How to build your product team from scratch, attract top product talent, go multi-product, and more

Rohini Pandhi is a product leader at Mercury, and previously spent over seven years at Square/Block leading product work on Square payments, invoicing, and the Bitkey hardware Bitcoin wallet. She’s also the co-founder of the startup bootcamp Transparent Collective and is an active angel investor. In our conversation, we discuss:
• Key indicators that it’s time to hire PMs
• How to build your early PM team
• Why founders should initially take on the product manager role themselves
• How to attract top PM talent
• What she’s learned about going multi-product
• A case for investing in quality
• More

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ho...

Where to find Rohini Pandhi:
• X: https://x.com/rohinip
• LinkedIn:   / rohinipandhi  

Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X:   / lennysan  
• LinkedIn:   / lennyrachitsky  

In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Rohini’s background
(05:00) The role of product managers at Mercury
(09:51) Key indicators that it’s time to hire PMs
(13:18) Building the product team at Mercury
(19:53) Why you should avoid hiring PMs too early
(22:26) The different flavors of product management
(26:15) How to attract top talent
(35:59) Advocating for quality in product development
(44:10) Going multi-product
(46:37) Organizational structure for multi-product success
(50:57) Organizational culture for multi-product success
(52:07) Customer obsession and product development
(57:36) More lessons from going multi-product
(01:05:57) Transparent Collective: supporting underrepresented founders
(01:09:54) Lightning round

Referenced:
• Immad Akhund on X: https://x.com/immad
• Mercury: https://mercury.com
• Square: https://squareup.com
• Product management career ladders: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/pr...
• Pioneers, Settlers, Town Planners [Wardley]: https://orghacking.com/pioneers-settl...
• Jason Zhang on LinkedIn:   / jason-zhang-5645a860  
• What is ‘Dogfooding’?: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/bu...
• Mercury Bill Pay: https://mercury.com/bill-pay
• Zip: https://zip.co
• Jira: https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira
• The art and science of pricing | Madhavan Ramanujam (Monetizing Innovation, Simon-Kucher): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/th...
• Gokul Rajaram on designing your product development process, when and how to hire your first PM, a playbook for hiring leaders, getting ahead in you career, how to get started angel investing, more: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/go...
• Gokul Rajaram on X: https://x.com/gokulr
• Transparent Collective: https://www.transparentcollective.com
• 16 Reading Tips from Naval Ravikant: https://alexandbooks.com/archive/16-r...
• Shrinking on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/shrinking
• Bad Sisters on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/bad-sisters
• Slow Horses on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/slow-horses
• Severance on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/severance
• Presumed Innocent on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/presumed...
• Waymo: https://waymo.com
• Adam Robinson on X: https://x.com/IAmAdamRobinson
• Cyan Banister—From Homeless and Broke to Top Angel Investor (Uber, SpaceX, and 100+ More): https://tim.blog/2024/11/28/cyan-bani...
• Bobby Matson on LinkedIn:   / bobbymatson  
• Jobs at Mercury: https://mercury.com/jobs

Recommended books:
• Vectors: Aphorisms & Ten-Second Essays: https://www.amazon.com/Vectors-Aphori...
• The Inner Game of Tennis: The Classic Guide to the Mental Side of Peak Performance: https://www.amazon.com/Inner-Game-Ten...
• Pachinko: https://www.amazon.com/Pachinko-Natio...
• Cutting for Stone: https://www.amazon.com/Cutting-Stone-...
• The Song of Achilles: https://www.amazon.com/Song-Achilles-...

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.