Main Takeaways: -Speed is a top priority from decision to execution; therefore, always remember that “done is better than perfect” -Your product vision and NorthStar need to be clear because circumstances will be ambiguous -Customers are your guide, especially in the absence of precedent data. Listen to what they say, not just the numbers

1. www.productschool.com
How to Build Products in High-Growth
Companies by Zillow Sr PM

2. CERTIFICATES
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3. Corporate
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4. Free Product Management Resources
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5. Building Products in
High-Growth Companies
Priyansha Saxena

6. Agenda
➔ My Journey
➔ What is High-Growth Culture?
➔ Strategies to build products in high-growth scenarios

7. Product Lead
Launched & Scaled OYO Townhouses
M.B.A.
Courses in Marketing, Analytics & Software
Management
Senior Product Manager
Product Owner for Internal Platforms, Zillow Offers
B.A. Economics
Humanities Background
2011- 14
Me
★ Currently in Seattle, US and originally
from Bilaspur, India
★ I also write about Product Mgmt on
Medium
★ Favourite tech prep Resources:
○ Stratechery
○ Morning Brew
○ Lewis Lin’s Case Study Groups
2020-
Present
2015- 18
2018- 20

8. What motivated this talk?
Two very high growth companies, two roller
coaster rides.
Example, when I joined OYO, we were at 200
employees and had 100 hotels. When I left, we
had 3000 employees and 10,000+ hotels
globally
Such zero to one scaling can be both exciting
and daunting. It’s important to have the right
PM tool kit, so that you don't lose your mind,
and enjoy the ride!

9. What is High-Growth Culture?

10. Defining High-Growth
High growth = Exponential growth
in northstar metric for a product or
business unit
Some examples of northstar metrics
in the tech world include: #
engaged users, market penetration,
EBITDA

11. A firm can have high-growth products and business units
regardless of what stage/ size it is at. Therefore, ability to
launch and scale products quickly is invaluable almost
everywhere

12. Key Cultural Characteristics of High-Growth Teams

13. High level of individual impact
Key Cultural Characteristics of High-Growth Teams

14. High level of individual impact
Flat hierarchy and access to leadership
Key Cultural Characteristics of High-Growth Teams

15. High level of individual impact
Flat hierarchy and access to leadership
Fast career ladder
Key Cultural Characteristics of High-Growth Teams

16. High level of individual impact
Flat hierarchy and access to leadership
Fast career ladder
Appetite to experiment and take risks
Key Cultural Characteristics of High-Growth Teams

17. Key Tricky Scenarios Faced by PMs

18. Aggressive targets
🎯
Key Tricky Scenarios Faced by PMs

19. Aggressive targets
Change is the only constant
🎯
Key Tricky Scenarios Faced by PMs

20. Aggressive targets
Change is the only constant
Ambiguity/ lack of data
🎯
Key Tricky Scenarios Faced by PMs

21. Aggressive targets
Change is the only constant
Ambiguity/ lack of data
Lack of full-functioning teams
🎯
Key Tricky Scenarios Faced by PMs

22. How to build
products in
tricky
high-growth
scenarios?

23. Problem Statement #1. Aggressive Targets= Need for
Fast Product Launches
Speed is top priority, because of aggressive targets and
evolving needs as the business scales.
Therefore, product managers are often required to fast-track
usual product development cycles, to deliver quick customer
value.

24. Repeat after me, done is better than perfect
Be agile in your product development journey, and don’t shy
away from quick wins [even if they are sometimes scrappy].
Avoid very long planning or development cycles, since there’s
higher opportunity cost to waiting vs creating immediate
incremental value.

25. Drive the importance of speed of
execution to your teams
Be sensitive to the fact that engineers/ designers value their art and
might not always be keen on scrappy, inelegant hacks to get things
done.
Therefore, be transparent with your team about business priorities,
and establish early team norms to drive an action oriented culture

26. Have smart iterative rollout strategies
Mitigate launch risks by having iterative product roll-outs
[e.g., one user group at a time] and backup plans / roll back
strategies in case things don’t go as planned.

27. Problem Statement #2.Change is the only constant
Processes, Products, and People change overnight. It’s easy to
feel overwhelmed and confused about the vision and decisions
for your own product area.

28. Have clarity about the overall business
vision
Engage with leadership to understand the core
customer value that your firm wants to create. This
vision should stay consistent even as businesses
experiment with customers, partners, operating
models etc
Having this top-down understanding will help you
define the vision for your product area.

29. Get attached to your vision, not products
Be adaptive in stepping in and out of your responsibilities in
accordance with changing business needs. Feel passionate about
the value you create towards the overall vision, irrespective of
which product area you own

30. Problem Statement #3.Lack of Precedent Data while
Planning
The core value add of a PM is to articulate the “Why” for a
product feature, or the value it creates. Forecasting this
value is difficult when there’s ambiguity around data, making
it difficult to a) prioritize product features or b) get buy-ins
from stakeholders for your plans
Cost Value

31. Listen to customer stories
Never underestimate the power of a strong customer
anecdote or direct feedback. In the absence of great
numbers, such qualitative information should be your
biggest guide to ‘What’s next’ for your product.

32. Make consistent assumptions confidently
Use your intuition and expertise to make assumptions
while estimating value. While presenting your model ,
state your framework and assumptions clearly to
stakeholders to showcase your thought process and get
them on-board

33. As businesses scale from zero to
one, they don’t have fully-fledged
teams at the onset. This means that
PMs find many important support
blocks missing in their product
development journey
Problem Statement #4.Lack of Fully Functioning Teams
Product
Manager
Engineering
Manager
Customer
Support
Technical
Program
Manager
QA
UX
Designer
Analytics
Research
Marketing

34. Have a secondary skills tool kit, while
remembering your key value add
Be hands-on and use your intuition to take calls
on areas outside your core expertise such as
technical details, UX and analytics
Note that even as you fill in your these gaps,
remember your core value add as the voice of
customer needs in every discussion

35. Pause and ask for help- don’t burn out

36. Wrap Up!
Lack of fully functioning
teams
● Have a secondary skills tool kit
● Remember your core value add
● Pause and ask for help
Lack of data in planning
● Listen to customer stories
● Make consistent assumptions confidently
Aggressive product launch
targets
● Done is better than perfect
● Establish an action-oriented team culture
● Have smart iterative rollout strategies
➔ Building products in high-growth orgs can be rewarding, as well as
challenging. The following strategies can help you sail smoothly!
Change is the only constant
● Have clarity about overall company vision
● Get attached to vision, not products

38. www.productschool.com
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and
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