BROADCASTS.com

Tom Conrad is the CEO of Zero and on the board of Sonos. He began his career in engineering at Apple, where he helped build key features that remain in iOS today. Tom was previously the VP of Product at Snap and the chief technology officer of Pandora. He also held leadership positions at notable tech flops Pets.com and Quibi, giving him a unique perspective not only on what it takes to build a successful company but also on lessons from failure. In today\u2019s conversation, we discuss:

\u2022 Lessons learned from the infamous failures of Pets.com and Quibi

\u2022 Lessons learned from the successes of Apple, Pandora, and Snap

\u2022 Advice on choosing where to work

\u2022 Understanding the math formula of a business

\u2022 How to avoid burnout

\u2022 Why Tom says not everyone needs to be a founder

\u2022 What he\u2019s building now

\u2014

Brought to you by Coda\u2014Meet the evolution of docs | Jira Product Discovery\u2014Atlassian\u2019s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | HelpBar by Chameleon\u2014the free in-app universal search solution built for SaaS

\u2014

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/billion-dollar-failures-and-billion

\u2014

Where to find Tom Conrad:

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/tconrad

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomconrad/

\u2014

Where to find Lenny:

\u2022 Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

\u2022 X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

\u2022 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

\u2014

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Tom\u2019s background

(04:40) Landing a gig at Apple

(07:41) Pioneering the blinking folder design on iOS

(11:04) Advice on choosing where to work

(12:43) The importance of trusting your gut when it comes to people

(14:05) Lessons from failed ventures

(17:32) Why and how Pets.com shut down\xa0

(18:30) How Tom\u2019s experience at Quibi renewed his passion for building

(28:48) Takeaways from Quibi and why it ultimately failed

(31:42) Failing is okay

(35:04) Tom\u2019s career at Apple

(39:11) Lessons from You Don\u2019t Know Jack

(40:24) Lessons from building Pandora

(48:24) Looking back at Pandora and what could have been done differently

(55:17) How Tom became VP of Product at Snapchat

(1:01:31) Tom\u2019s philosophy on being involved as CEO

(1:05:51) Tom\u2019s current role as CEO of Zero, and what he\u2019s learned along the way

(1:10:37) How Zero builds product

(1:18:33) Advice on work-life balance\xa0

(1:27:22) Contrarian corner: why not everyone needs to be a founder

(1:30:08) Lightning round

\u2014

Referenced:

\u2022 Ron Lichty on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ronlichty/

\u2022 What happened to Pets.com?: https://fourweekmba.com/pets-com-failure/

\u2022 11 reasons why Quibi crashed and burned in less than a year: https://www.theverge.com/2020/10/22/21528404/quibi-shut-down-cost-subscribers-content-tv-movies-katzenberg-whitman-tiktok-netflix

\u2022 Meg Whitman: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meg_Whitman

\u2022 Jeffrey Katzenberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-katzenberg-4b3b47123/

\u2022 John Sculley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnsculley/

\u2022 Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/

\u2022 How Pandora Soothed the Savage Beast: https://www.fastcompany.com/3001052/how-pandora-soothed-savage-beast

\u2022 Joe Kennedy on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joe-kennedy-329417/

\u2022 Why Did Yahoo Pay $160 Million for Musicmatch?: https://www.wired.com/2007/07/why-did-yahoo-p/

\u2022 TikTok Is the New TV: https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-new-show-tv-takeover/

\u2022 Evan Spiegel on X: https://twitter.com/evanspiegel

\u2022 Brian Chesky\u2019s new playbook: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-cheskys-new-playbook/

\u2022 What sets great teams apart | Lane Shackleton (CPO of Coda): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/what-sets-great-teams-apart-lane-shackleton-cpo-of-coda/

\u2022 Flashtags: https://lane.substack.com/p/flashtags

\u2022 Patrick Spence on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrickspence/

\u2022 The Philosophy of Ikigai: 3 Examples About Finding Purpose: https://positivepsychology.com/ikigai

\u2022 The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life: https://www.amazon.com/Subtle-Art-Not-Giving-Counterintuitive/dp/0062457713

\u2022 High Growth Handbook: Scaling Startups from 10 to 10,000 People: https://www.amazon.com/High-Growth-Handbook-Elad-Gil/dp/1732265100

\u2022 Hyperion: https://www.amazon.com/Hyperion-Cantos-Dan-Simmons/dp/0553283685

\u2022 A Fire Upon the Deep: https://www.amazon.com/Fire-Upon-Deep-Zones-Thought/dp/0812515285/

\u2022 Mrs. Davis on Peacock: https://www.peacocktv.com/stream-tv/mrs-davis

\u2022 Watchmen on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/watchmen

\u2022 Lost on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/lost-466b3994-b574-44f1-88bc-63707507a6cb

\u2022 Eartune replacement tips: https://eartune.com/products/eartune-fidelity-ufa

\u2022 Charles Eames\u2019s quote: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/charles_eames_169188

\u2022 Compuserve: https://www.compuserve.com/

\u2022 Steve Wilhite: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Wilhite

\u2014

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

\u2014

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.