Who is Lenny Rachitsky: Background, Newsletter, Podcast, and More
There is a ton of product management advice out there, but most of it is generic tips repeated over and over again.
Amidst this sea of content, the insights of one individual stand out, and that is Lenny Rachitsky. With a self-named newsletter and podcast, Lenny is a widely followed product expert.
Keep on reading to learn about his journey into product management, his recommended newsletters and podcast episodes, and his top tips for product management success.
Who is Lenny Rachitsky?
Lenny is a newsletter writer, podcast host, angel investor, and product consultant. He also hosts a job board for product professionals and has created a GPT-4 chatbot, Lennybot, that is programmed to answer questions from Lenny’s newsletter and podcast.
Before starting his own venture, Lenny worked in the product and engineering teams of companies like Airbnb and Neustar.
How did Lenny Rachitsky get started in product management?
Renowned for his tenure on Airbnb’s product team, Lenny’s professional journey truly began in 2010 when he served as the CEO of a budding startup named “Localmind.” This platform specialized in location-based queries, allowing travelers to seek advice directly from residents of a particular city.
“Localmind” experienced steady growth until Airbnb made an acquisition offer in 2012, which Lenny accepted. Following the acquisition, he transitioned from engineering to the product team, marking a pivotal moment in his career.
He worked as a Product Lead at Airbnb for 7 years, where he managed a number of teams, supported strategy for the anti-discrimination team, and built new tools for hosts.
Currently, Lenny is best known for his newsletter, aptly named Lenny’s Newsletter, where he shares insights and thoughts. He later branched into hosting podcasts, called Lenny’s Podcast. He has also invested in businesses, like Figma, Vanta, and Webflow, among others.
Lenny’s Newsletter: Top 5 recommendations
Started in 2019 as an experiment, Lenny’s Newsletter now has over 670,000 subscribers. Once a month (and each week for paid subscribers), Lenny answers reader questions related to product, growth, and career advancement.
Here are 5 newsletters we think you should read first:
- How today’s fastest growing B2B businesses found their first ten customers – Lenny shares takeaways from how successful companies like Figma, Slack, Stripe, and Airtable got their first ten customers.
- Differentiating your product – Lenny shares 7 ways companies can differentiate their products, including focusing on affordability, product quality, niche markets, and more.
- How to get into product management – This newsletter discusses whether a product management role is right for you, how to kickstart your career, and the essential skills you need to have.
- What it feels like when you’ve found product-market fit – Lenny interviewed 25 leading companies to ask about when they first realized they reached PMF and wrapped up the insights in this newsletter.
- Pricing your SaaS product – In this newsletter, Lenny picks the brain of Patrick Campbell (CEO of ProfitWell) regarding how to price your SaaS product, step-by-step.
Lenny’s Podcast: Top 5 episodes to listen to
Lenny’s Podcast is no less successful than his newsletter. In his podcast, Lenny interviews leading product experts to extract actionable advice related to building and growing successful products.
Here are 5 episodes that we recommend you listen to (or watch on YouTube):
- Good strategy, bad strategy | Richard Rumelt – Lenny interviews bestselling author Richard Rumelt on the essential characteristics of a good strategy, common pitfalls that lead to a bad strategy, and more.
- Taking control of your career | Ethan Evans (Amazon) – A great listen for professionals looking to break free from a career plateau, bring inventiveness into work, and stand out in interviews.
- Strategies for becoming less distracted and improving focus | Nir Eyal – This episode shares tips for overcoming internal triggers, developing a high-agency mindset, and improving focus.
- Lessons from Atlassian | Megan Cook (head of product, Jira) – In this conversation, Megan and Lenny dive into how Atlassian launches new product lines and stays ahead of the competition.
- How to be more innovative | Sam Schillace (Microsoft deputy CTO, creator of Google Docs) – Lenny interviews Sam on the journey toward building Google Docs.
Top product management tips from Lenny Rachitsky
There’s so much to learn from the content Lenny produces but here are a few product management tips we believe deserve a special mention:
- To become a top 1% product manager, focus on thinking big, simplify complexity, prioritize effectively, understand technical trade-offs, and develop strong instincts through forecasting, measurement, and validation of your work.
- If you haven’t already, ensure you speak with 5 to 10 potential customers this week. It’s crucial to understand their requirements and challenges to develop a product that truly connects with your target market.
- Your most valuable insights will often come from discussions with your initial users and potential users. Identify their challenges, features that spark their interest, and solutions that can be rapidly tested.
- Consistently remind your team of your product strategy, leverage it to inform all prioritization choices, and be ready to adapt it as you gain new insights or when situations shift.
- A strong product culture is built on a deep understanding of customers and solving their problems. This requires rapid cycles of building, shipping, gathering feedback, and iterating.
Conclusion
Lenny is a well-respected product expert with thousands of subscribers waiting for his newsletter and podcasts weekly.
If you’re looking for a trusted tool to implement strategies learned from Lenny Rachitsky, Userpilot is a good choice. Book a demo to learn about its analytics, engagement, and feedback capabilities.
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