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Today’s Episode
Poorvi Shrivastav has been a Senior Director at Meta and Salesforce, was a VP at Hubspot, and PM at Microsoft.
Today, we dive into how she navigated, thrived, and got promoted in these ultra-competitive environments.
This is a step-by-step blueprint for those who want to do the same:
Getting Promoted in a Product Career – 00:20:37
Building Products in Large Companies – 00:42:28
Methods for Developing a Strong Product Strategy – 01:09:52
Getting a PM Interview at Meta – 01:16:53
Advice for Reaching the Highest Levels as a PM – 01:23:03
Here are the Key Takeaways
1. Each Product Culture is Different — Adapt or Be Left Behind
PMs who succeed in big tech don’t stick to one playbook.
They adapt to the unique needs of each culture.
Poorvi’s experience highlights how these differences shaped her growth:
Microsoft: Relentless execution, task completion, and program management.
Salesforce: Strategic thinking, customer-driven decisions, and platform-wide impact.
Meta: High-speed decision-making driven by experimentation and iteration.
HubSpot: Simple, minimalistic workflows focused on building scalable success.
2. Becoming a Leader at Big Tech
Promotions aren’t handed out to those chasing titles.
Instead, growth comes from mastering key areas:
Deliver outcomes, not outputs → Don’t just ship features; solve core business problems.
Build trust with stakeholders → Align cross-functional teams and leadership by consistently delivering on promises.
Obsess over users → Always ground decisions in customer needs, feedback, and data.
Promotions will inevitably come when you’ve earned it.
3. Writing is Everything
Writing is an essential PM superpower that leads to better thinking and decisions.
She emphasized that PMs should:
→ Draft key documents themselves (problem statements, PRDs, strategy docs) to ensure they reflect customer insights.
→ Spend time understanding customers’ problems before writing to capture real needs.
→ Use AI only as a tool to enhance clarity, not replace thinking.
Clear writing = clear thinking = strong product decisions. Don’t outsource it.
Where to find Poorvi
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Up Next
We have some great podcasts coming from Mike Davey (VP of Product, RaptorMaps), Marily Nika (AI PM at Google, Former Meta), and Abhishek Viswanathan (2x Former CPO: Qualtrics, Apollo.io). I’m excited to share them.
In the newsletter, check out the latest piece if you haven’t yet: The Product Launch Playbook 🚀 What PMs and Builders Miss About Go-To-Market
And look out for these pieces up next:
Candidate-Market Fit: The Advanced Guide for PMs
How Jira Product Discovery Grows
Advanced Tactics: Product Strategy Interview
Cheers,
Aakash
