Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career - Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member | Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)

Lessons from a two-time unicorn builder, 50-time startup advisor, and 20-time company board member | Uri Levine (co-founder of Waze)

06/09/24 • 82 min

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Lenny's Podcast: Product | Growth | Career

Uri Levine is the co-founder of Waze, the world’s largest community-based traffic and navigation app, acquired by Google for over $1 billion. He’s also founded nine other companies, been on the board of 20 companies, and advised more than 50 companies. He’s most recently the author of Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs, hailed by Steve Wozniak as the “Bible for entrepreneurs.” Uri is dedicated to creating impactful startups that solve real-world problems and has seen everything from failure to moderate success to big success. In our conversation, we dig into:

• Why falling in love with the problem is key to startup success

• The phases of the startup journey and how to navigate them

• Why firing is more important than hiring

• How Waze iterated to achieve product-market fit

• Tactics for telling a compelling story when fundraising

• Much more

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Brought to you by:

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

• Mercury—The powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank

• LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business

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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-uri-levine

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Where to find Uri Levine:

• X: https://twitter.com/urilevine1

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uri-levine

• Website: https://urilevine.com/

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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) Uri’s background

(02:50) Falling in love with the problem

(09:03) Signs this is a big enough problem

(10:54) The importance of passion

(12:06) A pivot example

(14:01) Where to find startup ideas

(21:57) Finding product-market fit at Waze

(29:45) The different phases of a startup journey

(36:47) What investors don’t want to hear

(39:53) Fundraising tips

(48:02) How to make your presentations stronger

(50:32) A wild fundraising story

(53:46) Firing and hiring

(59:50) The 30-day test

(01:04:12) Understanding users

(01:12:10) Talking to the right users

(01:15:36) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Love-Problem-Solution-Entrepreneurs/dp/1637741987

• Waze: https://www.waze.com/

• Ben Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/behorowitz/

• Ben Horowitz quote: https://quotefancy.com/quote/1635284/Ben-Horowitz-As-a-startup-CEO-I-slept-like-a-baby-I-woke-up-every-2-hours-and-cried

• Michael Jordan quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/11194/#:~:text=I've%20lost%20almost%20300,that%20is%20why%20I%20succeed.

• Steph Curry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry

• How Airbnb Used Word of Mouth to Change the Travel Industry Forever: https://truested.com/story/airbnb

• Space Mountain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Mountain_(Disneylan...

• Why falling in love with the problem is key to startup success

• The phases of the startup journey and how to navigate them

• Why firing is more important than hiring

• How Waze iterated to achieve product-market fit

• Tactics for telling a compelling story when fundraising

• Much more

—

Brought to you by:

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security

• Mercury—The powerful and intuitive way for ambitious companies to bank

• LinkedIn Ads—Reach professionals and drive results for your business

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-uri-levine

—

Where to find Uri Levine:

• X: https://twitter.com/urilevine1

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/uri-levine

• Website: https://urilevine.com/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Uri’s background

(02:50) Falling in love with the problem

(09:03) Signs this is a big enough problem

(10:54) The importance of passion

(12:06) A pivot example

(14:01) Where to find startup ideas

(21:57) Finding product-market fit at Waze

(29:45) The different phases of a startup journey

(36:47) What investors don’t want to hear

(39:53) Fundraising tips

(48:02) How to make your presentations stronger

(50:32) A wild fundraising story

(53:46) Firing and hiring

(59:50) The 30-day test

(01:04:12) Understanding users

(01:12:10) Talking to the right users

(01:15:36) Lightning round

—

Referenced:

• Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs: https://www.amazon.com/Fall-Love-Problem-Solution-Entrepreneurs/dp/1637741987

• Waze: https://www.waze.com/

• Ben Horowitz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/behorowitz/

• Ben Horowitz quote: https://quotefancy.com/quote/1635284/Ben-Horowitz-As-a-startup-CEO-I-slept-like-a-baby-I-woke-up-every-2-hours-and-cried

• Michael Jordan quote: https://www.forbes.com/quotes/11194/#:~:text=I've%20lost%20almost%20300,that%20is%20why%20I%20succeed.

