Janie Lee: Three Core Skills that Make the Best PMs | E1165

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

June 14, 2024

Duration

1h 6m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Janie Lee is the Head of Product and the owner of the Self-Serve business at Loom. Janie previously worked at Rippling, leading the Identity Management and Hardware teams. Prior to that, she worked at Opendoor launching markets and developing pricing algorithms. During this time, Opendoor scaled from 2 to 20+ markets, $5B+ revenue, and 1500+ employees. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:57) A Journey into Product World (02:19) Lessons from Opendoor (07:09) Lessons from Rippling (11:12) Art vs. Science in Product (26:29) From Consumer Product to Enterprise Solution (32:58) Roadmap vs. Revenue (34:18) What Makes a Truly Great PM (43:19) How to Structure Hiring Process (54:23) How to Do Product Reviews (01:00:29) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Janie Lee We Discuss:

1. Inside the Product Building Machine of Rippling and Opendoor: What are Janie’s single biggest product lessons from Rippling? How do they build so much product so fast? Can you have breadth and high quality? What are Janie’s biggest lessons from Opendoor on talent and pricing? What does Janie know now that she wishes she had known when she started her product career?

1. What Makes a Truly Great PM: What core skills do the best PMs have? What is the difference between good vs great? Writing: What are Janie’s biggest pieces of advice to PMs who want to write better? Communicate: How do the best PMs and product leaders communicate with their teams? Question Asking: How do the best PMs ask questions of their team and other orgs?

1. How to Find and Pick the Best PMs: How does Janie structure the interview process when hiring new PMs? What questions should one ask in every interview with a PM? Does Janie do a case study? What is she looking to achieve from it? How do the best do? What are Janie’s biggest mistakes in hiring PMs? How did she change from it?

1. Onboarding PMs and Crushing Product Reviews: What do the first 30 days look like for new PMs? What are the biggest signs that a new PM is not going to work out? How does the product review process work at Loom? How does Janie prioritise when there is so much volume and data? How has AI changed the way Loom builds products today? ----------------------------------------------- Subscribe on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3j2KMcZTtgTNBKwtZBMHvl?si=85bc9196860e4466 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-twenty-minute-vc-20vc-venture-capital-startup/id958230465 Follow Harry Stebbings on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarryStebbings Follow Loom on Twitter: https://twitter.com/loom Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vchq Follow 20VC on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@20vc_tok Visit our Website: https://www.20vc.com Subscribe to our Newsletter: https://www.thetwentyminutevc.com/contact ----------------------------------------------- #20vc #harrystebbings #janielee #loom #rippling #venturecapital #product #opendoor #parkerconrad #hiring #pm

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Janie Lee

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Janie Lee and Harry Stebbings, Janie Lee: Three Core Skills that Make the Best PMs | E1165 explores janie Lee Reveals Core Product Skills, Talent Density, and Enterprise Shifts Janie Lee, Head of Product at Loom (now within Atlassian), unpacks the skills and mindsets that differentiate great product managers, emphasizing business acumen, product taste, writing, and question-asking. Drawing on experience at Opendoor and Rippling, she explains how low-margin businesses sharpen pricing discipline, why talent density accelerates careers, and what makes a visionary product leader. She breaks down Loom’s transition from pure PLG to enterprise, including pricing, packaging, and making revenue growth a conscious North Star without sacrificing engagement. Throughout, she offers tactical frameworks for hiring PMs, running product reviews, developing product intuition, and using AI as a tool—not a goal—in product strategy.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Inside Legora: Jude Law Generated $50M Pipeline | Are They Undervalued at $5.5BN? | Patrick Forquer

Cliff Weitzman: What I Learned from 100 of the World’s Top CEOs & Why Tokens Will Outspend Salaries

Shopify CEO on How AI is a Scapegoat for Mass Layoffs & Trump Derangement Syndrome in Canada

Inside Clay's Sales Playbook | Becca Lindquist

Jackie Reses: The Most Powerful Woman in Finance; Making $50BN for Yahoo on Alibaba | E996

Tom Hulme & Stan Boland: Lessons from Jensen Huang & How to Fix the UK Tech Ecosystem