20 Product Hugo Barra on Lessons Building Hardware Products at Android, Xiaomi, Oculus, and Detect; Feature Kings vs. Budget Kings; 996 Work Culture in China; There Are No MVPs in Hardware; The 3.5Hour Recruiting Interview

In an in-depth conversation on "20 Product," Hugo Barra, a seasoned product leader with a storied career at Google, Xiaomi, and Meta, shares his insights on resilience, leadership, and the nuances of product management. Barra emphasizes the importance of struggle and discomfort in building resilience, which is crucial for success in leadership roles. He reflects on his experiences in various global markets, particularly his strategic success with Xiaomi's Redmi Note 3 in India, and the lessons learned from product failures like the Oculus Go. Barra also discusses the value of deep customer understanding, the significance of pricing as a feature, and the art of storytelling in product marketing. He highlights the challenge of transitioning product managers into general managers as companies scale, and the necessity of hiring leaders with a history of overcoming adversity. Throughout the episode, Barra's philosophy on product development shines through, underscoring the balance between intuition and data, and the critical role of emotional connection in product design and marketing.

• Hustling and struggling early in one's career builds resilience.
• Resilient individuals often excel in leadership roles and entrepreneurship.
• Stepping outside of one's comfort zone is crucial for learning and growth.

"People who hustle, put themselves through struggle early in their career, become much more resilient, and tend to do way better later in leadership roles or leading their own companies. You need to put yourself way outside of your comfort zone to really learn."

Speaker A emphasizes the importance of early career challenges in developing resilience, which is beneficial for future leadership roles and entrepreneurship. The quote suggests that personal growth and learning occur when individuals push beyond their comfort zones.

• The podcast focuses on insights from top product leaders.
• It provides tips, tactics, and lessons from scaling well-known products.

"You are listening to 20 product, the monthly episode where we sit down with." "The world's best product leaders to reveal." "Their tips, tactics and lessons from scaling some of the best products we all know and love."

The podcast aims to share wisdom from experienced product leaders, offering listeners valuable strategies and experiences related to product development and management.

• Hugo Barra's roles include VP of VR at Meta, VP of global at Xiaomi, and product leader at Google.
• His career path reflects significant contributions to the tech industry, particularly in consumer hardware and software.

"Among his incredible roles and accomplishments, he spent an incredible four years as VP of VR at Meta with Oculus. Prior to Oculus, Hugo was in China as VP of global at Xiaomi, the third largest phone maker in the world. And finally, before Xiaomi, Hugo was a product leader at Google for over five years, including as VP of Android product management."

Speaker B outlines Hugo Barra's notable career trajectory, highlighting his influential positions in major tech companies and his impact on the consumer hardware and software sectors.

• Miro is presented as a game-changing collaborative tool.
• It is used to manage information efficiently and streamline team collaboration.
• The speaker uses Miro to organize podcast-related tasks and information.

"So I keep track of all of it using Miro, the collaborative visual whiteboard that brings your team's great work together in one place."

Speaker C describes how Miro serves as a central platform for organizing and managing various aspects of podcast production, demonstrating the tool's versatility and effectiveness in collaboration.

• Hugo Barra is introduced as the episode's guest.
• The introduction highlights his professional background and the anticipation of the conversation.

"So excited to hand over to the one and only Hugo Barra CEO at Detect 3210." "You have now arrived at your destination."

Speaker B introduces Hugo Barra, setting the stage for the interview and expressing enthusiasm for the insights he will share.

• Hugo Barra's interest in technology was fostered early on through programming and design courses.
• His mother, an architect, influenced his engagement with tools and making things.
• Barra's journey from Brazil to the United States for college is likened to the film "Cool Runnings."

"Well, I was born and raised completely in Brazil, and when I was seven years old, my mom enrolled us together in a Pascal programming course, and after that, in an AutoCAD 3D design course."

Speaker A recounts his early exposure to technology and how it shaped his interest and skills in the field, attributing his initial curiosity and hands-on experience to his mother's influence and his early education.

• Barra graduated during the dot-com bubble burst.
• He co-founded a company focused on voice recognition for mobile computers.
• The technology developed by his company became foundational for Apple's Siri.

"I graduated from MIT in the year 2000, so that was three months after the.com bubble burst, which was just about the worst time in the world to start a company because nobody wanted to fund you."

Speaker A reflects on the challenging timing of his entry into the startup world, demonstrating how persistence and innovation can lead to significant contributions to the tech industry, evidenced by the eventual success of their voice recognition technology.

