Building One with Tomer Cohen

Last week we welcomed Spotify Co-President and CPO Gustav Söderström to the show to discuss his professional journey and the evolution of Spotify. We’re back this week with a few more questions for Gustav to get to know him better. Follow Gustav Söderström on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

For our Season 1 finale, we’ve got a real treat for you. Spotify has been bringing music to listeners' ears since 2008. Today, they are the world’s most popular audio streaming subscription, offering over 100 million tracks, 6 million podcasts titles, and 350,000 audiobooks. Spotify Co-President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Product Officer Gustav Söderström joins us today to discuss the evolution of the platform, Spotify’s future, and his own professional journey. Over the course of his career, Gustav’s resistance to labels and entrepreneurial experience has allowed him to successfully innovate across various disciplines. He sits down with Tomer to discuss Spotify’s long term bets, why the company will never “move fast and break things,” the value of explanations, what AI means for the future of Spotify’s platform, and so much more. Follow Gustav Söderström on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

We’ve talked a lot this season about building various apps, platforms, and software. This week, we’re discussing a different type of product: seeds. Michelin Star chef Dan Barber joins us to talk about his new venture, Row 7 Seed Company, where he’s implementing a seed-to-table approach to optimize produce for flavor while also delivering yield and disease resistance to meet today’s needs. Dan draws upon his experience as the chef behind renowned farm-to-table restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barns to help influence plant breeding and pioneer new paths in gastronomy. Dan sits down with Tomer to talk about the process of making his product accessible and sustainable and Row 7’s recent partnership with Whole Foods. He shares his approach to looking at chefs and cooks as tastemakers who can influence demand, as well as his strategies for connecting farmers and cooks at either end of the value chain.  Follow Dan Barber on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

Last week we welcomed Cerebral CPO Alex Stried to the show to discuss the benefits of directly connecting with your users. We’re back this week with a few more questions for Alex to get to know her better. Follow Alexandria Stried on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

Technology has an undeniable impact on mental health: not just on mental health issues like anxiety and depression, but also on mental health care and the way we access it. Founded in 2020, Cerebral provides online access to psychiatrists and therapists with the aim of offering affordable, high-quality, long-term mental health care to anyone who might need it. As Chief Product Officer, Alex Stried spends a lot of time focusing on user experience. Drawing from her experience at Cerebral, as well as her time at Ellevest and Weight Watchers, Alex talks about best practices for building user-centric products. She shares strategies for directly connecting with your users, building profiles of them, and retaining users once they're on board.  Follow Alexandria Stried on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

We're back this week with Noah Weiss, formerly the CPO of Slack. He's joining Tomer for a rapid fire round of questions. Follow Noah Weiss on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn.

Created in 1945, Mattel is one of the biggest toy companies in the world and home to the iconic doll brand, Barbie. The brand continues to shape how kids play and learn with the careful design of their dolls. In this episode of Building One, Tomer sits down with Mattel SVP and Head of Design for Dolls Kim Culmone to talk about how she has led the brand’s most recent reinventions. Kim is a veteran toy designer. She started at Mattel as a textile designer and now approaches her 25th year with the company. She joins us today to break down the way that kids learn through play, to highlight the importance of staying true to the DNA of your product, and to share what it takes to hone your intuition as a product leader.   Follow Kim Culmone and Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to rate the show and check out the Building One newsletter.

Looking for more after last week’s conversation with Roblox CPO Manuel Bronstein? Look no further! We’re back with a rapid fire round of questions with Manuel. Follow Manuel Bronstein and Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn.

First launched in 2006, Roblox has become one of the most prominent user-generated gaming platforms - it’s also one of the closest things we have today to a metaverse. Much of that success comes down to platform-design. In this episode, we dive into the nuances of building platforms with Roblox’s Chief Product Officer, Manuel Bronstein. Manuel is a distinguished consumer product builder, with a wealth of experience beyond Roblox, having worked on such platforms as XBox, Xynga, Youtube, and more. In this episode, we get into the systems thinking that is critical for such work. Just as important, Manuel shares with us his vision for developing in the spirit of Roblox being an open and accessible platform for all users. Building platforms is inherently different: The old ethos that “if you try to serve everyone you serve no-one” doesn’t quite fit. A platform has to allow for all sorts of unanticipated bottom-up creation and requires a different building philosophy than other products.  Think systemically: When building a platform, you should start with a vision and plan that considers both the current needs of your user as well as future expansion. You need to have a vision that goes beyond thinking about first derivatives and all the way to secondary derivatives and downstream applications. Be intentional about being open: Roblox prides itself on remaining an open platform, and brings a lot of intention to that ethos - even when they take things to market, every feature on Roblox is design to accessible to all users from day one.  Listen and find out why building for platforms is different from building for any other product. Follow Manuel Bronstein and Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to rate the show!

