Anneka Gupta is the Chief Product Officer at Rubrik, a leading B2B cybersecurity company. She previously spent 11 years at LiveRamp, where she was the President and Head of Product and Platforms leading product development and go-to-market operations and strategy. Anneka also sits on the board of directors for Tinuiti and teaches product management at Stanford University. In our conversation, we discuss:
• Navigating “founder mode” dynamics in organizations
• Navigating difficult personalities and aligning teams
• The PM skill of summarization
• Giving and receiving hard feedback effectively
• The value of a positive mindset
• Tips for breaking into product management
• Much more
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Brought to you by:
• The Enterprise Ready Conference — For B2B leaders building enterprise SaaS
• Command AI — AI-powered user assistance for modern products and impatient users
• Eppo — Run reliable, impactful experiments
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Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/becoming-more-strategic-anneka-gupta
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Where to find Anneka Gupta:
• X: https://x.com/annekagupta
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/annekagupta
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Anneka Gupta
(01:43) Key mindsets for success
(05:30) Managing energy for optimal performance
(09:05) Founder mode
(18:26) Becoming more strategic
(27:54) The importance of decision-making
(37:18) Navigating difficult personalities
(41:38) Techniques for giving and receiving feedback
(51:01) Transitioning into product management
(54:56) Advice for aspiring product managers
(59:39) Leveraging AI tools in product management
(01:01:27) The power of a positive mindset
(01:04:30) Lightning round
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Referenced:
• Founder Mode: https://paulgraham.com/foundermode.html
• Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career
• The Skip community: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skip-community/
• Rubrik: https://www.rubrik.com/
• 5 essential questions to craft a winning strategy | Roger Martin (author, advisor, speaker): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ultimate-guide-to-strategy-roger-martin
• Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works: https://www.amazon.com/Playing-Win-Strategy-Really-Works/dp/142218739X
• Thinking like a garde
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