Bangaly Kaba was an early growth PM at Facebook, head of growth at Instagram, and VP of Product at Instacart and is currently Director of Product at YouTube overseeing a global team working on creator monetization. Bangaly has also been a growth advisor to dozens of companies, including Twitter, on the board of multiple companies, and is an active angel investor. In our conversation, we discuss:
• A simple framework for choosing where to work and what to work on
• The importance of “understand work”
• The “adjacent users” theory and how it can help you drive growth
• Advice for coaching product managers
• Invaluable lessons from his time at Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube
• Much more
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Find the transcript and references at: www.lennysnewsletter.com
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Where to find Bangaly Kaba:
• X: twitter.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: twitter.com
• LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Bangaly’s background
(06:31) Choosing where to work and what to work on
(08:39) The impact factor
(10:53) Evaluating the environment
(15:53) The manager component
(18:27) The skills part of the equation
(23:49) Advice on finding a mentor
(25:42) The power of “understand work”
(31:17) Operationalizing understand work
(37:55) Balancing understand work
(41:25) Managing complex change
(45:26) Effective management of product managers
(51:35) The role of product managers as coaches and team leaders
(54:52) Driving growth through flywheels and value proposition
(01:03:14) Understanding adjacent users
(01:08:41) The role of partnerships and SEO in Instagram’s early growth
(01:16:08) The secret behind Instagram’s growth
(01:25:37) Lessons from Facebook
(01:29:15) Failure corner
(01:31:58) Lightning round
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Referenced:
• Impact = Environment x Skills: How to Make Career Decisions: www.reforge.com
• Thinking beyond frameworks | Casey Winters (Pinterest, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Tinder, Canva, Reddit, Grubhub): www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Casey Winters’s blog: caseyaccidental.com
• Ben Thompson’s newsletter: stratechery.com
• Elena Verna on how B2B growth is changing, product-led growth, product-led sales, why you should go freemium not trial, what features to make free, and much more: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• George Lee on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• Bangaly Kaba: The Path to 1 Billion: Lessons Learned from Growing Instagram—CXL LIVE 2018: www.youtube.com
• What Is ‘Dogfooding’?: www.nytimes.com
• Bloom’s taxonomy: en.wikipedia.org
• Kevin Systrom on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• Mike Krieger on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• LeBron James: en.wikipedia.org
• Kobe Bryant: en.wikipedia.org
• Mike Krzyzewski: en.wikipedia.org
• John Calipari: en.wikipedia.org
• Stripe: stripe.com
• Chief: chief.com
• Jobs to be done framework: jobs-to-be-done.com
• The Adjacent User: brianbalfour.com
• How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Alex Zhu on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• From Brush to Canvas with Alex Zhu of Musical.ly: www.youtube.com
• Selena Gomez on Instagram: www.instagram.com
• Kim Kardashian on Instagram: www.instagram.com
• Rob Andrews on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com
• Instagram’s growth speeds up as it hits 700 million users: techcrunch.com
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World: www.amazon.com
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World: www.amazon.com
• Start at the End: How to Build Products That Create Change: www.amazon.com
• Flighty app: www.flightyapp.com
• Adam Grant on Instagram: www.instagram.com
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Production and marketing by penname.co. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
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