Product lessons from Waymo | Shweta Shrivastava (Waymo, Amazon, Cisco)

Shweta Shrivastava is a Senior Product Leader at Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company backed by Alphabet. Prior to joining Waymo, she was the CPO of Nauto, where she also worked on AI-assisted driver tools. Shweta has worked in product for over 15 years in senior roles at several companies, including Amazon and Cisco. In today’s episode, we discuss: • How Waymo builds trust with riders • Product management at Waymo vs software-only products • The state of self-driving technology • The importance of being a disruptor and why large companies need to disrupt more • Underrated product management skills — Brought to you by Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security | Public—Invest in stocks, treasuries, crypto, and more | LMNT—Zero-sugar hydration Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/product-lessons-from-waymo-shweta-shrivastava-waymo-amazon-cisco/#transcript Where to find Shweta Shriva • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shshrivastava/ 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) Shweta’s background (03:47) What Shweta and her team are responsible for at Waymo (05:30) About the autonomous driving vehicle hardware, software, and simulation tools  (08:14) Differences in working at Waymo vs. a more traditional software company (11:02) How Waymo builds trust with riders and the difference between driver assist and fully autonomous (13:57) An example of how Waymo builds trust with riders (15:55) The commercial, operational, and system behavior metrics Waymo uses  (20:38) What are L5 autonomous vehicles and why Shweta thinks L4 vehicles are good enough (22:53) How to keep investors enthusiastic when it’s a long-term investment (25:24) Building successful teams and successful products (26:39) Determining what you’re not building, especially before product-market-fit (27:49) Why large companies need to disrupt their own models  (29:33) The most underrated product management skills (33:07) Tips for getting promoted (35:19) Where is Waymo and how to try it out (36:46) Lightning round Referenced: • Waymo: https://waymo.com/ • Nauto: https://www.nauto.com/ • Working Backwards: Insights, Stories, and Secrets from Inside Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Working-Backwards-Insights-Stories-Secrets/dp/1250267595 • Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers: https://www.amazon.com/Crossing-Chasm-3rd-Disruptive-Mainstream/dp/0062292986 • The Innovator's Dilemma: When New Technologies Cause Great Firms to Fail: https://www.amazon.com/Innovators-Dilemma-Technologies-Management-Innovation/dp/1633691780 • Top Gun: Maverick on Amazon Prime: https://www.amazon.com/Top-Gun-Maverick-Tom-Cruise/dp/B0B18G8R9B Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.