Maven

Introducing our new collection, The Future of Design! 💫 https://lnkd.in/eMre_i95

The most pernicious aspect of burning out at work is that being in a state of burnout affects our own self awareness, and so we aren't always aware that we are burning out. Burning out can feel good while you're in the early stages of it. You're checking things off your list, you're moving fast... until you hit a wall. Join me and Liz Fosslien on July 10th to hear us talk about our experience burning out at work, how we recovered, and what we've learned in our research about preventing and recovering from burnout! This is a new offering from Maven called "Lightning Lessons"-- 30 min live lessons by experts on key topics. Sign up here: https://lnkd.in/g7tMn3qt

"Yo, let's do Product-led Growth! Sales is over!" Don't waltz into a company meeting shouting that. You'll create confusion and - for a good reason - fear among sales and anyone who has revenue responsibility. Introducing product-led growth belongs to a company strategy as an investment, not an OKR goal for a single team. On Friday, I’m joining Gagan Biyani, CEO of Maven, for a live conversation on what it takes to build your Product-led Growth strategy. We’ll get into: - How PLG leverages product value to create organic growth - How to identify your product’s unique “aha moment” - How PMs can effectively collaborate with sales RSVP for June 28 (it’s free): https://bit.ly/3VDPnF5 and join 350 others who have already signed up! #productledgrowth

𝐄𝐱𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐧𝐞𝐰𝐬! - I was invited by Maven to speak in their Lightning Lesson series about Evaluating LLMs for Your Applications. This session is for Product Managers, Builders and Startup founders who want to learn: • 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐜𝐡𝐨𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐋𝐋𝐌𝐬 Identify the best GenAI model for your needs based on budget, latency and team expertise etc. • 𝐒𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐄𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐚 Learn how to set clear, actionable metrics despite challenges with benchmarks and real-world examples. • 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐝𝐲: 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 We'll use a contract processing application to illustrate how to apply the principles you just learn. Join LIVE on Tues, July 9, 2024, at 9 am PST! 𝐑𝐒𝐕𝐏 (𝐢𝐭’𝐬 𝐟𝐫𝐞𝐞): https://bit.ly/4bieT8v #maven #LLMs #AIproductmanagement

The most common mistake I’ve seen founders make is falling in love with a particular idea & then spending way too many cycles trying to grow something that doesn’t work. 🫠 I started Rupa because I had conviction in the market and the broader macro shift -> i.e. conviction in a whole new model of healthcare. It was clear the way we think about health, wellness, and medicine was changing rapidly and would soon be a massive industry. In 2017, it wasn't obvious, but I knew it would soon be. We had to build fast. But I didn’t know the right entry point. The right entry point = something the world needs today that will ultimately compound & allow you to achieve the bigger vision. Instead of spending months researching and academically thinking about the billion dollar idea, we started building. What most people don't know is that I actually had zero confidence in our initial product - I knew it wouldn’t be “the thing”. But we launched it anyway. Why? The goal was to learn what the market wanted. As fast as possible. We then iterated multiple times until we found the thing that worked (Rupa’s lab portal). And wow, did it work. 🤩 Tomorrow, I’m joining Gagan Biyani for a live conversation on how and when to pivot for early stage startups. Gagan has founded 3 companies including Udemy, Sprig, and Maven & has lived through finding PFM multiple times. 💥 We’ll get into: - How we found PMF at Rupa - How to pair logic with your gut when deciding to pivot - How to build an MVP on an aggressive deadline RSVP to join (it’s free!): https://bit.ly/3VNJLcn