• Steph Curry: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Curry

• How Airbnb Used Word of Mouth to Change the Travel Industry Forever: https://truested.com/story/airbnb

• Space Mountain: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Mountain_(Disneylan...

Previous Episode

Inside Canva: Coaches not managers, giving away your Legos, and running profitably | Cameron Adams (co-founder and CPO)

Cameron Adams is the co-founder and chief product officer of Canva. Canva is one of the world’s most valuable private software companies, used by 95% of Fortune 500 companies. Since its launch in 2013, Canva has grown to over 150 million monthly users in more than 190 countries, generating $2.3 billion in annual revenue. Prior to Canva, Cameron ran a design consultancy, worked at Google on Google Wave, and founded the email startup Fluent. He is also an author of five web design books and a regular speaker at global conferences. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Why they spent a year building their minimum viable product (MVP) before launch

• Why Canva has no managers, and their unique approach to coaching and performance reviews

• Why they encourage employees to “give away their Legos”

• Insights into Canva’s SEO growth strategy

• Their three-pillar framework for integrating AI into their product

• Stories from the early days

—

Brought to you by:

• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs

• Attio—The powerful, flexible CRM for fast-growing startups

• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security.

—

Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-canva-with-cameron-adams

—

Where to find Cameron Adams:

• X: https://twitter.com/themaninblue

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/themaninblue

• Website: https://themaninblue.com/

—

Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

—

In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Cameron’s background

(02:00) Reflecting on the success of Canva

(04:50) Reflecting on hard times

(10:01) Canva’s product-obsessed culture

(12:02) Why they prioritize internal promotions and hires

(13:56) What makes Canva unique

(16:31) The concept of giving away your Legos

(21:44) Why Canva has no managers

(24:29) Product management at Canva

(27:56) Reflections on working with a married couple

(30:37) Why they spent a year building their MVP before launch

(33:49) Advice for building an MVP

(41:23) Canva’s onboarding transformation

(44:25) Canva’s SEO strategy

(50:37) The success of Canva’s freemium strategy

(54:24) Integrating AI into Canva’s product

(01:01:50) Where to find Cameron

—

Referenced:

• Canva: https://www.canva.com/

• Melanie Perkins on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melanieperkins

• Cliff Obrecht on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliff-obrecht-79ba9920

• Jennie Rogerson, Head of People, LinkedIn post about “season opener” events: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/jennierogerson_season-opener-is-one-of-my-favourite-events-activity-7006815614556135424-73bD/

• Game of Thrones on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/game-of-thrones

• Woodstock: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodstock

• ‘Give Away Your Legos’ and Other Commandments for Scaling Startups: https://review.firstround.com/give-away-your-legos-and-othe...

Next Episode

undefined - The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB)

The paths to power: How to grow your influence and advance your career | Jeffrey Pfeffer (author of 7 Rules of Power, professor at Stanford GSB)

Jeffrey Pfeffer teaches the single most popular (and somewhat controversial) class at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business: The Paths to Power. He’s also the author of 16 books, including 7 Rules of Power: Surprising—But True—Advice on How to Get Things Done and Advance Your Career. He has taught at Harvard, the London Business School, and IESE and has written for publications like Fortune and the Washington Post. Recognized by the Academy of Management and listed in the Thinkers50 Hall of Fame, Jeffrey also serves on several corporate and nonprofit boards, bringing his expertise to global audiences through seminars and executive education. In our conversation, we discuss:

• Jeffrey’s seven rules of power

• How individuals can acquire and use power in business

• Networking, and how to do it effectively

• How to build a non-cringe personal brand

• How to increase your influence to amplify your impact

• Examples and stories of people building power

• Tradeoffs and challenges that come with power

—

Brought to you by:

• Uizard—AI-powered prototyping for visionary product leaders

• Webflow—The web experience platform

• Heap—Cross-platform product analytics that converts, engages, and retains customers