Jules Walter

Product Lead at YouTube / Google

Product leader at YouTube who was the first growth PM at Slack where he helped scale revenue from $50M to 10x that, co-founder of the Black Product Managers Network and CodePath nonprofits, known for his framework on building product sense and his emphasis on IQ versus EQ skills progression for PMs and the critical importance of mock interview practice.

The Growth Scientist The Operator

Dimension Profile

Strategic Vision 35%

Execution & Craft 55%

Data & Experimentation 40%

Growth & Distribution 65%

Team & Leadership 60%

User Empathy & Research 40%

Key Themes

IQ skills versus EQ skills progression for PMs mock interviewing as underrated career skill building product sense through frameworks mentorship as career accelerator diversity in tech and product management first growth PM at Slack scaling activation

Episode Summary

Jules Walter shares his journey from being Slack's first growth PM (where he moved activation metrics by double-digit percentages) to leading product at YouTube, emphasizing that PM career progression requires shifting from IQ skills like execution early on to EQ skills like influence later. He argues that mock interviewing is the most underrated career skill since most candidates do zero practice, and shares how co-founding the Black Product Managers Network from 15 people at a barbecue to over a thousand showed the power of community for underrepresented professionals.

Leadership Principles

→ Early in your career, lean into IQ skills like execution and product sense — later, the EQ skills like communication and influence become the differentiator
→ Do dozens of mock interviews before any real interview — most people do zero and that's why they fail, and interviewing is a skill that gets no feedback
→ Seek mentors actively and thank them for feedback even when your heart is melting — if people see you welcome feedback, they give you more and you get better faster

Notable Quotes

"If you give me feedback, I'll be like, 'Hey, thank you so much. This is super helpful,' because people are like, 'Oh, he actually likes the feedback.' Now, inside my heart might be melting. But externally, I'm like, 'Hey, thank you,' and I mean it."
— On creating a feedback-welcoming environment to accelerate growth

"When people tell me they're going to an interview, first question I ask is, 'How many mock interviews have you done?' And the answer typically is zero. I would recommend people to do dozens of those mock interviews."
— On the most underrated career skill for PMs

"I joined Slack early 2016 and within six months, I was able to ship changes in the new user experience that moved the needle by a lot, like double-digit percentages on activation."
— On the impact of applying growth frameworks as Slack's first growth PM

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