Manik Gupta (ex-CPO Uber, Google Maps) on how to build consumer apps, why it’s useful to be optimistic about technology, creating inflections in your PM career, the changing CPO role, and more

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Lenny Rachitsky

Technology, Business, Entrepreneurship

5 • 1.5K Ratings

🗓️ 14 July 2022

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Manik Gupta has led two of the most successful consumer products in history—Google Maps, where he was Director of product for the Maps team, and Uber, where he was CPO. After leaving Uber, he spent some time working on a product to help people avoid getting COVID called CVKey, and most recently he took on a role at Microsoft as Corporate Vice President leading many of their consumer efforts.

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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:

• Mixpanel: https://mixpanel.com/startups

• Coda: http://coda.io/lenny

• Unit: https://unit.co/lenny

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In this episode, we cover:

[3:55] Patterns for career success

[7:19] Why it’s valuable to be optimistic about technology

[13:54] Challenges and mistakes through Manik’s career

[17:28] How you learn the most about yourself through challenges

[20:25] What Manik’s learned about building successful consumer apps

[26:18] The importance of company-product fit

[30:02] “The consumer stack”—what your company needs to have in place to build a successful consumer product

[36:22] The path from PM to CPO

[39:19] Evolution of CPO role

[44:40] What leads to promotions in a PM career

[47:58] What creates inflections in one’s PM career

[52:05] How PMs shoot themselves in the foot

[55:05] What it’s like to work at Google vs. Uber vs. Microsoft

[1:01:35] What he wished he built into Google Maps

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Where to find Manik:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/manikg/

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/manikgupta

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Monique Gupta has led two of the most successful consumer products in history.
0:07.0	Google Maps where he is director of product for the Maps team and Uber, where he is chief product officer.
0:12.0	After leaving Uber, he spent was chief product officer.
0:13.0	After leaving Uber, he spent most of his time working on a product to help people avoid
0:16.7	getting COVID called CB Key, and most recently he took on a role at Microsoft as corporate
0:21.7	vice president leading much of their consumer efforts.
0:24.8	In our conversation, we cover what he's learned about building successful consumer products,
0:29.3	at a structure and higher product teams building consumer apps, a concept called the consumer stack,
0:34.3	company market fit versus product market fit, what it's like to be CPO, what he learned working at
0:39.5	Microsoft versus Uber versus Google, and also a ton of career advice for anyone thinking about becoming a
0:44.7	CPO someday. I hope that you enjoy this episode with Monique Gupta.
0:59.0	This episode is brought to you by Mix Panel, offering powerful self-serve product analytics. Something we talk a lot about on the show is how startups can build successful and amazing products and
1:04.4	relying on gut feeling is a really expensive way to find out if you're heading in the
1:08.8	right direction, especially when you're raising money because VCs don't want to pay the price for these kinds of mistakes.
1:15.0	That's why Mix Panel will give you $50,000 in credits when you join their startup program.
1:20.0	With Mix Panel, Startups find product market fit faster, helping you take your company for minimal viable product to the next unicorn.
1:28.0	Access real-time insights with the help of their pre-built templates, and note that at every stage, Mix Panel
1:34.1	is helping you build with confidence and curiosity for free.
1:37.8	Apply for the startup program today
1:39.6	to claim your $50,000 and credits
1:41.8	at Mix Panel.com slash startups with an S.
1:45.6	And even if you're not a startup, Mix Panel's pricing plans for teams of every size.
	...

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