An operator’s guide to product strategy | Chandra Janakiraman (CPO at VRChat, ex-Meta, Headspace, Zynga)
Chandra Janakiraman is the chief product officer, executive vice president, and a board member at VRChat. Previously, he was a product leader at Meta, where he led Facebook’s social experience interfaces and Reality Labs’ growth; served as CPO at Headspace, where he helped relaunch the platform, driving a 4x subscriber boost; and was a GM at Zynga, delivering massive hit games that reached hundreds of millions. In our conversation, Chandra shares:
- His playbook for developing a product strategy
- The difference between “small s” and “big S” strategy
- How to run strategy sprints
- Who should be involved in strategy work
- Common pitfalls in strategy development
- The role of AI in future strategy development
- More
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/an-operators-guide-to-product-strategy-chandra-janakiraman
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Where to find Chandra Janakiraman:
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Where to find Lenny:
- Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
- X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Chandra’s background
(04:47) The importance of strategy
(12:40) Defining product strategy
(15:42) Developing a winning strategy: an overview
(18:51) The preparation phase
(30:46) The strategy sprint process
(45:51) The design sprint
(51:19) Document writing
(57:39) Rolling out your strategy
(01:01:28) Resourcing and roadmapping
(01:04:42) Strategy lessons from Zynga
(01:11:34) Strategy lessons from Meta
(01:15:55) Big S strategy
(01:26:58) AI in strategy formulation
(01:38:12) Final thoughts and lightning round
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Referenced:
- Headspace: https://www.headspace.com/
- Good Strategy, Bad Strategy | Richard Rumelt: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/good-strategy-bad-strategy-richard
- 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin
- VRChat: https://hello.vrchat.com/
- Andrew Chen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pmandrewchen/
- Template: Working Backwards PR FAQ: https://www.workingbackwards.com/resources/working-backwards-pr-faq
- How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen
- Making time for what matters | Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky (authors of Sprint and Make Time, co-founders of Character Capital): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/making-time-for-what-matters-jake
- Identify your bullseye customer in one day | Michael Margolis (UX Research Partner at Google Ventures): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/finding-your-bullseye-customer-michael-margolis
- Chandra’s flow chart: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1SLmQ0oRFadzJnNM3MJetnLUvB18U4W4GXU4KtJ2ujEQ/edit?tab=t.0
- Chandra’s strategy template: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1iNeYUaMnpicvkpVZO-gj9cCxLeHfWN0xtGm_QoxgemE/edit?tab=t.0#heading=h.5d3jz6v86yrs
- Zynga: https://www.zynga.com/
- David Foster Wallace’s quote about water: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/97082-there-are-these-two-young-fish-swimming-along-and-they
- Oculus: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oculus
- Elon Musk’s quote: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wf8TadbGYok
- Concept car: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concept_car
- Acquired podcast: The Mark Zuckerberg interview: https://www.acquired.fm/episodes/the-mark-zuckerberg-interview
- Armand Ruiz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/armand-ruiz/
- What is a multi-armed bandit? Full explanation: https://amplitude.com/explore/experiment/multi-armed-bandit
- IF on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/IF-John-Kra
