Maria Angelidou is a seasoned product leader, having spent close to a decade at Meta where she was VP of Product and General Manager for some of the largest products such as Facebook Groups (2B+ users), Events, Profile, and Search. Before that, Maria led the Facebook App Monetization team, driving billions of dollars in revenue. Today, Maria is the Chief Product & Technology Officer at Personio, an HR tech company with an ambitious mission to unlock the power of people for SMEs.
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Timestamps:
(00:00) Intro
(00:44) Joining Facebook
(03:14) Transition From IC to Manager
(09:34) How To Prevent Feature Creep
(10:19) Science vs. Art in Product
(11:03) Speed vs. Quality in Product
(14:07) Common Reason Why Companies Fail: Talent, Process or Systems
(16:08) How To Do Product Reviews
(20:19) Balancing Open Debate with Directive Leadership
(24:40) What is Possibility Thinking?
(27:31) Lessons on How To Do Launching
(29:23) Balancing Resources Between Core Revenue & Future Innovations
(31:31) Lessons on Hiring
(33:17) Hiring Process
(38:38) Approaching Comp & Title Negotiations
(42:45) Opinion on Remote Work
(46:00) Bull or Bear: Maria’s Outlook on Europe
(47:02) Quick-Fire Round
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In Today’s Episode with Maria Angelidou:
1. How to Hire the Best Product Teams:
What are the three different archetypes for PMs today?
What non-obvious traits does Maria look for in new product hires?
How does Maria structure the hiring process? What works? What does not?
Does Maria do take home assignments? How has her approach changed here?
What is Maria’s biggest advice to candidates on both compensation and title?
2. How the Best Product Teams Do Product Reviews:
What does every team get wrong in how they do product reviews?
What are the four different type of product reviews?
How often does Maria do a product review? Who is invited?
Who sets the agenda? How is it structured?
What makes good vs great product reviews?
3. Europe vs US: How Product Teams Differ:
What is the single biggest difference when comparing product teams in the US vs EU?
Does Maria agree that the work ethic is less in the EU?
Which class of employee would Maria say is more entitled?
What could Europe do to be more competitive with the US?
What was the biggest surprise to Maria on returning to Europe from the US?
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Subscribe on Spotify:
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