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Christian Idiodi is a partner at Silicon Valley Product Group. After a long product career and founding multiple companies, Christian now spends his time working closely with product leaders at companies big and small to implement and improve their discipline of product management. In today\u2019s episode, we discuss:

\u2022 Why there\u2019s often a negative perception of product managers, and how we can fix this

\u2022 The four attributes of a product manager\u2019s job: value, usability, viability, and feasibility

\u2022 The power of finding reference customers

\u2022 How Christian developed a process for high-volume hiring to help companies like McDonald\u2019s and Starbucks

\u2022 Tactical tips for coaching, building relationships, and building trust as a leader

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Brought to you by Jira Product Discovery\u2014Atlassian\u2019s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Vanta\u2014Automate compliance. Simplify security | Teal\u2014Your personal career growth platform

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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-essence-of-product-management

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Where to find Christian Idiodi:

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

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

\u2022 Website: https://www.svpg.com/

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Where to find Lenny:

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

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

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

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Christian\u2019s background

(03:56) The negative perception of product managers

(07:58) How to become a PM people want to work with

(11:30) The definition of a product manager

(14:46) Where new PMs fail

(16:59) Reference customers: what they are and why they are so important

(24:05) A quick summary of how to build a product that people want and love

(26:44) How to determine product-market fit

(29:54) The benefits of this approach

(34:11) Real examples of using reference customers

(40:06) Doing things that don\u2019t scale

(48:40) How to get better at coaching and build trust with leaders

(55:53) The fastest way to build trust

(01:00:01) What to do in the absence of good coaching

(01:02:51) How to get into product management

(01:04:16) The pitfalls of early promotions

(01:11:11) How to train someone for a promotion before giving the promotion

(01:13:30) How to find a good coach

(01:14:40) Christian\u2019s product work in Africa

(01:21:22) The importance of passion and empathy in product work

(01:22:54) Lightning round

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Referenced:

\u2022 Marty Cagan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cagan/

\u2022 The nature of product | Marty Cagan, Silicon Valley Product Group: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/the-nature-of-product-marty-cagan-silicon-valley-product-group/

\u2022 Silicon Valley Product Group: https://www.svpg.com/

\u2022 Enhanced Product Discovery by SVPG Partner Christian Idiodi at Lean Product Meetup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQKaFEqhiqc

\u2022 Geoffrey Moore\u2019s technology adoption curve: https://fourweekmba.com/technology-adoption-curve/

\u2022 Stripe: https://stripe.com/

\u2022 Building a culture of excellence | David Singleton (CTO of Stripe): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-a-culture-of-excellence-david-singleton-cto-of-stripe/

\u2022 Building beautiful products with Stripe\u2019s Head of Design | Katie Dill (Stripe, Airbnb, Lyft): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/building-beautiful-products-with-stripes-head-of-design-katie-dill-stripe-airbnb-lyft/

\u2022 Rippling: https://www.rippling.com/

\u2022 Snagajob: https://www.snagajob.com/

\u2022 Howard Schultz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/howardschultz/

\u2022 Tesla portable charger: https://shop.tesla.com/product/mobile-connector

\u2022 Innovate Africa Foundation: https://www.innovateafrica.io/about/

\u2022 Inspire Africa Conference: https://www.inspireafricaconference.com/

\u2022 Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love: https://www.svpg.com/books/inspired-how-to-create-tech-products-customers-love-2nd-edition/

\u2022 Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products: https://www.svpg.com/books/empowered-ordinary-people-extraordinary-products/

\u2022 Transformed: Moving to the Product Operating Model: https://www.svpg.com/books/transformed-moving-to-the-product-operating-model/

\u2022 Succession on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/succession

\u2022 Billions on Showtime: https://www.sho.com/billions

\u2022 Real sports app: https://www.realapp.link/

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

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.