Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

Thinking like a gardener not a builder, organizing teams like slime mold, the adjacent possible, and other unconventional product advice | Alex Komoroske (Stripe, Google)

October 3, 2024

AI Summary

5 min read

Alex Komoroske shares unconventional ideas for product development, team organization, and strategy, drawing from his experience at Google and Stripe. He emphasizes systems thinking—favoring emergence, gardening over rigid building, and working with organizational realities like kayfabe and slime mold dynamics—to create outsized impact amid AI-driven changes.

AI's Disruption of Product Assumptions

LLMs act as "magical duct tape," upending the assumption that software is expensive to write and cheap to run. They enable quick prototypes but introduce "squishiness"—outputs that roughly match intent 80-90% of the time, failing dramatically otherwise—shifting competition toward designing for adaptability rather than precision. Consumer startups can't rely on ads due to high inference costs. Key skills now include curiosity, play (e.g., experimenting with WebSim, an AI-generated website simulator), and taste—distinct perspectives that stand out amid AI-generated slop. AI boosts individual productivity (e.g., as an "electric bike for idea spaces" via Claude for brainstorming), often invisibly, unlike collaborative tools.

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What you'll learn

1 **[00:01:42] Bits and Bobs doc and reflection practices**
2 **[00:08:18] Creating space for reflection amid busyness**
3 **[00:10:56] LLMs as disruptive tech reshaping product assumptions**
4 **[00:14:52] Key skills for PMs in AI era: curiosity, play, and taste**
5 **[00:23:26] Organizational kayfabe and slime mold dynamics**
6 **[00:32:02] Gardening vs. building: farm for miracles**
7 **[00:48:26] Strategy salons (nerd clubs) for bottom-up insights**

+ Full timestamped outline available in the app

Show Notes

Alex Komoroske is a strategic leader who merges the practice, theory, and mindset necessary to tackle complex problems. He spent 13 years at Google, where he worked on Search and DoubleClick and led Chrome’s Open Web Platform. He also spearheaded Augmented Reality in Google Maps and developed toolkits to align companywide strategy from the ground up. After serving as Head of Corporate Strategy at Stripe, he is now co-founding a startup aimed at reimagining the web for the AI era. Alex created the popular “Slime Molds” deck, which offers fresh insights into organizational dynamics. He is also the author of the widely read “Bits and Bobs,” a collection of thought-provoking reflections.In our conversation, we delve into:

• “Organizational kayfabe”

• “Gardening” vs. “building”

• How AI will soon change how we build product

• How and why to embrace the adjacent possible

• The power of reflection and how to build it into your workflow

• How to create emergent properties in organizations

• How to run effective “strategy salons” or “nerd clubs”

• Much more

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