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Noah Weiss: How to Master Product-Led Growth; Scaling PLG to Enterprise at Google & Slack | E1026

Noah Weiss is the Chief Product Officer of Slack, overseeing the product team’s strategy and development. Over his seven years at Slack, Noah has led various parts of the product organization, including the self-service SMB business and product-led growth; the Virtual HQ team that launched huddles and clips; and the search and machine learning teams. Prior to Slack, Noah served as SVP of Product and Analytics at Foursquare. He started his career at Google leading the structured data search team and working on display ads. ------------------------------------------- Timestamps: 0:00 What Noah Learned at Google 3:01 What Noah Learned at Foursquare 8:28 What are your product principles? 16:15 How To Do Product Reviews 17:50 How Slack Changed for Hybrid Work 24:19 How To Maintain Simplicity with Scale 30:49 Is innovation slowing at Slack? 33:49 Problems Startups Face Scaling to Enterprise 41:38 How To Know a Product Is Working 45:35 Mergers & Acquisitions 50:28 What Product Wisdom is BS 52:45 Quick-Fire Round 54:31 Is Product Art or Science? ------------------------------------------- In Today’s Episode with Noah Weiss We Discuss: 1.) Entry into Product and Road to Slack CPO: How did Noah make his first foray into the world of product with Google? What are 1-2 of his single biggest takeaways from his time with Google and Foursquare? What model did Noah learn at Google that he applies to product today? 2.) Product 101: The Foundations: Is product more art or science? If Noah were to put a number on it what would it be? What are product principles? What makes good vs bad product principles? What are the biggest mistakes that founders make when instilling product principles? Does Noah believe with Gustav Soderstrom, “talk is cheap and so we should do more of it”? 3.) How to Master Product-Led-Growth: What are some of Noah’s biggest lessons on how to master PLG? What are the biggest mistakes Noah sees early stage founders make today when going for the PLG approach? How does he advise them? When is the right time to move into enterprise? What needs to change? How do you change who you build product for? The buyer or the user? Why does Noah believe product speed will always be the most important thing in product? 4.) The Internals of Slack: How does Slack do post-mortems today? Who comes? Who sets the agenda? How has this changed in a world of remote? What does it take to do them well? How do Slack do product testing pre-launch of new products? Do they know when something is going to be a hit? What did they think would be a massive hit that turned into a flop? What does Noah believe is the biggest near death product experience for Slack? What happened? How did they get through it? Why do Slack buy other companies? How do they think through the decision of buy vs build? When do acquisitions work? When do they not work? ------------------------------------------- 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 Noah Weiss on Twitter: https://twitter.com/noah_weiss Follow 20VC on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/20vc_reels 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 ------------------------------------------- #NoahWeiss #Slack #HarryStebbings

Noah WeissguestHarry Stebbingshost
Jun 15, 20231h 2mWatch on YouTube ↗

At a glance

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Noah Weiss on renewing product-market fit and scaling product-led growth

  1. Noah Weiss, CPO at Slack, reflects on product lessons from Google, Foursquare, and Slack, focusing on portfolio thinking, speed, and continuously renewing product‑market fit as markets and users evolve.
  2. He explains how Slack scaled from a 5–50 person team tool into an enterprise platform by listening deeply to new customer types, building product principles, and balancing end‑user delight with enterprise buyer requirements.
  3. Weiss breaks down what truly drives product‑led growth: consumer‑grade UX at work, smart freemium and trials, and prioritizing the daily end user even in large enterprises.
  4. He also covers operating mechanics—product reviews, hybrid collaboration, PLG mistakes, when to move upmarket, buy‑vs‑build, PM career advice, and the art/science balance in modern product management.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Continuously renew product‑market fit as audiences and context change.

Weiss argues PMF is not a permanent state; Foursquare’s early success faded as user types evolved and competitors like Instagram shifted behavior. Great product teams proactively re‑learn new segments and adapt the product before momentum stalls.

Use portfolio thinking (e.g., 70/20/10) but don’t worship fixed ratios.

From Google he adopted the idea of intentionally allocating most effort to core improvements, some to scaling new bets, and a slice to far‑out ideas—while stressing that each team and company stage justifies its own mix.

Codify product principles early to scale founder taste and speed decisions.

Slack introduced simple, memorable principles like “be a great host” and “don’t make me think” once Stewart couldn’t be in every room, giving teams a shared language to judge quality and make faster, decentralized calls.

Distinguish two‑way vs one‑way door decisions to maintain speed.

Most feature decisions are reversible and should be made quickly by teams; truly hard‑to‑reverse calls (e.g., pricing, brand, multi‑year bets) deserve more debate and executive involvement so “talk is cheaper than a bad decision” only in those cases.

In PLG, pair generous freemium with a compelling, guided paid trial.

Slack long relied on freemium alone, then realized many users didn’t even know a ‘full’ Slack existed. A strong, in‑product trial that showcases premium value and walks users through it dramatically boosted self‑serve conversion.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

The most important feature by far for any product is actually speed.

— Noah Weiss

Product‑market fit isn’t something you unlock and then have forever; you have to keep renewing it as your audience and the world change.

— Noah Weiss

Why does someone at work deserve a software experience that feels so much more painful than what they use on nights and weekends?

— Noah Weiss

If we have to choose who we’re serving above all else, it’s the end user who’s living in Slack for ten hours a week.

— Noah Weiss

Deliver impact. Everything else is an input.

— Noah Weiss

Lessons from Google and Foursquare: portfolio strategy, speed, and renewing product‑market fitProduct principles as a way to scale founder/product cultureProduct reviews, decision‑making speed, and hybrid collaboration ritualsBuilding and evolving product‑led growth at Slack (freemium, trials, PLG motion)Balancing SMB vs enterprise needs and timing the move upmarketBuy vs build, acquisitions, and integration challengesProduct leadership philosophy: PM role, org design, metrics, and PM career advice

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