• Barra's time at Google involved leading product management for mobile Google services and Android.
• He had the opportunity to work with Steve Jobs, learning about the importance of perfection.
• Barra attributes Google's foresight in mobile technology to then-CEO Eric Schmidt's insights from Apple's board.

"I joined Google as a product manager, and we're talking 2008 here, right after the first generation iPhone launched." "The best way to describe working with Steve is perfection."

Speaker A discusses his role at Google during a transformative period for mobile technology and shares a personal anecdote about working with Steve Jobs, emphasizing Jobs' meticulous attention to detail and its impact on Barra's professional growth.

• At Xiaomi, Barra focused on the direct-to-consumer business model and international expansion.
• The company's strategy involved selling high-quality smartphones online, with thin hardware margins offset by software revenues.
• Xiaomi's success included becoming the top phone brand in India and achieving global prominence.

"Long story short, Xiaomi wanted to challenge Samsung and Apple in the smartphone market by making incredibly, incredibly good smartphones, selling them direct to consumers online without any middleman."

Speaker A explains Xiaomi's innovative business approach, which disrupted the smartphone market and led to the company's rapid growth and success under his leadership.

• After Xiaomi, Barra joined Facebook to run the Oculus team.
• His tenure saw the mainstreaming of virtual reality and the rebranding of Facebook to Meta.

"After four years in Asia, I came back to the US and accepted an invite from Mark Zuckerberg to run the Oculus team inside of Facebook."

Speaker A details his move to Meta and his role in advancing virtual reality technology, highlighting the significance of Oculus in the evolution of Facebook and the concept of the metaverse.

• Barra co-founded the health technology company Detect during the pandemic.
• He emphasizes the value of having strong co-founders in making crucial decisions.

"And during my days at Metta, to bring us sort of back to present time, I was introduced by Shaq, of course, to an incredible scientist, this guy, Jonathan Rothberg, who was a serial entrepreneur in the medical devices space."

Speaker A shares the genesis of his latest venture, Detect, and the importance of collaboration with co-founders in the startup environment, specifically in the context of health technology.

• Barra shares key takeaways from his experiences at each company.
• He learned product management at Google, the importance of pricing at Xiaomi, management styles at Meta, and the power of co-founders at Detect.

"At Google, learning all of the fundamentals of product management and product marketing that was my school."

Speaker A distills the essential lessons learned from each stage of his career, providing insights into the diverse skills and knowledge he acquired across different companies and roles.

• Barra believes in the value of enduring struggles for building resilience and success.
• He relates this belief to his own experiences and to the podcast host's journey.

"I fundamentally believe that people who hustle put themselves through struggle early in their career, become much more resilient and tend to do way better later in leadership roles or leading their own companies."

Speaker A reiterates the theme of resilience, tying it back to the initial discussion about the benefits of facing challenges early in one's career, and connects this concept to the personal growth of the podcast host.

• Resilience is crucial for strong leadership.
• Real struggles are necessary to build resilience.
• Exposure to different cultures and work ethics can be formative for leaders.
• Speaker A shares their experience of working in China and the challenges they faced.

"You have to be resilient to be a strong leader, and that requires the struggle to be real."

This quote emphasizes the importance of facing and overcoming real challenges to develop the resilience required for effective leadership.

• Nine nine six refers to working from 9 AM to 9 PM, six days a week.
• This work ethic is common in Chinese tech companies and is seen as a key factor in their competitiveness.
• However, inefficiencies such as poor communication and unclear goals can offset the benefits of this work ethic.
• Speaker A believes this work ethic is culturally specific and may not be suitable for Western companies.

"Nine nine six means 09:00 a.m. To 09:00 p.m. Six days a week."

This quote defines the nine nine six work culture that was prevalent in Chinese tech companies, highlighting the intensive work hours expected of employees.

• Transitioning from the Chinese work culture to Western startup culture can be challenging.
• Western companies may have different expectations regarding work-life balance and employee perks.
• Speaker A faced difficulties when trying to implement similar work expectations in a Western context.

"It was a really tough transition for me."

This quote reflects Speaker A's personal experience with the difficulty of transitioning from the intense work culture in China to a more relaxed Western work environment.

• Chinese culture values the concept of 'face' or social dignity highly.
• Ensuring respect and avoiding public humiliation are key aspects of Chinese social interaction.
• These cultural lessons have influenced Speaker A's leadership style, preferring private discussions for difficult feedback.

