Lessons from Games, Big Tech, & Hollywood - Laura Teclemariam (Product Leader)

Interestingly, when I became head of, profile messaging groups, I was not prepared for the amount of feedback that I was going to get. It just came from everywhere. What you quickly recognize is there's a very principled approach around creating products that, like, prioritizes trust. You expect the certain thing to behave a certain way, and why is it not that way? And so what that does is I feel like it creates an organization where, like, mitigating risk is, like, very important in its very first principle approach. When I had the opportunity to lead product or, profile messaging, you're not just changing, like, the way QR codes show up on Netflix. You're now helping people represent themselves in the world, like whether they get a job, whether they sell their product, helping them build their business. Like, creating that economic opportunity is very, very emotionally tied to them. It was a very difficult challenge. This is the original value proposition of LinkedIn. Your identity, which is profile, how you communicate and reach out to people, which is messaging, and then how you connect with community. Things are the most honest product environment I've ever worked in. They don't care about your road map. They don't care your next release. They care if the experience is worth the ten hours they're gonna play or the hundred hours they're gonna play. Laura, thank you so much for joining us today. How are you doing? I'm well and well. Thank you, Randy. It's good to see you both. How about you all? We're doing alright. It's it's still winter. So, you know, it's it's winter in The UK. It's it gets dark early, and it's damp, and it's yeah. Anyway but not online. Not on the podcast. On the podcast, it's always sunny, and and it's like it's always sunny in Philadelphia. Anyway. It's California weather on the podcast. There we go. You get to bring the California weather. So, for people who are listening who don't know who you are already, can you just give us a quick introduction? So what are you up to these days, and how'd you I know we're gonna go through your career, but tell us about the beginning. How'd you get into product in the first place? Yeah. Absolutely. You know, I I tend to think of myself as a, the modern day renaissance woman. The if you think about how I split my time, I split my time between, like, building, advising, teaching. I teach product management at UC Berkeley for the College of Engineering at this moment. I also help advise early stage companies and focus a lot on really how AI is shaping product development, our craft, and leadership. But to answer your other your main question on, like, you know, how did I get here? I had a very nonlinear path. I like to say that while some people are climbing the corporate ladder, I was on the jungle …