#27 Pitching, thinking big, characteristics of great founding teams, and more | Cecilie Skjong (Skyfall Ventures)
My guest today is Cecilie Skjong, Investment Manager at Skyfall Ventures - a Norwegian early-stage venture capital fund.As a founder, nailing your pitch, thinking big and challenging yourself to be more visionary, and quickly testing your ideas to get a sense of the market pull are crucial.And the same applies to a cross-functional team building a new product in a scale-up. The same applies to a product leader leading a new opportunity in a large organization.After being exposed to hundreds of pitches and investing in several early-stage ventures, Cecilie shared with me:* Characteristics of great founding teams* The importance of drive and resilience when testing ideas and building products* Early signs of market pull* Thinking big and the importance of Vision* How to craft a great pitch* The power of Founder-led Sales* The importance of understanding your macro trends (Waves)* The state of the Norwegian startup scene* And moreIf you’re a founder, I recommend pairing this episode with:* Episode 1: Testing Ideas with David Bland, co-author of the book Testing Business Ideas written together with Alex Osterwalder* Episode 9: Understanding Jobs to be Done with Bob Moesta, co-creator of the JTBD framework together with Clayton Christensen* Episode 19: Nailing your Positioning with April Dunford, bestselling author of one of the most well-known marketing books out there This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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#26 Stepping into product leadership, making time for discovery, building products collaboratively, and more | Frederik Hansen (CPO at Ignite)
Today's episode is with my friend Frederik Hansen - CPO at Ignite. Ignite is a leading sustainable procurement platform that enables companies to take control of their purchasing from suppliers, comply with regulations, and reduce costs, emissions, and risks - all in one place.Before Ignite, Frederik was CPO at Bookis. He is also the co-founder of Produktleder.no - the largest community for product managers in Norway - and a co-organizer of the ProductTank in Oslo. A true contributor to the product community in Norway. In this conversation, Frederik and I discussed: * Starting a CPO role with a 1-month grace period* Healthy principles in strong product teams* Cross-functional collaboration in practice * Making time for discovery at Ignite * Creating an environment for product teams to thrive* Examples from Frederik’s journey on how to test ideas fast using different techniques* What Frederik looks for in a PM (traits)* And moreEnjoy :) Hey there, Afonso here 👋I've interviewed more than 30 Product leaders in Scandinavia, and this is one of those conversations. Subscribe for free so you don’t miss out on future interviews! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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#25 Building products in different contexts: big tech, scaleups, and startups | Melissa Mills (Ardoq, Kahoot!, Google)
Today's guest is Melissa Mills, VP of Product at Ardoc, former Director of Product at Kahoot!, and former Global Product Lead at Google in San Francisco.Ardoc is a fast-growing scale-up in Norway, recognized by Gartner as a leading Enterprise Architecture Tool.Their Series D raise is one of the five largest private funding rounds by a Norwegian tech business.Many enterprise companies like Carlsberg Group are choosing Ardoc, and this episode will give you an insider view of how they build their products.Melissa and I talked about:- Ardoc's growth and product journey- Product management in big tech, startups, and scale-ups- Product Managers' valuable traits according to company stage- The importance of domain knowledge in B2B- How Product and Sales should partner- Onboarding product teams- Cultural differences between doing Product in Norway versus Silicon Valley- And so much more_💪 Companies I think you should know about:UX Signals - Don’t let your busy schedule stop you from talking to users.Automatically recruit interviews and user tests with people who are using your product. Talk to them while their user experience is still fresh in their mind.Used by big companies like DNB Bank, Vipps MobilePay, NAV, and many more.Tell them Afonso sent you, and get 50% off your trial!Know more here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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#24 Product Operating Model inside Norway's best mobile bank | Thomas Allan Nygaard (Sparebank1)
Would you like to know how Norway's best mobile bank builds its products?Today's guest is Thomas Allan Nygaard - Product Leader at Sparebank 1, one of the largest banks in Norway and named Norway's best mobile bank.Thomas and his team are constantly trying to push their boundaries and this conversation walks you through their ongoing journey into adopting and continuously adjusting their product operating model.We covered:* Sparebank's journey from breaking the monolith* How their teams approach discovery and risk reduction* Balancing just enough discovery and risk-taking* The power of small autonomous teams* Why feedback from Beta users can be dangerous* Product Strategy as problem-solving* Using OKRs and other techniques to increase focus* Why organizational and team focus start with each individual* And moreListen now: Apple | Spotify | Youtube_💪 Companies I think you should know about:UX Signals - Don’t let your busy schedule stop you from talking to users.Automatically recruit interviews and user tests with people who are using your product. Talk to them while their user experience is still fresh in their mind.Used by big companies like DNB Bank, Vipps MobilePay, NAV, and many more.Tell them Afonso sent you, and get 50% off your trial!Know more here This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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#23 The "product" movement's impact on Design, tips to navigate transformation, Design Leadership, and more | Beth Stensen (Posten Bring, Netlife, Ruter)
My guest today is Beth Stensen.Beth is a gem in the Design world in Norway.She was Head of Design at Ruter (the company responsible for the plan, coordination, order and market of public transport in Oslo & Akershus), she then became the CEO at Netlife (famous for their Y Oslo Conference), and now she's the Head of Design at Posten Bring - the leading post company in the Nordics.Beth has a lot of experience with transformations and this conversation is packed with insights and advice from her journey - as well as reflections on the Product Movement and how it's impacting Design, and its future.We covered:* The “Product” Movement and its impact to Design* Making room for the intangibles* Reflections on “tension” between Design and Product* Ruter’s transformational journey* A practical example of what a great Product Vision looks like* Tips to navigate transformation as a Designer and Design leader* Insights from Beth’s journey at Posten Bring so far* The Future of Design* And moreI really loved talking with Beth. There’s so much wisdom here. I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did :) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit afonsofranco.substack.com
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