LinkedIn’s product evolution and the art of building complex systems | Hari Srinivasan (LinkedIn)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

July 16, 2023

Duration

1h 4m

Channel

Lenny's Podcast

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Hari Srinivasan is VP of Product at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, where he oversees LinkedIn Recruiter, LinkedIn Jobs, and LinkedIn Learning. He’s also a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford University. Previously, he served as the CEO and founder of We Created It, which was acquired by LinkedIn in 2014. Hari has a passion for building products, with experience ranging from creating the first U.S. hybrid SUV to developing a No. 1 app and writing a beloved children’s book. In today’s episode, we discuss:

• LinkedIn’s unique business model and org structure
• How to optimize your LinkedIn experience and improve your chances of getting a PM role
• How to adapt to a skills-first talent market
• The story of Hari’s failed first product review, and how he pivoted for success
• Strategies for building and maintaining complex systems
• How to get into product management

— Brought to you by Miro—A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life | Brave Search API—An independent, global search index you can use to power your search or AI app | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/linkedins-product-evolution-and-the Where to find Hari Srinivasan:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hsrinivasan1/
• Website: https://www.mindofhari.com/

Where to find Lenny:

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

In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Hari’s background (05:04) How Twitter brought Lenny and Hari together (06:32) LinkedIn’s positive evolution, and what they did right (10:14) Specific changes that made LinkedIn’s feed more interesting (11:12) Understanding the algorithm and what kinds of content perform best (12:21) The talent solution product (15:46) The shift to skills-first hiring, and how LinkedIn changed their approach (20:24) The open-to-work signal, and the newly released open-to-internal-work signal (22:13) The PM talent landscape, and tips for landing a PM role (24:55) How to optimize your LinkedIn profile to get noticed by recruiters (28:38) Hari’s first product review at LinkedIn (30:38) LinkedIn’s North Star, and how to operationalize the North Star at any company (33:24) LinkedIn’s members-first value (35:32) Building and maintaining complex systems (38:09) The RAPID framework and the Five-Day Alignment framework (39:51) What LinkedIn looks for in new hires (40:51) The latest innovations at LinkedIn (43:16) LinkedIn Learning (45:00) Hari’s product management course (48:19) Advice for people hoping to get into product management (50:40) How to level up your PM skills (51:57) Hari’s creative side projects (55:02) Lightning round Referenced:

• Tweet from TheCuriousPM: https://twitter.com/zatin_jatin/status/1658616200560254978?s=20
• The Curious PM on Twitter: https://twitter.com/zatin_jatin
• Decision-making at LinkedIn: https://engineering.linkedin.com/blog/2018/03/scaling-decision-making-across-teams-within-linkedin-engineering
• LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning
• Thinking in Systems: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Systems-Donella-H-Meadows/dp/1603580557
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow: https://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-novel-Gabrielle-Zevin/dp/0593321200
• An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us: https://www.amazon.com/Immense-World-Animal-Senses-Reveal/dp/0593133234
• Star Wars on Disney+: https://www.disneyplus.com/brand/star-wars
• Case 63 on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4c9ZKaFtEKweSYOlYvxfvp
• E.T. on Tubi: https://tubitv.com/movies/607451/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial
• BriteBrush: https://www.amazon.com/BriteBrush-Interactive-Smart-Toothbrush-featuring/dp/B07VLL8QH4

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

• Hari Srinivasan

  guest

• Lenny Rachitsky

  host

• Narrator

  other

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Lenny's Podcast, featuring Hari Srinivasan and Lenny Rachitsky, LinkedIn’s product evolution and the art of building complex systems | Hari Srinivasan (LinkedIn) explores linkedIn’s skills-first revolution and secrets to managing complex products Hari Srinivasan, VP of Product for LinkedIn’s Talent Solutions, explains how LinkedIn is evolving from title-based to skills-first hiring and how this shift is reshaping the global job market. He details how LinkedIn navigated COVID-era dislocations (e.g., moving hospitality workers into customer service roles) and how features like Open to Work, company interest signals, and skills profiles increase hiring odds. Hari also breaks down how LinkedIn manages an extremely complex, interconnected product ecosystem through clear mission alignment, decision frameworks, and marketplace thinking. Finally, he discusses LinkedIn Learning, his internal PM ‘university’ turned public course, career advice for aspiring PMs, and his personal bias toward building and side projects.

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