Category creation and brand building | Barbra Gago (Pando, Miro, Greenhouse, Culture Amp)
Barbra Gago is the founder and CEO of Pando, where she’s democratizing career progression. Previously she worked as the Chief Marketing Officer and Global Head of Marketing at Miro, where she helped create an entirely new software category for the space, and also served as VP of Marketing at Greenhouse, where she led go-to-market strategy. In today’s episode, we cover three main topics: category creation, branding and rebranding, and building opinionated software. Barbra discusses how she was able to rebrand Miro and launch a whole new category—and why her attempt to do that at Greenhouse failed. We cover the benefits of building your own category, and when it makes sense to do so and when it doesn’t. She also shares the importance of getting to know your users, why a great brand is informed by its values, and why Pando is built in an opinionated way.
—
Find the full transcript here: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/category-creation-and-brand-building-barbra-gago-pando-miro-greenhouse-culture-amp/#transcript
—
Where to find Barbra Gago:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/barbragago
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/barbragago
• Pando: https://www.pando.com/
—
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:
• AssemblyAI: https://www.assemblyai.com/?utm_source=lennyspodcast&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=oct27
• Stytch: https://stytch.com/lenny
• Vanta: https://vanta.com/lenny
—
Referenced:
• G2: https://g2.com/
• Software Advice: https://www.softwareadvice.com/
• Marketo: https://www.marketo.com/
• HubSpot: https://www.hubspot.com/
• Gainsight: https://www.gainsight.com/
• Greenhouse: https://www.greenhouse.io/
• Miro: https://miro.com/
• Gartner: https://www.gartner.com/
• Forrester: https://www.forrester.com/research/product-management/
• Oyster: https://www.oysterhr.com/
• Deel: https://www.deel.com/
• Atlassian: https://www.atlassian.com/
• Radical Candor: Be a Kick-Ass Boss Without Losing Your Humanity: https://www.amazon.com/Radical-Candor-Revised-Kick-Ass-Humanity/dp/1250235375
• The Art of War: https://www.amazon.com/Art-War-Sun-Tzu/dp/1590302257
• Kafka on the Shore: https://www.amazon.com/Kafka-Shore-Haruki-Murakami/dp/0099458322
• Cautionary Tales podcast: https://timharford.com/articles/cautionarytales/
• The Sandman on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81150303
• Nancy Duarte on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyduarte/
• Al Gore’s TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/al_gore_the_new_urgency_of_climate_change
—
In this episode, we cover:
(04:04) Barbra’s background
(05:06) Barbra’s startup
(06:07) Category creation vs. winning in existing categories
(07:49) What is an applicant tracking system, and why have they been problematic?
(09:57) What is a product category?
(13:06) Examples of product categories
(14:05) Greenhouse as an example of failed category creation
(16:46) How Miro successfully created a new category
(18:37) Utilizing user feedback
(21:15) The mechanics of category creation
(21:22) How to advocate for your new category with directory sites
(25:53) The middle ground between new and existing categories
(29:37) When is it time to rebrand?
(38:51) How to create a lasting, global brand
(41:18) How values inform brands
(43:13) Insights into developing company values
(44:24) The elements of a brand
(46:37) What is opinionated software?
(47:57) The benefits of opinionated software, and why Barbra’s software is opinionated
(51:23) Lightning round
—
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
How Figma Caught Adobe By Surprise — With Carmel DeAmicis
Carmel DeAmicis was the 20th employee at Figma, a startup that Adobe just acquired for $20 billion. A former journalist and editor at Figma, DeAmicis saw the company rise under the nose of Adobe — the giant in the space — and eventually grow so fast that Adobe acquired it in a defensive move. In this week's episode, DeAmicis explains how a startup caught a major, established company by surprise. And why changing design culture played a big part in it. You can find DeAmicis on Notion.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
How to tell the story of your startup with Camille Ricketts and Carmel DeAmicis
In today's episode we talk to two expert storytellers in startupland — who also happen to be Ryan's good friends.
Carmel DeAmicis is an editor (aka word wiz) at Figma, a company that's reinventing how people design software and which recently announced a $40M round led by Sequoia. Prior to joining Figma, Ryan met Carmel when she was a reporter at Pando. She was the first journalist to write about Product Hunt and later went on to join GigaOM and Recode.
Camille Ricketts is another friend and veteran storyteller. She recently joined Notion, a hot startup building an all-in-one workspace for your notes, docs, and to-dos. Prior to joining Notion she spent nearly five years at First Round, starting and leading their content and marketing efforts. You've likely read one or many of her First Round Review articles. Earlier in her career she was a reporter at Wall Street Journal and VentureBeat and also worked at Tesla, Kiva, and the White House.
In this episode we talk about:
How to tell the story of your startup. Both Camille and Carmel are former reporters and they share some of the secrets they've honed over the years on what to do and what not to do when it comes to crafting the narrative around your company.
How Carmel and Camille ended up in their respective jobs at Figma and Notion, why it's important to take time between jobs to find the right role, and how to leverage your network to find out what a company is really like on the inside.
The wild, weird, wonderful world of TikTok, and why the constraints it imposes generate such creativity. Carmel talks about opening up the app to check it out for the first time and ending up staying up until three in the morning watching TikToks.
We’ll be back next week so be sure to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Breaker, Overcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Big thanks to FreshBooks, Bubble, and Dipsea for their support. 😸
Quotes from This Episode
“It’s easy to tell a story about a company that just comes out as a collection of features but the better way to tell the story is to emphasize the outcomes that your audience actually wants.” — Camille
“At Notion, they have pictures of Engelbart. At Figma, they threw a party on a Sunday on the exact 50th anniversary of the famous 'Mother of All Demos.'” — Carmel
[In thinking about which company to join next] “You go through this conversion funnel where you maximize activity at the top of the funnel by emailing anyone who might have an idea for you, and then you winnow it down.” — Camille
Companies and Products Mentioned in This Episode
Figma — Styles, prototyping and design at scale.
Notion — Increase your team intelligence.
Superhuman — The best email experience ever made.
TikTok — A creative music video clip maker.
Product Hunt Radio: Episode 9 w/ Carmel DeAmicis & Misha Chellam
This week I, Ryan Hoover, am joined by Carmel DeAmicis (Reporter, Pando) and Misha Chellam (Co-founder, Tradecraft). In this Maker's Mark-inspired episode we chat crazy apps that respond to "Marco!", the wonders of SF's on-demand food services, and the secrets of online dating (hint: emojis). Grab a drink and tune in. Products mentioned: - Twister (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/twister) - Panoramic video with a party trick hook - Bubbli (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/bubbli) - Dynamic Spherical Photos - Marco Polo (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/marco-polo) - Find Your Phone by Shouting MARCO! - Sprig (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/sprig) - Hand-crafted dinners on demand - Zesty (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/zesty) - Healthy food takeout and delivery app - Spoonrocket (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/spoonrocket) - Most convenient meal ever. $6 delivered. (SOMA & East Bay) - Munchery (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/munchery) - Wholesome meals in a snap - Coffee Meets Bagel (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/coffee-meets-bagel) - Meaningful connections with one quality match per day - Tinder (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/tinder-4-0) - It’s how people meet - Context (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/context) - Fast visual texting - Taptalk](http://www.producthunt.com/posts/taptalk) - Personal video and photo messaging - Cluster 2.0 (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/cluster-2-0) - Private spaces for you and your friends - CoffeeMe (http://www.producthunt.com/posts/coffeeme) - Tinder for Professional Networking