You’re not just being evaluated in an interview; you’re evaluating them. Strong PMs don’t audition; they assess. How you engage, challenge, and question signals leadership maturity and protects your future self from a bad fit. Try this in the room: • “What trade-off are you struggling with right now?” • “How do product, design, and eng disagree—productively?” • “What outcomes will define a great first 90 days?” Todd Blaquiere, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell, MBA dig into how to take back agency in interviews. Listen today: https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP
About us
The Product Porch is a podcast for product managers who want something different, something real. We’re not here to talk at you. We’re three friends inviting you to pull up a chair and join the conversation. No buzzwords. No Silicon Valley ego. Just relatable stories, honest questions, and practical advice from the messy, meaningful world of modern product management. Whether you’re navigating stakeholder drama, untangling a roadmap, trying to make sense of AI, or just wondering if you’re the only PM who doesn’t have it all figured out… you’re not alone. Each episode covers topics like discovery, prioritization, go-to-market, team culture, user research, and yes—even the occasional hot take on AI or product-led growth. But always with humor, humility, and a healthy dose of “yep, we’ve been there.” We’re not product influencers. We’re product people. Come join the conversation.
- Website
-
theproductporch.com
External link for The Product Porch Podcast
- Industry
- Media Production
- Company size
- 2-10 employees
- Type
- Self-Employed
- Founded
- 2024
- Specialties
- Product Management and Product Leadership
Updates
-
The Product Porch Podcast reposted this
The Product Porch's very own Ryan Cantwell, MBA is making a trip to visit a friend. On Thu, Oct 16, he's joining Shardul Mehta of Street Smart Product Manager Live to talk about what Product-Market Fit really means. Register today at the link below!
The $100M+ Non-Silicon Valley Product Jedi. Helping you gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve
PMs — How do you know if your product is succeeding? Most PMs would point to usage, usability, engagement, maybe even NPS or total users. Those are fine, but they can all look great while your product quietly stalls. They show what's happening inside your product, not across your market. You can have high signups but low retention. You can have positive feedback and no real traction in the market. You can have a high user base and stagnant growth. You can have high engagement and still be replaceable. This is the trap: chasing "product/market fit." Popularized out of Silicon Valley, it's a faux milestone that leads so many product teams off course. The real question you need to be answering is: Is your product gaining traction with your target customers? In other words, are customer buying and buying again (and ideally bringing others too). Stick to real, grounded metrics that give you clearer and contextual signals for whether your product is actually succeeding. On Thursday, October 16, I'm going to help you do just that. And to help me, I've invited Ryan Cantwell, MBA , co-host of The Product Porch Podcast. We're going to break down: • Why vague metrics like "product/market fit" sound great in concept, but don't map to real success • How to measure product success in a way that's actionable. • What meaningful traction signals look like across different industries and product types • How to confidently prove to your leadership that your product is actually winning No theory or Silicon Valley jargon. Just what works in the real world. Join us live, Thursday, October 16. Free to attend. https://lnkd.in/esTqj4ET In 60 minutes, you'll come away with: ✅ A clear, jargon-free way to measure success ✅ Tools to confidently communicate traction to leadership ✅ A "substance over slogans" mindset you can apply right away ~~~ 👍 Like this post. ♻️ Repost this to your network. 💭 Comment below and engage in the conversation. ➕ Follow Shardul Mehta to gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve. ✅ Subscribe to https://lnkd.in/eTMfsf-F to learn the career-advancing insights most PMs never discover.
-
Want to stand out without sounding “performative”? Do these five in every interview: 1. Mirror the goal you heard. 2. Think out loud—invite pushback. 3. Name the trade-off you’d make first. 4. Admit an unknown + how you’d learn it. 5. Show tangible excitement for their mission. That’s chemistry. And chemistry beats perfection. Todd Blaquiere, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell, MBA break it down with examples you can steal. Listen today: https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP
-
The Product Porch Podcast reposted this
The $100M+ Non-Silicon Valley Product Jedi. Helping you gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve
Product Management is replete with meaningless metrics. Ones that make us feel good, but don't tell us if our product is actually succeeding. Take "product/market fit," for example — popularized by Silicon Valley VCs. Founders were told that this was their first significant milestone — some magical inflection point where traction has been proven and growth starts to take off. Founders pushed PMs accordingly and soon the goal of every new product initiative became to achieve PMF. Treating PMF as a milestone may make sense for VCs, but it doesn't make sense for Product Managers or Founders, because it's not measurable nor actionable. Nor does it take into account the very real differences in business models, products, and industries. What's important for a social media app is different from a payments platform. What's crucial for B2C is different from B2B. And what about regulated industries? Instead, we need to focus on grounded metrics based on the reality of our context. And that's exactly what Ryan Cantwell, MBA and I will be teaching in the next Street Smart Product Manager Live! event this Thursday, Oct 16. Ryan and I are going to debunk every myth and misconception about PMF and product growth, and teach you the metrics that actually matter to prove your product is succeeding with customers. We'll teach you: • Where PMF came from and what it really means (and doesn't mean) • Why it's more of a concept than a measurable goal • The real questions you should be asking to know if your product is succeeding (or not) • How traction looks different across industries and product types • Concrete, actionable metrics that actually show product traction • Real-life stories and examples You'll walk away ready to stop chasing buzzwords and start proving real-world outcomes. And we'll answer all your questions, of course. Chasing buzzwords like "product/market fit" risks measuring the wrong things, missing real traction signals, and losing credibility with leadership and customers. It's time to get real about finding the right signals for product success. Join us live for a special Street Smart Product Manager Live! event where we'll dump the empty slogans and zero in on the measures to prove your product is truly winning in the marketplace. Free to register: https://lnkd.in/esTqj4ET And bring a friend or colleague who needs this too. ~~ 👍 Like this post. ♻️ Repost this to your network. 💭 Comment below and engage in the conversation. ➕ Follow Shardul Mehta to gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve. ✅ Subscribe to https://lnkd.in/eTMfsf-F to learn the career-advancing insights most PMs never discover.
-
-
What matters in PM interviews: Clarity > Cleverness Signals > Scripts Fit + Energy + Skill > Framework trivia Translate that into three hidden questions: • Do you want the job? • Do they want to work with you? • Can you do the job? Get your prep out of the maze and into the match. Todd Blaquiere, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell, MBA discuss the only three questions that matter. Listen today and ace your next interview: https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP Episode: How to Show You’re the Product Manager They Want to Hire https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP
-
The Product Porch's very own Ryan Cantwell, MBA is making a trip to visit a friend. On Thu, Oct 16, he's joining Shardul Mehta of Street Smart Product Manager Live to talk about what Product-Market Fit really means. Register today at the link below!
The $100M+ Non-Silicon Valley Product Jedi. Helping you gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve
PMs — How do you know if your product is succeeding? Most PMs would point to usage, usability, engagement, maybe even NPS or total users. Those are fine, but they can all look great while your product quietly stalls. They show what's happening inside your product, not across your market. You can have high signups but low retention. You can have positive feedback and no real traction in the market. You can have a high user base and stagnant growth. You can have high engagement and still be replaceable. This is the trap: chasing "product/market fit." Popularized out of Silicon Valley, it's a faux milestone that leads so many product teams off course. The real question you need to be answering is: Is your product gaining traction with your target customers? In other words, are customer buying and buying again (and ideally bringing others too). Stick to real, grounded metrics that give you clearer and contextual signals for whether your product is actually succeeding. On Thursday, October 16, I'm going to help you do just that. And to help me, I've invited Ryan Cantwell, MBA , co-host of The Product Porch Podcast. We're going to break down: • Why vague metrics like "product/market fit" sound great in concept, but don't map to real success • How to measure product success in a way that's actionable. • What meaningful traction signals look like across different industries and product types • How to confidently prove to your leadership that your product is actually winning No theory or Silicon Valley jargon. Just what works in the real world. Join us live, Thursday, October 16. Free to attend. https://lnkd.in/esTqj4ET In 60 minutes, you'll come away with: ✅ A clear, jargon-free way to measure success ✅ Tools to confidently communicate traction to leadership ✅ A "substance over slogans" mindset you can apply right away ~~~ 👍 Like this post. ♻️ Repost this to your network. 💭 Comment below and engage in the conversation. ➕ Follow Shardul Mehta to gain the influence, respect, and impact you deserve. ✅ Subscribe to https://lnkd.in/eTMfsf-F to learn the career-advancing insights most PMs never discover.