Couldn't get enough of Canva CPO and Co-Founder Cameron Adams last week? Don't fret! This week we get to know Cameron a bit better by going over some fun rapid fire questions.

Cameron Adams, the Chief Product Officer and co-founder of Canva is a true believer in a more inclusive approach to design — it’s why he launched the social-media focused graphic design app in 2013. The company quickly blossomed into a product that democratized design by empowering over 170 million people to create eye-catching visual content. Cameron joins Building One host and LinkedIn Chief Product Officer Tomer Cohen to talk about his process of building Canva, and to reflect on how his career path has informed his leadership style. Cameron emphasizes the importance of embracing healthy conflict among teams and opens up about the role of leadership in driving cultural shifts within a company. We also learn how Cameron balances and invests in competing influences at Canva to ensure a stronger product. Follow Cameron Adams and Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to rate the show!

This is Building One, a podcast hosted by Tomer Cohen, LinkedIn's Chief Product Officer. "Building One" is a series of engaging one-on-one conversations with accomplished product leaders. The series delves into the professional journeys of these diverse leaders, extracts insights into the intricacies of product development, and reveals the stories behind their most impactful products. Building One not only offers valuable insights into the world of product development but also serves as a source of motivation and inspiration for listeners pursuing their own careers in product development.

Since 2013, Slack has helped teams connect and communicate seamlessly. It stood out early amongst enterprise software - which is often characterized by layered complexity - by bringing the craft and frictionless experience of consumer products into its design. As a B2B product, Slack created a messaging platform with features like channels and huddles that make it easier for businesses to collaborate internally. Slack’s former CPO Noah Weiss helmed this innovation for 8 years. He joins Tomer to talk about Slack rediscovering its market fit, the company’s core building principles, and how Noah fostered curiosity across his team. Follow Noah Weiss on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn.

We're back this week with Zoom CPO, Smita Hashim. She's joining Tomer for a rapid fire round of questions. Follow Smita Hashim on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn.

When the pandemic began, workplaces quickly needed a way to operate without meeting in person and Zoom stepped up to the challenge. If you haven’t heard of Zoom, it’s the video conferencing software that supports remote workers around the world. Smita Hashim is Zoom’s Chief Product Officer. She’s a tech veteran, who has spent her career building at companies like Google and Microsoft. Smita joins Tomer today to discuss how her team responds to customer needs, the importance of great feedback, and her experiences coming up in a male dominated industry.  Follow Smita Hashim on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

We're back this week with Plaid CEO, Zach Perret. He's joining Tomer for a rapid fire round of questions. Follow Zach Perret  on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn.

Over the years, technology has transformed banking for everyday people. You can now access your money without ever having to touch a dollar bill. But what powers the apps that have so simplified the banking process? Look no further than Plaid. Plaid securely connects apps like Venmo, CashApp and Robinhood and many others to your financial accounts. Today, Plaid co-founder and CEO Zach Perret joins Tomer for a conversation on the intricacies of designing an app for the financial sector. As a highly regulated industry, Zach has a unique design challenge and today he’ll break down how he puts simplicity first for the sake of the user. Follow Zach Perret on LinkedIn. Follow Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn and check out his newsletter Building LinkedIn

Looking for more after last week's episode with Nick Daniel? We're back with four more questions with the Etsy CPO.

In 2005, Etsy staked its claim on a unique piece of the e-commerce landscape– arts and crafts. The site has since become the go to place for one of a kind handcrafted goods. Etsy’s approach has focused on building community amongst their sellers and today’s guest is breaking down how they balance those needs with that of their buyers. Nick Daniel is the Chief Product Officer of Etsy. He sits down with Tomer to discuss how the platform differentiated itself from other marketplaces early on, and what it takes to foster a creative community that feels empowered to make original products.

Since 1982, Adobe has been empowering the world of design. The company tools transformed the way graphic designers, editors, and creators do their jobs. Today’s guest, Scott Belsky, allowed these creatives to share their work seamlessly with Behance, the largest portfolio platform in the world. Adobe acquired Behance in 2012 and Scott became their Chief Product Officer a few years later. While at Adobe, he has brought apps we know and love to web and mobile, like Photoshop and Adobe Reader, while also evolving Adobe’s 3D product landscape. He joins Tomer today to share what inspires innovation, how he leads his team, and the importance of first impressions in design.  Follow Scott Belsky and Tomer Cohen on LinkedIn. And don’t forget to rate the show!