Reforge

Lenny's Podcast · Aug 17

Why ChatGPT will be the next big growth channel (and how to capitalize on it) | Brian Balfour

Founded and run by Brian Balfour, it began with product and growth courses and added software after learners asked for tools to apply what they learned. Reforge Insights gathers feedback from every source, finds gaps and auto-generates research. It has run for ten years and also runs AI transformation programs for companies.

Lenny's Podcast · Oct 5

Brian Balfour: 10 lessons on career, growth, and life

Hires 80 to 90% on portfolio review or simulation, flattened its org into Captain IC roles, and plans visually at about 75 people. It launched small, expensive, live and selective courses against cheap self-serve ones, screens applicants for good friction, and keeps a values doc that is half anti-patterns.

Tips

• Hire on work samples and simulations, not interview conversations▶ 9:19At Reforge, 80 to 90% of a hiring decision rests on a portfolio review or simulation, and every exception Brian made was regretted.
• Ask teams what it takes to win, then discuss the cost▶ 17:18Filters added on the way up mean proposals reach the decision maker already diluted, wasting time and resources.
• Plan with visuals of the experience instead of OKR documents▶ 20:08Reforge's earlier heavier planning processes were disasters; at about 75 people, the visual approach has been far more effective for the last six months.
• Define an ideal end state, iterate toward it, and revisit it▶ 18:36
• Stop expecting problems to end; treat solving one as unlocking a harder one▶ 25:10
• Create captain IC roles with no pay or title tradeoff versus managers▶ 27:58Reforge flattened its org, converted many managers to Captain IC roles, and has more captain roles than manager roles. Brian plans to pay captains more than managers.
• Seed new bets with small teams and limited funding▶ 33:38HubSpot seeded several bets at once when going multi-product; only the CRM and sales tool made it through, and the rest were killed.
• Add good friction even though it hurts short-term conversion▶ 44:40Reforge's application questions were refined to screen for what people want from the program, improving the peer experience downstream.
• Study what everyone is doing so you can do the opposite▶ 47:09The first Reforge series got an amazing response, and Brian says cohort-based courses became a thing afterward.
• Limit your use case map to a few use cases, not eight▶ 1:02:47
• Write down who you are not solving for, not just who you are▶ 1:04:05Early HubSpot found four use cases hidden in its customers (all-in-one mid-market, enterprise, small business owner, technical marketer). It chose the mid-market all-in-one and aligned sales comp, success and marketing to turn away the other three.
• Keep a lessons-learned doc of one-liners and reread it when stuck▶ 5:43

Lenny's Podcast · Dec 29

Why great AI products are all about the data | Shaun Clowes (CPO at Confluent)

Shaun created two Reforge courses, one on retention and engagement and one on data for product managers.

Lenny's Podcast · Jul 2

Building minimum lovable products, stories from WeWork & Airbnb, and thriving as a PM | Jiaona Zhang

It now shares artifacts such as roadmap and spec templates. Zhang is building a Reforge course on managing your PM career.

Lenny's Podcast · Apr 23

The ultimate guide to product-led sales | Elena Verna

Elena teaches at Reforge.

Lenny's Podcast · Mar 30

Thinking beyond frameworks | Casey Winters (Pinterest, Eventbrite, Airbnb, Tinder, Reddit, Grubhub)

Casey is revamping its product strategy program and welcomes startups to reach out.

Lenny's Podcast · Jan 19

How to build your product strategy stack | Ravi Mehta (Tinder, Facebook, Tripadvisor, Outpace)

Ravi spent about 18 months there as an executive in residence, helping launch the product leadership and product strategy programs. He also wrote a Reforge post on better goals than OKRs.

Lenny's Podcast · Nov 6

How Snyk built a product-led growth juggernaut | Ben Williams (VP of Product at Snyk)

Snyk uses Reforge alongside internal programs to build a common growth vocabulary and up-level its teams.

Tips

• Start experimentation simple and go deeper as teams gain experience▶ 50:05

Lenny's Podcast · Oct 13

How to build a high-performing growth team | Adam Fishman (Patreon, Lyft, Imperfect Foods)

Adam is an Executive in Residence there, and his growth competency model feeds its program on growth leadership and building balanced teams.

Lenny's Podcast · Oct 9

Developing a growth model + marketplace growth strategy | Dan Hockenmaier

It has done the most to turn growth modeling into a discipline and is Dan's top recommendation for going deeper.