Sanchan Saxena
VP of Product at Coinbase
Sanchan Saxena is VP of Product at Coinbase, previously Head of Product at Airbnb, Head of Product for Instagram Ads and Instagram Shopping, and a product leader at Yahoo and Microsoft. He has worked with Brian Chesky, Brian Armstrong, Zuck, and Kevin Systrom.
Dimension Profile
Key Themes
Episode Summary
Sanchan Saxena shares lessons from working with four of tech's most visionary CEOs — Brian Chesky, Brian Armstrong, Zuck, and Kevin Systrom — across Airbnb, Coinbase, Instagram, and Facebook. He covers navigating Airbnb through COVID when travel completely stopped, how to set up product development processes at startups, when to A/B test versus ship on conviction, and what to look for when hiring PMs.
Leadership Principles
- → Working with visionary CEOs like Chesky, Armstrong, Zuck, and Systrom teaches different leadership styles
- → COVID hitting Airbnb when travel stopped was the ultimate test of product leadership under crisis
- → Know when to A/B test and when to just ship based on conviction
Notable Quotes
"I don't think I've worked with a harder working PM, particularly someone who's incredibly kind and nice and generous."
— Lenny describing Sanchan's rare combination of hard work and kindness
"We cover what he's learned from working with some of today's best CEOs, including Brian Chesky, Brian Armstrong, Zuck and Kevin Systrom."
— On the breadth of visionary leaders Sanchan has worked closely with
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