Carvana is one of the most wild stories in the public markets. The company IPO’d with a market cap of $2BN before skyrocketing to $60BN, only for the company to lose 99% of it’s value hitting a bottom of $400M market cap. Today the company is stronger than ever and with a market cap of $41BN. Joining us in the hotseat is Dan Gill, Carvana’s CPO, the man who oversees all technology functions, as well as strategic partnerships for the business.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:50) How Did Gymnastics Shape The Approach to Business?
(03:20) What’s the Ideal Background for a Product Role?
(04:29) Hiring Process
(06:31) Was Founding Harder Than Being Carvana’s CPO?
(08:58) Top Lessons on Product Prioritization
(10:10) How Carvana Achieves Margin Improvement
(13:19) How Dan Makes Tough Product Decisions?
(16:14) Is Different Always Better in Product Design?
(20:27) How To Choose the Right North Star Metric?
(23:25) Carvana’s Biggest Product Decision Mistake
(26:07) Top Lessons in Product Storytelling & Marketing
(28:58) The Best Experience Hurt Margins the Most
(31:50) Is Being a CPO Hard When the Product Isn’t Software?
(38:49) How Should Founders Use Take-Home Assignments?
(41:13) Should New Hires Work on Existing or Neutral Products?
(43:25) Does Every Public Company Need an AI Story?
(48:08) Are Chinese Car Subsidies a Threat to Carvana’s Business?
(50:33) What’s the Most Misunderstood Thing About Carvana?
(51:58) Keeping Morale High After a 99% Value Loss?
(56:45) Quick-Fire Round
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In Today’s Episode with Dan Gill We Discuss:
1. From $60BN to $400M Market Cap:
– What did Carvana do that Dan wishes they had not done?
– What did Carvana not do that Dan wishes they had done?
– How do you maintain morale in a team when the company has lost 99% of it’s value?
2. From $400M Back to $40BN Market Cap:
– What have been the core needle movers in Carvana’s market cap surging?
– How does the Carvana business model benefit from economies of scale?
– How does vertical integration of the different products Carvana sells change the margin structure of the business?
3. The Future of Carvana:
– Why does Dan believe there is a massive market for Cavana in selling new cars?
– Why does Dan want to move into the peer to peer market, a market where so many before have failed?
– Why does Dan think Carvana should sell Chinese cars on the platform if American citizens want to buy them?
– What revenue line does Carvana not have today that Dan believes will be the biggest in 10 years time?
4. Product Advice, North Star Metrics, Idea Selection:
– What is the product advice that Dan gives more than any other?
– How does Dan advise startup founders on how to know they have the right north star metric? What is his framework?
– How does Dan advise founders on how to select the right idea to work on?
– What is Dan’s prioritisation framework for if an idea will have a larger enough impact and is therefore worthy of being worked on?
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