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Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)
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Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)

Nikhyl Singhal on why half of product managers are at risk, how to cross the reinvention threshold, and why the next two years will be chaotic for PMs

Nikhyl Singhal is the founder of The Skip, a community for senior product leaders; a former product exec at Meta, Google, and Credit Karma; and a many-time founder. He’s also one of the most honest, unfiltered voices on what’s actually happening in product management right now.

In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:

  1. Why the next two years will be the most chaotic period in product management history

  2. Why half of current product managers are at risk, and what separates those who’ll do well

  3. Why you need to find your “moments of joy” with AI

  4. The “smiling exhaustion” he’s seeing across the product community

  5. The psychological barriers that prevent people from reinventing themselves

  6. Why your resume’s fancy logos matter less than ever, and what matters now

  7. His prediction that companies will shed 30,000 people and rehire 8,000—all AI-first


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Where to find Nikhyl Singhal:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl

• X: https://x.com/nikhyl

• Podcast & Newsletter: https://skip.show

• Skip Community: https://skip.community

• Skip Coach: https://skip.coach

• Skip.help: https://skip.help

Referenced:

• Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career

• COBOL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL

• United Airlines: https://www.united.com

• State of the product job market in early 2026: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/state-of-the-product-job-market-in-ee9

• Head of Growth (Anthropic): “Claude is growing itself at this point” | Amol Avasare: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-1b-to-19b-growth-run

• Demis Hassabis on X: https://x.com/demishassabis

• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama

• Dario Amodei on X: https://x.com/DarioAmodei

Cross on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Season-1/dp/B0D6X7ZZHC

Jack Ryan on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Jack-Ryan/dp/B0CNDCMN8R

24 on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/24-Season-1/dp/B000HPF85A

• Claude Code: https://code.claude.com

• Codex: https://chatgpt.com/codex

• Lovable: https://lovable.dev

• Sonos: https://www.sonos.com

• “There are only four jobs” on X: https://x.com/yrechtman/status/2039012253341495462

Paradise on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/paradise-2b4b8988-50c9-4097-bf93-bc34a99a5b4f

Lioness on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/lioness

• Tesla: https://www.tesla.com

• Albert Einstein’s quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/115696-genius-is-1-talent-and-99-percent-hard-work

Recommended books:

James: https://www.amazon.com/James-Novel-Percival-Everett/dp/0385550367

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Unabridged-Uncensored/dp/195483943X


Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.


My biggest takeaways from this conversation:

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