Fareed Mosavat

Chief Development Officer at Reforge

Chief Development Officer at Reforge who previously led growth at Slack and Instacart, was GM at Zynga and VP of Product at Runkeeper, and spent six years at Pixar building 3D animation tools.

The Operator The Growth Scientist

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 55%

Execution & Craft 75%

Data & Experimentation 60%

Growth & Distribution 65%

Team & Leadership 70%

User Empathy & Research 50%

Key Themes

PM career growth journey IC to manager transition expanding scope as a PM learning through real product reps creating opportunity for responsibility product management craft development

Episode Summary

Fareed Mosavat shares insights on the journey of becoming a great PM, drawing from his diverse career spanning Pixar, Zynga, Runkeeper, Instacart, Slack, and Reforge. The conversation focuses on crossing the canyon from IC to manager, the importance of expanding scope, how to create opportunities for more responsibility, and why real product reps at real companies are the only way to truly develop PM skills.

Leadership Principles

→ You can't do fake stuff — you have to work on real products at real companies with real data to get better at product management
→ The real acceleration happens from doing it and getting more reps — training and reading are just layers on top
→ At the core, you have to actually execute and deliver great products, over and over again

Notable Quotes

"You can't do homework. You can't do exercises. You can't do fake stuff. You have to work on real products at real companies with real customers, with real data to get better at product management."
— On why there are no shortcuts to becoming a great PM

"At the core is you have to actually execute and deliver great products, and you have to do it over, and over, and over again."
— On the fundamental requirement for PM growth

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