You are a product manager. Or you want to be. As the fearless leader for your product, you need to be the best-informed and most up-to-date member of your team. From market trends to failed startups, your knowledge of the product ecosystem is critical if you’re going to succeed. Which you will. Ready?
Don’t waste your precious time reinventing the wheel. While each product has its own unique set of challenges, plenty of product folks have been in your shoes before. Learn from their mistakes and accomplishments, then iterate and innovate your own path. We rounded up five of the best podcasts for product managers so you can make big decisions, build your team, and make products people love. And do it better than before. Next time you reach for headphones tune into one of these shows.
Building products is tough; sometimes, all you want is someone to tell you exactly what to do. Welcome to StartUp Podcast, where the hosts take you inside of the world of starting a business. Each week, they discuss what they’re working on, with valuable lessons learned and step-by-step insights. Product Management instructor Douglas Hwang is a fan. “It’s a real life look into starting a product/company,” he said. He also likes Reply All, made by same group of people as StartUp but covering broader topics, which will keep you in the know about tech culture.
This series takes on one aspect of product management at a time through interviews and plain-speak episode titles like “Simplicity is Product Management” and “User Experience is Product Management.” Maybe the question should be “What isn’t product management?” This newer podcast is barely a year old but already has a loyal following for its dedication to the topic of discussion and accessible, storytelling discussion-style. Whatever challenge you are currently tackling, read the episode titles and you’re sure to find a solution.
There are few names more associated with product management success than Ryan Hoover, founder of Product Hunt, which he famously built in four days. Drawing from his own experiences, Hoover knows the perfect questions to ask in each episode. The long-form interviews seek as much information as possible, geeking out and digging in to better understand what goes into great products.
How do you go from product manager to product master? That’s what Chad McAllister aims to answer in this weekly podcast. In each episode, he interviews product management masters, experts working in the field, who talk about their biggest challenges and the journeys that brought them to build great products. When you need to hear from practitioners who have been in the PM game for a while, this is your go-to series.
“If you’re offered a seat on a rocket ship, don’t ask what seat. Just get on.” The best advice Sheryl Sandberg ever received is also the driving idea behind this podcast. Each episode gets advice from experts who have built products before, learning tips about success and fast growth. Talks posted on the website are sorted by topics such as customer acquisition and self-funding, making it easy to find the precise advice you’re looking for. Listen in on interviews from leaders at companies like HubSpot, Skillcrush, and DuckDuckGo all in about thirty minutes so you can get back to crushing it.
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