Model Companies
- Stripe, Airbnb, Doordash
- Could be interesting (but no knowledge of product talent/culture): Coupang, Shopify, Bytedance (non-US)
Mission:
- Consistently deliver a product users love fast that moves the business forward
Outcomes (18 months):
- Build a world-class product team
- Grow product team from ~5 to over 20+ world-class product managers with strong product sense, amazing executional ability, and strong XFN skills
- Build a user-first product culture aligned to Whatnot’s principles
- Ensure everyone on the team is an avid user of the product and deeply understands all core components of the business
- Deliver a product that user’s love and achieves our business goals fast
- Ensure the product supports and helps unlocks $700M/mo in GMV sales
- Ensure Whatnot is a trusted brand amongst buyers and sellers
- Deliver a world-class discovery product that ensures buyers find and discover things they’ll love
- Generate over $100M+/mo in async sales on Whatnot
- Build the best XFN product team
- Ensure the entire XFN product team is the top-executing team amongst growth-stage companies
- Develop strong roadmaps and team visions & strategies for product pods that enable us to hit upon our business goals faster & build better products for our users
- Ensure Whatnot is capable of quickly and effectively launch into all core verticals and countries
- Ensure the Whatnot product and team is capable of launching a compelling product in all core verticals we want to enter (Collectibles, Cars, Food & Beverage, Home & Garden, Fashion, Electronics, Healthy, Art, Crafts, and Beauty & Digital)
- Enable $10M+/mo in sales in 5+ product verticals
- Drive $100M/mo in sales from outside the US
- Drive sustainable growth through Whatnot’s product
- Help develop sustainable growth channels that consistently drive 60%+ of Whatnot’s growth (sharing, SEO, referral and more)
- Ensure Whatnot’s channels and funnel are optimized to drive strong growth
Competencies
Top 5
- Team-builder: Is adept at judging talent both for skill and cultural fit. Has built exceptionally strong product teams in the past that have executed and delivered strong product roadmaps quickly
- Strong product instincts: Can step outside of the numbers to understand what makes a great product for users, and think the product pieces need to bring this to live
- Great executer: Can cut through the noise, make swift decisions, and ensure the team is set to deliver on their roadmap with few missteps. Can do this in the product team and amongst XFN stakeholders
- Has seen a best-in-class company scale from a ~200 people to 1k+ in a product role with significant scope
- Has worked in multiple different roles and environments, so doesn’t just default to previous way of solving a problem
Qualities (In order of importance)
- Exhibits characteristics of Whatnot’s culture
- Team-builder: Is adept at judging talent both for skill and cultural fit. Has built exceptionally strong product teams in the past that have executed and delivered strong product roadmaps quickly
- Strong product instincts: Can step outside of the numbers to understand what makes a great product for users, and think the product pieces need to bring this to live
- Great executer: Can cut through the noise, make swift decisions, and ensure the team is set to deliver on their roadmap with few missteps. Can do this in the product team and amongst XFN stakeholders
- Oriented towards speed vs. perfection: Knows that great software is made iteratively, and not through perfection. Comfortable shipping MVPs, and moving quickly to make them better
- Exceptional communicator: Can easily communicate complex ideas, and align XFN teams on the roadmap and work we must achieve to bring the company forward
- Highly analytical: Incredibly analytical. Easily able to gain mastery of the core elements that drive a business, and has a command of business metrics than rivals anyone within any organization
- Great partner: Can easily with with a large number of XFN stakeholders and bring teams together to produce incredible outputs
- Strategic: Understands how to invest in the product and roadmap give a business increased advantage over time
- Risk taker: Willing to comfortably make bets that could change the trajectory of our business
Previous Experience (In order of importance):
- Has worked in multiple different roles and environments, so doesn’t just default to previous way of solving a problem
- Has seen a best-in-class company scale from a ~200 people to 1k+ in a product role with significant scope
- Has managed a PM team of 20+
- Has worked in an eng-first organization
- Has built successful 0-1 products in the past (ideally, as a founder)
- Has experience in a marketplace business
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