0.42

evidence rules-v4
How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)
discusses Business concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Business
discusses Entrepreneurship concept

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Entrepreneurship

persons 2

mentioned Lenny Rachitsky person

0.70

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

0.55

evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Lenny Rachitsky

books 2

mentioned Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader book

0.65

evidence rules-v4
“Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader,” by
references Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader book

0.38

evidence rules-v4
Link in episode "How to build trust and grow as a product leader | Fareed Mosavat (Reforge, Slack, Instacart, Zynga, Pixar)": https://reforge.com/blog/crossing-the-canyon-product-manager-to-product-leader

companys 2

mentioned Technology company

0.50

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology
discusses Technology company

0.40

evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Technology

Episode description as stored

Fareed Mosavat is Chief Development Officer at Reforge, where he leads production, content, and new-product experiences. Previously, he led growth and product teams at Slack and Instacart, was a GM at Zynga, and also served as VP of Product at RunKeeper. Before all of that, Fareed’s fascinating career began in engineering for Pixar, where he learned the art of storytelling and collaboration. In today’s episode, we talk about how his time at Pixar influenced the way he thinks about product, why it’s so difficult to become a better PM, and how to avoid the “manager death spiral.” Fareed shares important insights on how to earn the trust of your manager and coworkers, the four types of product work—and why you need to understand all four. He also provides solid examples of how to generalize your learnings and explains why this will expand your options, make you a better PM, and boost your chances of moving into a leadership role. — Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-establish-credibility-and — Where to find Fareed Mosavat: • Twitter: https://twitter.com/far33d • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fareed/ — Where to find Lenny: • Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com • Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/ — Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible: • Coda: http://coda.io/lenny • Amplitude: https://amplitude.com/ • Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny — Referenced: • Naval Ravikant’s Twitter thread about specific knowledge: https://twitter.com/naval/status/1002104865919664128 • Merci Grace on Lenny’s podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/merci-grace-ex-head-of-growth-at-slack-on-plg-interviewing-storytelling-building-a-diverse-team-hiring-salespeople-building-a-growth-team-and-much-more/ • “Crossing the Canyon: Product Manager to Product Leader,” by Fareed Mosavat and Casey Winters: https://www.reforge.com/blog/crossing-the-canyon-product-manager-to-product-leader • Casey Winters on Lenny’s podcast: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/how-to-sell-your-ideas-and-rise-within-your-company-casey-winters-eventbrite/ • Reforge: https://www.reforge.com/ — In this episode, we cover: (00:38) Fareed’s background (03:55) Lessons from Pixar (09:07) What Fareed does at Reforge (11:57) The scale of Reforge at this time (13:51) Why it’s so difficult to become a better PM (18:03) A PM pie chart—execution, generalizing your solutions, communication, and scaling (23:00) How creating trust helped Fareed’s career grow (26:24) How to gain trust by leveraging your curiosity and communication skills (33:50) How to move from PM to Product Lead (36:43) The manager death spiral and how to avoid it (40:43) The four types of product work (44:13) Moving from IC to product manager (47:15) How to ask for the proper resources (50:00) The trend of senior PMs diversifying into advising, teaching, and angel investing (57:20) The downsides of being your own boss (01:00:45) Advice for breaking into advising — Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com . This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe