Apr 21, 2021A Self-Onboarding Plan for First Product Hires: 7 Tenets7 Tenets for every product manager to follow as they onboard to a new team. — Congratulations! You accepted an offer to join that awesome new startup as the Head of Product/CPO/First Product Hire! You’ve explained to the CEO what exactly a product manager is, survived the gauntlet of interviews with the rest of the team, and have convinced everyone you can take the company to…Product Management5 min readProduct Management5 min read
Nov 10, 2016A letter to my 15 year old sister, for 2020Madison, I wanted to send you a note. By the time the next presidential election comes around, you will be old enough to vote. You were old enough to follow pieces of what was going on in this past election, but I don’t think old enough yet to grasp all…Politics6 min readPolitics6 min read
Jul 17, 20158tracks is Keeping Music True to its Roots in an Algorithmic AgeA few days ago 8tracks released an update to their web app that’s pretty awesome. The new recommendation system uses a combination of listener playlist curation and algorithmic recommendations to help people discover new music, but keeps the focus squarely on the playlist creators. …Product Design2 min readProduct Design2 min read
Jul 13, 2015Why LinkedIn should be scared of Slackor, how Slack can become the most powerful recruitment tool on the market — Disclosure: I love Slack. Ever since our team started using it last year I’ve been an admirer of the product. Yes, it’s killing email (finally). …Recruiting3 min readRecruiting3 min read
Dec 2, 20145 Ways to Change Your Thinking On Performance ReviewsIt’s about that time again. Employees all over the world are collectively groaning at the prospect of this year’s annual performance review. Managers will dig through emails and project tracking tools in an attempt to remember what their direct reports did over the past 12 months, while employees will grudgingly respond to question after question…5 min read5 min read
Jan 12, 2014Feeling Like a Boss: My Journey as a Designer FounderThat moment you discover you actually know what you’re doing. Because it’s easy to forget about progress made. — September 2009: The Beginning IDEO has long been considered a pinnacle of good design. As a student at Parsons in New York City I often heard about their products and projects in the studio. …Entrepreneurship4 min readEntrepreneurship4 min read
Sep 26, 2013The Ultimate Change AgentIt’s a doozy. — The following is an email I wrote to my co-founder after a night of reflection on a comment made by someone we had been introduced to. Cue doozy. So, the comment yesterday from [investor] sparked a number of thoughts in my mind, and it clarified a few key points around…Entrepreneurship3 min readEntrepreneurship3 min read
