Question 1

What are the key takeaways from Ami Vora's episode on Lenny's Podcast?

Accepted Answer

1. Execution beats strategy every time - customers don't care about your five-year plan, they care about the product in their hands. Perfect strategy with poor execution means you win nothing and learn nothing. 2. Use product reviews to establish principles, not just get decisions - the goal is to walk out calibrated so you don't need to come back for every choice. 3. The 'dinosaur brain' rule: executives can only hold three facts at once, so come with a clear recommendation rather than drowning them in information. 4. Don't shrink yourself to fit in - expand your toolkit instead. Add new skills and ways of expressing yourself rather than dampening your strengths. 5. Avoid 'toddler soccer' by giving teams different goals that ladder up to the company outcome - otherwise everyone runs to the same measurable surface and trips over each other.

Question 2

What does Ami Vora say about execution-vs-strategy and product-reviews?

Accepted Answer

"I really enjoy being right and then it turns out in the working world, that did not serve me so great. I think the hard part is sublimating your ego a little bit and saying it's more important to get to the outcome than to be right." - Ami Vora "Assume that executives have a little tiny dinosaur brain. We can really only hold three facts at the same time. We will never be able to go deep in the way that you are able to do on everything that crosses our desk. The best service you can do is actually do the work of making a recommendation." - Ami Vora "You don't want to come to a product review for every single decision. Instead, what you want is to come to a product review with one decision, but the goal of that decision is to walk out with principles about how to make these decisions in the future so that you don't have to come to product review." - Ami Vora

Question 3

What are Ami Vora's views on execution-vs-strategy, product-reviews, narrative?

Accepted Answer

Ami Vora: "Assume that executives have a little tiny dinosaur brain. We can really only hold three facts at the same time. We will never be able to go deep in the way that you are able to do on everything that crosses our desk. The best service you can do is actually do the work of making a recommendation." Ami Vora: "You don't want to come to a product review for every single decision. Instead, what you want is to come to a product review with one decision, but the goal of that decision is to walk out with principles about how to make these decisions in the future so that you don't have to come to product review."

Ami Vora

Making an impact through authenticity and curiosity | Ami Vora (CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG)

TRANSCRIPT

Ami Vora

Making an impact through authenticity and curiosity | Ami Vora (CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG)

Ami Vora

Making an impact through authenticity and curiosity | Ami Vora (CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG)

TRANSCRIPT

Ami Vora

Making an impact through authenticity and curiosity | Ami Vora (CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG)