An inside look at how Miro builds product | Varun Parmar (CPO of Miro)

Varun Parmar is the Chief Product Officer of Miro and has over two decades of experience in the tech industry. Prior to joining Miro, Varun held executive positions as Chief Product Officer at Box and Syncplicity (acquired by Dell EMC) and spent six years in product management at Adobe. He also co-founded Doculus, which was later acquired by Box. In today’s episode, we discuss:
• The importance of empathy and how to foster it
• The “AMPED” structure for cross-functional product teams
• How to move fast and stay ahead of the competition
• Powerful product and design rituals
• How Miro acquired their first 1,000 users
• How Miro successfully added a sales motion
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Brought to you by Miro-A collaborative visual platform where your best work comes to life | Braintrust-For when you needed talent, yesterday | Linear-The new standard for modern software development
Find the transcript for this episode and all past episodes at: www.lennyspodcast.com/episodes/. Today’s transcript will be live by 8 a.m. PT.
Where to find Varun Parmar:
• Twitter: / vparmar230
• LinkedIn: / vparmar
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: www.lennysnewsletter.com
• Twitter: / lennysan
• LinkedIn: / lennyrachitsky
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Varun’s background
(04:08) How Miro operates as a cross-cultural product team
(07:22) How applying empathy helped Miro build Miro Talktrack
(11:51) What makes Miro stand out
(17:08) Miro’s AMPED structure
(22:57) The benefit of having product marketing as a part of the cross-functional team
(25:24) How competition affects growth and product strategy
(31:43) Why speed is so important and how to improve it
(34:21) How Miro ensures that their products meet quality standards
(37:19) How to remove blockers
(47:22) Miro’s product development process
(53:34) How OKRs work at Miro
(55:55) The product stack at Miro
(1:01:20) Big bets vs. maintenance and bug fixes at Miro
(1:03:44) The “three horizons” framework
(1:04:30) The importance of accountability
(1:10:46) How Miro got their first 1,000 users
(1:12:33) Other growth levers at Miro
(1:15:53) Adding a sales motion
(1:18:08) Miro AI, and new updates and enhancements coming soon
(1:20:12) Lightning round
Referenced:
• Miro: miro.com/
• Miro Talktrack: help.miro.com/hc/en-us/articl...
• The design sprint: www.thesprintbook.com/the-des...
• Jake Knapp on LinkedIn: / jake-knapp
• Miroverse: miro.com/miroverse/
• Amp It Up: Leading for Hypergrowth by Raising Expectations, Increasing Urgency, and Elevating Intensity: www.amazon.com/Amp-Unlocking-...
• Reinforcement learning: towardsdatascience.com/reinfo...
• Jira: www.atlassian.com/software/jira
• Confluence: www.atlassian.com/software/co...
• Coda: coda.io/
• Looker: www.looker.com/google-cloud/
• Productboard: www.productboard.com/
• Three horizons framework: www.mckinsey.com/capabilities...
• Capterra: www.capterra.com/
• Elena Verna on Lenny’s Podcast: www.lennyspodcast.com/elena-v...
• Barbra Gago on Lenny’s Podcast: www.lennyspodcast.com/categor...
• FIFA World Cup template: miro.com/miroverse/fifa-world...
• When Breath Becomes Air: www.amazon.com/When-Breath-Be...
• Hit Refresh: The Quest to Rediscover Microsoft’s Soul and Imagine a Better Future for Everyone: www.amazon.com/Hit-Refresh-Re...
• Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/
Production and marketing by penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [e-mail].

[@CapterraTV]

Thank you for an insightful episode Lenny and for sharing your story, Miro! And thanks for trusting us to support you from the beginning of your growth journey! We're excited to see what's next for your brand, and are always here to help you accelerate your growth🚀

[@mm08b012]

Thanks Lenny for bringing in such ppl on the show. Great watch.

[@tommywarren7491]

Babe this is a masterpiece...cool I'm drooling

[@anubhav.rohatgi]

1800 employees, 450 PMs!!
Wow.. I haven't seen that high a ratio in any s/w company. Incredible.

[@ekaterinatrifonova8611]

I was also surprised the first time when I heard the same, but then I went back and watched this episode with subtitles, and the subtitles said 50, not 450, which more likely sounds like the truth. But I'm very curious about what number was actually the correct one.

[@shaunaksirodaria1983]

Gold

[@lungantlokwana3589]

Hi Lenny,your podcast is very educational and insightful to us as first time PMs.
Could you please consider decreasing the promotional inserts a bit as it negatively impacts the viewing experience.
Great episode ❤

[@siddhantsingh3411]

How do you want him to monetize then? The promotional inserts are at least relevant.

[@lungantlokwana3589]

@@siddhantsingh3411 thanks for the question,the reason I mentioned decreasing was specifically on the number of back to back promotions before the show even officially commence. I personally don't mind promotions in between segments.
However the introduction are the most important part of any program/podcast as it sets the tone for the entire show,so if there are many promos in the intro part it provides the wrong impression and ultimately ruins the viewing experience.

[@user-jw3bm5wu4w]

You want to be the first one to hit the brick wall - Innovate!

[@thisisforshailin]

Love that Miro sponsored the Episode that has their CPO 😂
Love the product & the podcast, cheers Lenny!

[@LennysPodcast]

They actually had this date booked months ago for an ad, and it unexpectedly lined up with Varun being on the pod 🤷‍♂