This presentation provides insight into: what a company like Spotify focuses on when hiring Product Managers, day-to-day life as a Product Manager at Spotify, tips on how to grow and succeed as a Product Manager.

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8. David Cutler
TONIGHT’S SPEAKER

9. David Cutler
Product Management Lead

10. ? monthly active users
? most streamed song ever!
? top streamed artist
Top 10 streamed artists
Trivia!

11. 180M monthly active users
Ed Sheeran - Shape of You most streamed
song ever!
Drake top streamed artist
Top 10 streamed artists
Drake / Ed Sheeran / Eminem / The Weeknd / Rihanna / Kanye
West / Coldplay / Justin Bieber / Calvin Harris / Ariana Grande

12. Agenda
Introduction
Product
Manager
@ Spotify
Growing
as a PM
Tips!
Hiring &
Evaluating
PMs
Q&A
Interview Tips!

13. 1
3
Spotify:
Product Lead
George Washington
University:
IT & Finance
Accenture:
Software &
Business
Consulting
Bloomberg:
Senior Product
Manager
Teradata:
Product Manager
Teradata:
Solution Architect
My path...

14. Entertaining the US since 2011

15. 2008 Desktop Launch

16. Spotify Copyright 2018Source: 5
What are
the real
products?

17. Features Content Sets

18. Revenue / Ads Spotify 4 Artists

19. App Partners Voice

20. Labels Publishers
Podcast
Networks

21. Spotify Copyright 2018
Product Managers of
all kinds
Data Ads User
Experience
Infrastructure
& Tooling
Apps &
Features

23. Spotify Copyright 2018 16
Who would you work with?
Everyone is fair game.
● Data Engineer
● Backend Engineer
● Front-End Engineer
● Product Designer
● Data Scientist
● Agile Coach
● Project Manager
● Business Analyst
● User Researcher

24. A day in the life
17

25. Source:
5 characteristics of
great Spotify PMs

26. Understand
the PM
concepts.
Principles and practices.
Agile methodology.
Lingo and tools.
Feedback.
KPIs.

27. Ability to
communicate.
Storyteller.
Build relationships.
Empathy.
Business & Technical.
Stakeholder Management.
I hope you like Google Hangout!

28. Multi-tasker.
Master juggler.
Organized chaos.
Prioritization skills.

29. Learning
mindset.
Variation of the “growth mindset”.
Up for the challenge.
Hack week.
Learn from mistakes.

30. Passion and
Drive.
Company/Industry?
Role?
People & Culture?

31. Competence areas for evaluating PMs @ Spotify
Leadership
Data &
Insights
Influence
Impact
Product
Strategy

32. Product Manager
Development
Journey
Associate
Product
Manager
Product
Manager
Group Product
Manager
Sr Product
Manager
Principal
Product
Manager

33. Sample interview questions.

34. A product manager
who doesn’t
understand
psychology is going
to be no more
successful than an
architect who doesn’t
understand physics.

35. 1) What does MVP mean to you?
● It’s ten years ago and you have an idea
about ridesharing --where do you
start?
● What data would you gather?
● What is your success metric?

36. 2) Tell me about a time when you’ve had to
get up to speed on a new industry or domain
at the start of a new job or project.
● What was your approach to getting up to
speed?
● Can you explain what you had to learn to
me?

37. 3) Describe a time when you worked
with a group of people and needed to
get them to see each other’s
perspective?
What was the problem? How did you get
them to see each other’s side?

38. 4) Give an example of a time when you've
had to put together and sell people on a
product vision.
5) How do you ensure that you're building
the right thing?
6) What do you do when a stakeholder
expects more than you can deliver in a time
period?

39. My favorite!
● What is a product that you love
and why? How would you make it
better?

40. Spotify Copyright 2018
26
Things to leave
you with….

41. Source:
Tips!
● Every role and experience is an
opportunity for growth
● Personal resilience
● You don't have to be amazing
at everything
● Be resourceful

42. Source:
Ask yourself
What are you
passionate about?

43. Source:
Book suggestions
● Radical Candor by Kim Scott
● Grit: The Power of Passion and
Perseverance
● Drive by Daniel Pink
● www.productboard.com/blog/the-
many-hats-of-product-managers/

44. “What you don’t know
is more important
than what you do
know.”
Dr. Jordan Peterson

53. Thank you!
dcutler@spotify.com
Or hit me up on LinkedIn!

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