Maven is having a killer quarter after a strong last 12 months. People rarely share this publicly, so here's an insider look into how we've navigated product/market fit: Maven’s initial launch was wildly successful. We started a movement. The phrase we coined, “cohort-based course,” showed up in countless startup pitch decks. We were on a $4M GMV run rate in 3 months. It was intoxicating. After the launch energy faded, we faced reality. We had no product: we were hand-holding instructors behind the scenes. This resulted in a 73% instructor revenue retention rate, and many instructors were telling us we weren’t critical to their business. Today: It took 2 years, but we’re now at 120-140% instructor revenue retention. Our business is growing despite a tough market, and professionals are actually using (and loving) our product to speed up their careers. We made a few critical decisions that led to 3 big breakthroughs: Breakthrough #1: We started by looking at follower counts; now we focus on real professional expertise. Our first persona was creators with 100ks of followers, but Maven was often their 3rd or 4th priority. Simply put, they didn’t NEED us, but they were bringing in a ton of revenue. We shifted away from creators to experts, eventually losing 95% of our first $4M in course sales. This shift took 2 years, but it worked – Maven now has hundreds of “subject matter expert” instructors who have spent 10-15 years in their field. Today, Maven has its killer value proposition: we offer ambitious professionals access to the experienced operators to take their career to the next level. Lesson: Persona is key. Focusing on who really needs your product is more important than short-term traction. Sometimes the early signals are wrong, and you need to course correct. Breakthrough #2: We started as a platform; now Maven is a marketplace. When starting Maven, I envied the Substack business and modeled Maven off of it. Maven would provide software while the creator would bring the users. This was a failure of “business by analogy.” In the course world, instructors didn’t value software the way creators did in the newsletter world. They demanded we create a marketplace, and students were increasingly asking us why they couldn’t easily find great courses on Maven. I knew from my time at Udemy and Lyft how hard it is to build a two-sided marketplace, so I resisted this for 1.5 years of heavy internal debate. Eventually, we launched the Maven marketplace. Now, hundreds of thousands of students browse Maven’s courses to find something that can help them in their careers. 25%+ of all course sales come from Maven’s marketing, which has been critical to our instructors and students. Lesson: Find your own path. You can be inspired by other companies, but ultimately every market and situation is different. Be willing to change even the big things when your customer demands it. I reached LinkedIn's character limit so check the comments for the rest!

When I posted a few weeks about how play is an important cultural element to move a company forward I got a lot of reaction. One of those was from my friend Gagan Biyani at Maven. To build a culture of experimentation, you need *some* structure. It provides safety and allows for a range of acceptable activities. Strategy, hackathons and design sprints are all good ways to provide both structure and flexibility. I’m excited to share more about this in my talk with Gagan on Friday. He has founded 3 companies: Udemy, Sprig, and Maven, and we worked together in the early days of Lyft. We’re hosting a live conversation about all the ways that you can build creativity and experimentation into your company culture, such as: - How to lead with goals - How to create structure with flexibility - How to reward failure and make it less risky for people RSVP to join us on June 21 (it’s free)! Link below.

Excited to announce my upcoming lightning talk on "Go To Market and Discoverability of AI Products" happening on Tue, June 18th, 10 AM PDT. The talk dives into the essentials of a successful "Go To Market" strategy tailored for AI products, a practical framework to craft one for your product, and driving tangible value for your customers. If this topic resonates with you, I'd be thrilled to have you join. Like or comment on this post to help spread the word in your network. #AI #discoverability #gotomarket #maven

If you’re an early-stage founder, finding out what your customers *really* want so you can build the right product is critical. I’m excited to share some of First Round Capital's PMF Method program with Gagan Biyani on Friday! Gagan has founded 3 companies including Udemy, Sprig, and Maven. We’re hosting this live conversation for product leaders & founders on how to reach PMF. You’ll learn: - How to identify your customers' real problems - How to test demand by selling before building - When to write code vs. build a no-code MVP RSVP to join on June 14th (it’s free): https://bit.ly/3VBAK69

I'm hosting a live lightning session on UX Craftsmanship for Product Managers through Maven on June 6th. The session is free, so please join if you're a product manager who wants to level up the quality of the products you ship. https://maven.com/p/3ed8c3 #productmanagement #productdesign #productmarketing