Inside TikTok: Culture, strategy, monetization, and more | Ray Cao

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

March 7, 2024

Duration

1h 12m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Ray (Jiayi) Cao is the global head of product strategy and operations for monetization product at TikTok. Prior to TikTok, Ray spent six years at Google helping scale Google Shopping globally. In our conversation, we discuss:

• TikTok’s internal culture and core values
• How TikTok’s product team operates
• How working at TikTok is different from working at Google
• How TikTok rolls out to new markets
• TikTok’s core principle of “context, not control”
• How their sales and product teams work together
• Lessons (and mistakes) from building TikTok’s early go-to-market team
• The importance of hiring for quality rather than quantity
• Insights on being successful on TikTok as a creator, a business, and an advertiser

— Brought to you by:

• WorkOS—The modern API for auth & user identity: https://workos.com/lenny
• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://www.geteppo.com/
• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny

Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-tiktok-culture-strategy-monetization Where to find Ray Cao:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jiayiraycao/ Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Ray’s background (04:55) Cultural differences between Google and TikTok (08:24) Fine-tuning the algorithm for different markets (12:15) Examples of fine-tuning the algorithm (15:11) Core principles and values of TikTok (19:34) Hiring at TikTok (21:38) Embracing the “always day one” mentality (25:09) Collaboration between teams (28:38) Amazon’s cultural influence (31:14) Setting up the product organization for speed and innovation (35:38) Building the go-to-market team (40:18) What makes people successful at TikTok (43:02) Thoughts on putting in long hours (44:40) OKRs and planning at TikTok (49:12) Tips for how to be successful on TikTok (53:49) Tips for advertising on TikTok (01:04:03) Getting started with TikTok Ads (01:08:42) Common mistakes to avoid with TikTok advertising (01:09:44) Ray’s favorite TikTok account (01:10:54) Where to find Ray Referenced:

• TikTok: https://tiktok.com/
• Google Shopping: https://shopping.google.com/
• Eugene Wei’s blog: https://www.eugenewei.com/
• TikTok and the Sorting Hat: https://www.eugenewei.com/blog/2020/8/3/tiktok-and-the-sorting-hat
• How Netflix builds a culture of excellence | Elizabeth Stone (CTO): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/how-netflix-builds-a-culture-of-excellence-elizabeth-stone-cto/
• Inside OpenAI | Logan Kilpatrick (head of developer relations): https://www.lennyspodcast.com/inside-openai-logan-kilpatrick-head-of-developer-relations/
• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-cheskys-new-playbook/
• Lead with Context not Control: https://www.svpg.com/lead-with-context-not-control/
• Shuba on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tiktokbrownchick
• Duolingo on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@duolingo
• Duolingo leagues: https://duolingo.fandom.com/wiki/League
• CapCut: https://www.capcut.com/
• Amanda Talijan (silent baby item reviews) on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@amanda_talijan/video/7321700482018233642

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com. Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Ray (Jiayi) Cao

  guest

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Lenny Rachitsky and Ray (Jiayi) Cao, Inside TikTok: Culture, strategy, monetization, and more | Ray Cao explores inside TikTok: Culture, speed, and winning with ads at scale Lenny chats with Ray Cao, TikTok’s Global Head of Monetization Product Strategy and Operations, about how TikTok operates internally and how businesses can succeed on the platform. They dive into TikTok’s core cultural principles—especially “context, not control” and “always day one”—and how those values shape hiring, org design, and cross-functional collaboration. Ray contrasts TikTok with Google and US-born tech companies, emphasizing global-first product strategy and tight alignment between product, engineering, and sales. The conversation then shifts to practical advice for creators and advertisers on TikTok, including creative strategy, testing cadence, common mistakes, and why TikTok should be treated differently from Meta and Google.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

How to build a company that withstands any era | Eric Ries, Lean Startup author

Head of Claude Code: What happens after coding is solved | Boris Cherny

Building product at Stripe: craft, metrics, and customer obsession | Jeff Weinstein (Product lead)

Building a world-class data org | Jessica Lachs (VP of Analytics and Data Science at DoorDash)

What most people miss about marketing | Rory Sutherland (Vice Chairman of Ogilvy UK, author)

5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker)