Twitter’s ex-Head of Product on Elon, consumer products, culture, more | Kayvon Beykpour

Kayvon Beykpour was the longest-serving head of product at Twitter and was GM of Twitter’s consumer division until the platform was acquired by Elon Musk. He originally joined Twitter in 2015 through the acquisition of his company, Periscope, the largest live video streaming platform at the time. Periscope pioneered technology that inspired Instagram Live, TikTok Live, Facebook Live, and other social networks’ expansion into video streaming. In our conversation, we discuss: • The story of being let go from Twitter after Elon’s acquisition • How he turned Twitter’s stagnant culture around • Kayvon’s thoughts on the limitations of frameworks like Jobs to Be Done • Why Periscope failed • Advice for building consumer products • When to copy, when to innovate — Brought to you by: • Enterpret—Transform customer feedback into product growth: https://enterpret.com/lenny • OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster: https://oneschema.co/lenny • Heap—Cross-platform product analytics that convert, engage, and retain customers: https://www.heap.io/lenny Find the transcript and references at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/twitters-former-head-of-product-kayvon-beykpour Where to find Kayvon Beykpour: • X: https://twitter.com/kayvz • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kayvz/ 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) Kayvon’s background (04:31) Getting Elon up to speed at Twitter (11:34) The story of being let go from Twitter after Elon’s acquisition (21:09) Changing the product culture at Twitter (29:44) Building the “hide replies” feature (32:02) Sacred crows, taking bold bets, and reigniting growth (34:28) Aquihires and their impact (42:40) Tips for successful acquisitions and staffing (47:00) The limitations of frameworks like JTBD (53:20) Signs you’ve gone too far with a framework (57:44) Lessons from building Periscope (01:00:41) Reasons why Periscope failed (01:07:24) The challenges of implementing video at Twitter (01:12:05) Copying ideas in good taste (01:17:58) How to get better at building consumer products (01:19:51) What Kayvon is building (01:20:31) Lightning round 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.