20Product: On Running's CPO on How to Create Emotion Through Product | Why 99% of Products Fail and How to Create Cults Around Products | The Biggest Product Mistakes On Have Made & Lessons Learned with Gérald Marolf
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
The Twenty Minute VC
4.4 • 693 Ratings
🗓️ 19 December 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
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Summary
Gérald Marolf is the Chief Product Officer at On Running. Gérald oversees the full range of On's shoes, apparel and accessories to make sure each delivers performance, comfort and style. Before On, Gérald spent over a decade building consumer brands with collaborators such as Microsoft and Ferrari.
AGENDA:
00:00 – Why Most "Great Products" Fail to Create Emotion
03:00 – How Perfume Taught Me Everything About Desire & Product
06:10 – The Brutal Reality of Building Physical vs Digital Products
16:00 – Why "Simple Design" Is Overrated and Dangerous
23:00 – Why Vuori is the Brand to Short in Consumer
28:30 – The Biggest Product Mistake: Listening to Customers Too Much
32:10 – On Only Do Tennis Because of Roger Federer
38:30 – Were We Too Late to Marathon Running? A Painful Admission
43:40 – The Most Controversial Product On Has Ever Launched
49:00 – Are Counterfeits Good or Bad in Fashion?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is 20 Product with me, Harry Stebbings. Now, 20 Product is the monthly show where we sit down with |
| 0:04.9 | the best CPOs in the world to uncover what it takes to build incredible products and product teams. |
| 0:11.6 | Now, sometimes I use the show to satiate my own loves and passions, and I love on running. And so I |
| 0:19.2 | jumped at the chance to have Gerald Marilf, CPO at On Running on the show. |
| 0:24.1 | Gerald oversees the full range of On's shoes, apparel and accessories to make sure they deliver |
| 0:30.1 | performance, comfort and style so incredible athletes like me can play at our top, top level. Before on, Gerald spent over a decade building |
| 0:39.9 | consumer brands with collaborators like Microsoft and Ferrari. This was a phenomenal off-the-cuff |
| 0:45.8 | discussion. I always want it to be the best show for you. So let me know what I can do to make it |
| 0:49.8 | better. Harry at 20vc.com. But before we dive into the show today, Secureframe empowers businesses to build trust with |
| 0:57.3 | customers by simplifying information security and compliance through AI and automation. |
| 1:02.6 | Thousands of fast-growing businesses including NASDAQ, Angel List, Doodle and Coder, |
| 1:07.3 | trust Secureframe to expedite their compliance journey for global security and privacy |
| 1:11.9 | standards such as SOC2 and ISO-27,01, CMMC, NIST standards and more. |
| 1:18.5 | Backed by top-tier investors and corporations like Google and Kleiner Perkins, the company is among Forbes's |
| 1:23.8 | list of the top 100 startup employers for 202424, G2's best software awards for |
| 1:29.3 | higher satisfaction products, and a recipient of the 2024 Cybersecurity Excellence Awards, |
| 1:35.0 | something I definitely never got in school myself. Learn more today at secureframe.com. |
| 1:40.0 | Once Secureframe locked it all down, HMC, they hand you the keys to scale it up. |
| 1:45.2 | Harvard Management Company is constantly seeking out the next generation of great investors and entrepreneurs. |
| 1:50.5 | HMC has managed Harvard University's Endowment for nearly 50 years and was one of the first institutional investors in venture capital. |
| 1:57.5 | Their experience and long-term investment horizon makes them ideal partners |
| 2:01.5 | to get world-changing ideas on a path to viability and success. They work as a true partner, |
... |
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