Adriel Frederick is VP of Product Management at Reddit X, where he helps incubate and scale new products. He is a former Product Lead at Facebook (where he was the first black PM), as well as a former PM and Director of Product at Lyft. In today’s episode we focus on what it takes to become a better product leader. Adriel shares anecdotes from his time at Lyft and Facebook, insights about how to lead through tough times, why there isn’t an algorithmic solution to everything, why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission, the tangible benefits of working on diverse teams, and his thoughts on the future of AI. He also introduces the concept of “cannonballs” .
Listen now on Apple, Spotify, Google, Overcast, and YouTube.
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Find the full transcript here: https://www.podpage.com/lennys-podcast/humanizing-product-development-adriel-frederick-reddit-lyft-facebook/#transcript
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Where to find Adriel Frederick:
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/drellf
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adrielfrederick/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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Thank you to our wonderful sponsors for making this episode possible:
• Linear: https://linear.app/lenny
• Flatfile: https://www.flatfile.com/lenny
• Eppo: https://www.geteppo.com/
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Referenced:
• Jules Walter on Twitter: https://twitter.com/julesdwalt?lang=en
• Jules Walter’s guest post on Lenny’s newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-sense
• Mark Zuckerberg on The Joe Rogan Experience: https://open.spotify.com/episode/51gxrAActH18RGhKNza598
• Sam Harris’ Ted Talk on AI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nt3edWLgIg
• Facebook’s 7 friends in 10 days: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-chamath-palihapitya-dramatically-improved-user-malinda-senanayake/
• The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power: https://www.amazon.com/Prize-Epic-Quest-Money-Power/dp/1439110123/
• The New Map: Energy Climate and the Clash of Nations: https://www.amazon.com/New-Map-Energy-Climate-Nations/dp/0143111159/
• Revisionist History podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/revisionist-history/id1119389968
• Tuned In podcast: https://www.hpacademy.com/blog/tuned-in-high-performance-academy-podcast/
• Stream Mo on Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/title/81134264
• Radiant Nuclear: https://www.radiantnuclear.com/
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In this episode, we cover:
(01:10) Adriel’s background
(02:22) What Adriel does at Reddit X
(03:57) Reddit X’s avatar marketplace and NFTs
(05:33) Why R&D teams need to be a part of the core mission
(12:53) What it’s like to be the first black PM at Facebook
(15:38) How to foster diversity
(18:49) Being a PM at controversial companies and how to evaluate criticism
(26:50) Adriel’s most stressful time at Lyft
(29:23) The importance of operational control and what it means
(32:20) Why there isn’t always an algorithmic solution to everything
(40:48) Thoughts on AI
(45:19) Growth hacking and algorithms at Facebook
(51:35) Cannonballs in growth—fundamental changes in the product for optimization
(52:42) Facebook’s 7 friends in 10 days push
(55:12) What is a marginal user and what can you learn from their experience?
(1:01:09) How to think about doing experiments
(1:05:15) Why organization and empathy are the most important skills
(1:10:20) Lightning round
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Humanizing product development | Adriel Frederick (Reddit, Lyft, Facebook)