-
Many companies believe that delivering a great customer experience is expensive. That's not what we think... Inconsistent customer experience is expensive. You pay for it in churn, rework, and reputation. In the latest episode of the Product Porch, Todd Blaquiere, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell, MBA, talk about the current state of customer experience: teams cut costs with bots, then spend twice as much fixing the trust they break. The fix isn’t fancy; it’s consistency. If you want to improve your product experience. Try this: - Pick 1 moment customers regularly stumble (refunds, password resets, cancellations). - Write a one-page rule for how your company handles it, same steps, same tone, same outcome. - Give Support permission to say yes when the rule is too rigid. (Trust beats ticket scripts.) Support isn’t the cleanup crew; it is your product’s face. Treat it that way. https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP --- Join us! Pull up a chair on The Porch... ✅ Follow us here on LinkedIn for sharp takes and fresh episodes ✅ Sign up for our newsletter for behind-the-scenes content and bonus material ✅ Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode
-
Want to improve your products' customer experience? 1. Talk to a customer this week. One call beats ten dashboards. 2. Sit with Support or Service. Ask what questions they answer on repeat. Steal their best lines. 3. Fix onboarding first. Fast start = fewer tickets later. 4. Make help easy to find and useful. FAQs that actually match real questions. 5. Agree on escalations. Everyone should know “who handles what” without guessing. 6. Treat Support like the face of your product. Enable them with answers, not pep talks. Todd Blaquiere, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Ryan Cantwell, MBA walk through each step (with stories) in the latest episode of the Product Porch. https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP --- Join us! Pull up a chair on The Porch... ✅ Follow us here on LinkedIn for sharp takes and fresh episodes ✅ Sign up for our newsletter for behind-the-scenes content and bonus material ✅ Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode
-
Bad take: “Automate customer support. It'll save us money AND make life easier for the customer.” Reality: Over-automation shifts cost onto customers by adding maze menus, brittle bots, rage-pressing “0.” Loyalty drops long before your dashboard notices. Better play in 2025: - AI for the repetitive. Humans for the relational. Use bots to clear queue clutter; route nuance to people who can actually help. - Enable the front line. Empower Support with answers, proofs, and escalation paths so they are the product’s real face, not the cleanup crew. - Run the litmus test. Call your own support line this week. If you feel friction, your users do too. Listen now to Customer Experience: Your Product’s Hidden Advantage on your favorite podcast platform, where Ryan Cantwell, MBA, Joseph Ghali, and Todd Blaquiere, MBA discuss how CX is your product secret weapon. https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP --- Join us! Pull up a chair on The Porch... ✅ Follow us here on LinkedIn for sharp takes and fresh episodes ✅ Sign up for our newsletter for behind-the-scenes content and bonus material ✅ Subscribe on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode
-
Hardware PM is like chess. Every move matters. Every mistake costs something. And you can’t move fast without thinking several steps ahead. That’s the hidden advantage of building physical products: - You have to become a more disciplined product thinker. - You can’t “just ship it”; you simulate and prototype first. - You can’t hide behind "the next release"; you plan for risk up front. - You don’t get 10 shots on goal; you get 1. Maybe 2. Constraints aren’t limitations. They’re what forge great PMs. If you only build in software, you might be missing the mindset that sharpens great product strategy. In Episode 33 of The Product Porch, Joseph Ghali and Ryan Cantwell, MBA explore the idea that hardware and software PMs have more in common than you'd think, and how learning across disciplines makes you better at both. Listen today at https://lnkd.in/euSz3JFP