Jiaona Zhang: Why All Product Teams Should Have a Scorecard & How to Use It | E1154

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

May 17, 2024

Duration

58m

Channel

The Twenty Minute VC

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Jiaona “JZ” Zhang is the Chief Product Officer at Linktree, the world’s leading link-in-bio platform empowering 45M+ creators, brands and SMBs. JZ joined Linktree from Webflow, where she served as SVP of Product. Before that, she spent four years at Airbnb where she built and led numerous teams on the host side. JZ’s also held leadership roles at the likes of Wework, Dropbox and teaches at Stanford University and Reforge. ----------------------------------------------- Timestamps: (00:00) Intro (00:40) Entry Into the World of Product (02:28) Advice for Entering Product Management (03:10) Balancing Speed, Scope & Quality (06:01) Managing Feedback Cycles (07:51) Documenting Data & Learnings (10:34) Creating a KPI Tree (13:12) Different Metrics for Different Teams (16:40) The Paradox of Planning (26:01) Building Successful Product Teams (30:27) Rituals for Effective Product Development (37:52) Hiring Product People (43:16) Navigating a Rapidly Changing Landscape (53:06) Quick-Fire Round ----------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Jiaona Zhang We Discuss:

1. Entry into the World of Product: How did JZ first fall in love with product? Why does JZ believe the best PMs have experience in the gaming industry? Does JZ think Linktree could be a $100BN business? How could Linktree become a $100BN business?

1. Mastering Product Metrics: Why does JZ think product is the most chameleon role? Where does product start & end? Why does JZ think every function should have tension with product? What is a KPI tree? How does JZ branch business & product metrics? When does JZ think startups should set up a metric infrastructure? What are the three levers of product? How does JZ determine which ones to trade off? 3.How to Run Product: Planning, Strategy, & Rituals: Why does JZ think planning should not exist? What are strategy and rituals? When should founders do either? What are JZ’s three core rituals? What is the scorecard method? How do they help team transparency? What are product jams? When does it work? When does it not work?

1. Product Career Advice: When does JZ think founders should hire a product person? What are the most common mistakes early stage founders make when hiring for product? Does JZ think domain expertise is important? What does she look for in product hires? What is JZ’s advice to PMs who want to get promoted today? What is JZ’s advice to young people who want to get into product? ----------------------------------------------- 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 Jiaona Zhang on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jiaonazhang 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 #jiaonazhang #jz #linktree #productleader #cpo #venturecapital #startup #hiring #webflow #airbnb #projectmanagement #wework

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Jiaona “JZ” Zhang

  guest

• Harry Stebbings

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of The Twenty Minute VC, featuring Jiaona “JZ” Zhang and Harry Stebbings, Jiaona Zhang: Why All Product Teams Should Have a Scorecard & How to Use It | E1154 explores scorecards, Strategy, And Speed: JZ’s Playbook For Modern Product Teams Jiaona Zhang (“JZ”) outlines a practical operating system for product organizations built around speed of learning, uncompromising quality, and a deliberate trade-off on scope. She introduces the idea of KPI trees to tightly connect product work to business outcomes, and company-wide scorecards as a core ritual for transparency and cross-functional alignment.

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