Lessons from Teams Beating Slack
+ 7 Uncommon Signals of Great PMs
It is Product Growth’s 1 year birthday! Thanks so much for joining 10K+ subscribers on this journey of weekly growth.
When I started Product Growth, I figured 1K subscribers would be a nice goal. 10K was a stretch goal. I only dared to dream it. It feels amazing to have achieved it.
I take the attention y’all seriously, and humbly. I’m going to try to make this year’s content even better than the last. As always, feel free to respond to mails with your feedback. With that, let’s get onto this week’s content!
Lessons from Teams Beating Slack
When Teams was announced in 2016, Slack took out a full page ad in the New York Times. So, it’s remarkable what a thorough shellacking it has gotten.
There are 4 lessons for tech industry observers:
1. The rise of the B2B subscription
Companies are stuck with an increasing number of subscriptions:
Dev wants DataDog & Splunk
HR Workday & CultureAmp
Design Figma & Photoshop
Analytics Redshift & Snowflake
Each team has new requests. CTOs are pulling their hair out. Microsoft smartly responded to this new trend.
They already had fat profit margins on O365. So, they pulled an Amazon Prime & added free features.
Teams, like Amazon Prime Video, was added free. MS simplified life for CTOs. And made the O365 profit-machine even stickier.
2. Enterprise via sales-led growth
Slack is still a winner for small & medium sized companies:
The UX gets all of the details right
Logging in & browsing are intuitive
The bot is more full-featured
It’s much easier to set up
Magic links are… magic
But the game for large enterprises is not about end users. It’s about end BUYERS.
The enterprise game is a sales game. MS realized this largest part of the market required sales-led growth. And crushed Slack’s product-led growth in the process.
3. How second-movers can win
By executing a different playbook.
Slack’s was:
Fun
Irreverent
Easy to use
Product-led growth
Great for millennials
So Teams went hard right:
Utilitarian
Feature-full
Security-first
Sales-led growth
Great for boomers
Second movers don’t win via copycat product.
The tempting simplistic analysis is Microsoft won via distribution. But it’s worth noting how different the products are.
Teams has large video chat and Office integrations built-in. Slack focuses on the core messaging feature set.
4. The 80% rule
A cheaper product only needs to be “80% as good.”
The cheapest option for Office365 is $4/month. That includes Office AND video chat.
The cheapest option for Slack is $8/month. It’s twice the cost with less functionality.
Sure, Teams is slightly worse:
Notifications aren’t as smart: it notifies even new emojis.
Threads are organized poorly: it reorders chronologically oddly.
MacOS support is worse: statuses don’t update naturally well.
But it’s like Toyota (cheap, feature filled) vs Maserati (2x cost, well done).
Some people will want the craft experience, the Maserati. Especially people who can pay. That’s Slack.
But there is a far bigger market for the Toyota experience. That’s Teams.
7 uncommon signals of great PMs
In interviews, it’s difficult to sort out which PMs will be top 20% performers. I’ve begun to rely on signals beyond the basics.
Before we get into it, of course, all the basics are key. Even average PMs must have great:
Execution
Teamwork
Prioritization
Product Sense
Communication
What follows are less obvious screens for top 20% performance:
1. Simplification
Top PMs simplify. They cut through all the priorities and define a clear strategy.
I test simplification by assessing how they organize and theme work. EG: “What has been your major focus this last quarter?” A scattershot method is bad.
2. Adding energy
At even the best times, software development for results is tough. Top PMs energize the team to endure through failed launches.
I assess energy by “reading into” the interview panel’s feedback. I even follow up to ask sometimes: “Was chatting with them fun?”
3. Relentlessly curious
Top PMs have many options. They aren’t just trying to “get” the job. They make sure the next step in their career will get them where they want.
I assess this by their questions. Were they genuine & numerous? Much better than staged & few.
4. Get to the root cause
There is an art to “5 whys” and “why stacking” for strategy. Many go astray. Top PMs, however, tend not to.
To assess this, I watch carefully how they perform in case interviews. Do they fall for ancillary topics, or do they cut through the noise?
5. Uncommonly detail oriented
Being really strong at execution means being highly detail oriented. It’s tough to do amidst the busy PM schedule.
I try to ask indirectly: “What are the last 3 mistake features you have shipped?” Preventable mistakes on details & flows are bad.
6. Fond of product topics & content
There is a certain craftsmanship to top 20% PMs. They’re trying to get better.
I’m looking for them to reference reading, meetups, or peers. If not, I ask: “How do you improve at the craft of PM?” The best do more than given job feedback.
7. Not stressed by typical aspects of the job
Between the to do lists & meetings, being a PM can be stressful. Top PMs don’t let it get to them.
This calmness is usually embedded in all their answers. But if I can’t tell, I ask: “How do you deal with the demands of the job?”
Beyond the basics, assess for these 7 traits to hire top 20% PMs.
Plus: Improving Your Product Discovery
People stop lying when you ask them for money.
Ever build exactly what user research says… Then have the feature flop? It’s the curse of product discovery.
Users lied until you asked for money. Getting accurate info from your users is almost impossible. And, yet, essential.
Follow these 11 rules to navigate the murky waters.
1. People will protect your feelings
It’s human nature. Yes, there are the 5% of “mean”participants. But the other 95% don’t want you to walk away sad and dejected.
So you have to cut out validation seeking questions. And remove room for opinions. Hence:
2. The “Mom Test”
Good questions are one’s you could ask your mom. She loves you. She wants you to go out there and build the thing!
The problem is - you can’t tell which participants will answer like your mom. So, your questions must work on anyone. For example:
3. Ask about their life, not your idea
Hypotheticals are mostly worthless. They are essentially opinions. Questions about facts are best.
For example:
4. Ask about specifics in the past
Specifics in the past are the best type of questions:
“And what did you do next?”
“Did that work?”
“How did you feel?”
They get you usable facts. On the other hand:
5. “Do you think this is a good idea?” is worthless
It’s a future hypothetical opinion.
People will protect your feelings:
If they think it’s horrible, they’ll say they’re not sure.
If they think it’s ok, they’ll say good.
6. “Would you buy a product that solves Y?” is also useless
People will again protect your feelings.
A much better question line is what have they bought in the past. Similarly:
7. “How much would you pay for that?” is worse than asking nothing
People can’t forecast willingness to pay. Economists uses conjoint analysis. That’s a step up. But can still be wrong.
The most informative thing is to release to market.
8. “What else have you tried?” IS a great question
It’s a question about past specifics. You can go “5 whys” on them:
Why did you try that?
What benefit did it get you?
Why did you prefer that benefit?
Why did you not use X?
What was your thought process?
9. Redirect fluff
These are all fluff:
Generic claims: “usually, never”
Promises: “would, will”
Hypotheticals: “might, could”
When an interview gets to this space, redirect back to past specifics.
10. Dig into feature requests
It happens often. They request something. Go full question mode:
Why do you want that?
What would that let you?
How are you coping without it?
How would that fit into your day?
Dig the layer deeper beyond what customers ask. Finally:
11. Count to 4 in your head before you speak
Talk less. Listen more. It’s a mantra to take into interviews. Pausing with a count to 4 helps.
Think of customer conversations like archaeological sites. There is valuable information. But, it’s fragile. We need to avoid blunting the fossils.
For more where this came from, check out The Mom Test. I had a blast just finishing it.
Congrats for over 10k
Congrats on the strong growth!