"Chinese culture is incredibly rich in its wisdom and depth of meanings compared to the relative superficiality of western cultures."

Speaker A draws a comparison between the depth of Chinese cultural values and Western culture, emphasizing the importance of maintaining dignity and respect in Chinese social interactions.

• Conviction and accuracy are more critical in hardware development due to the risks of unsellable inventory.
• Failed hardware products require a successful follow-up to recover.
• Speaker A shares their experience with Oculus Go and Oculus Quest as examples of learning from product failures.

"If you're wrong in hardware, you could end up with millions of dollars in inventory that you can't do anything with."

This quote highlights the high stakes and risks associated with hardware product development compared to software, where iterating is easier and less costly.

• There are two main consumer categories: those who pay for full-featured products and those who seek value.
• Speaker A refers to these as 'Feature King' and 'Budget King' approaches.
• Successful product development requires choosing the right approach and avoiding the middle ground.

"If you fall somewhere in the middle, you fail to make either of these customer types happy."

This quote stresses the importance of targeting a specific consumer category rather than trying to cater to all, which can lead to failure in product development.

• MVP (Minimum Viable Product) concepts are not applicable in hardware development.
• The first version of a hardware product must meet customer needs effectively.
• Speaker A agrees with Gustav's statement that details are integral to the product.

"There is no such a thing as MVP in the hardware world."

Speaker A asserts that in hardware development, the initial product version must be fully developed and delightful to the customer, as opposed to the MVP approach common in software.

• Intuition plays a significant role when entering new product categories.
• Product managers must become the voice of the customer and understand their emotional needs.
• Speaker A discusses the balance between intuition and data validation in product development.

"When entering a new category, you have to rely on intuition more than data."

This quote acknowledges the necessity of intuition in product development, especially when data is scarce or non-existent in new product categories.

• Effective questioning techniques are essential for understanding customer emotional needs.
• Avoid direct questions; instead, ask how customers feel about certain experiences.
• Use indirect questioning to encourage customers to talk about their feelings and thoughts.

You kind of dance around the topic, right? And you ask, how do you feel when this, how do you feel when that, when was the last time you thought about this?

The quote emphasizes the importance of indirect questioning to explore customer emotions without directly asking about the product.

• Product marketing involves two subdisciplines: inbound and outbound product marketing.
• Inbound product marketing is closely tied to product management and focuses on being the voice of the customer.
• Outbound product marketing forms the basis for all go-to-market strategies and activities.
• Key deliverables include market requirements documents or press releases (inbound) and product messaging documents (outbound).

Product marketing for me is pretty neatly divided into two separate subdisciplines, which are different but very intimately related. Inbound product marketing and outbound product marketing.

Speaker A defines product marketing as a field with two distinct but related parts, inbound and outbound, each with its specific focus and deliverables.

• Storytelling is central to product marketing and helps customers envision the product in their lives.
• The challenge of storytelling can arise when marketing a product that was not personally developed.
• Successful storytelling can overcome negative perceptions, as seen in the rebranding of a Qualcomm chip for the Redmi Note 3.

Storytelling, as I think Tony would also say, is the soul of product marketing.

Speaker A highlights storytelling as the essence of product marketing, crucial for engaging customers and creating compelling narratives.

• Brand marketing is about building a long-term aspirational image for the brand.
• Product marketing is more immediate, focusing on how products fit into customers' daily lives.
• Brand reputation is built over time through consistent product experiences.

Yeah, brand marketing is all about sort of aspiration, right? It's creating an aura and ethos around your brand.

Speaker A differentiates brand marketing from product marketing, emphasizing the aspirational and long-term nature of brand building.

• Starting with a press release helps to establish a clear narrative for the product.
• A great press release addresses customer emotional needs and could inspire a film director to visualize a compelling short film.
• The press release should include features, benefits, and pricing, but must also resonate on an emotional level.

A good press release has all the important details, the features, the benefits, the pricing. Why should you buy this? But a great press release speaks to your customers emotional needs.

Speaker A explains that a great press release goes beyond the basics and taps into the emotional resonance that can impact customer decisions.

• Identify and focus on product ambassadors who are most likely to become champions for the product.
• Initially, tailor the story to these key audiences before broadening the message.
• Choosing the right ambassadors can significantly impact the product lifecycle and market fit.

So you really, really have to focus. You have to choose your audience oftentimes.

Speaker A advises on the importance of focusing marketing efforts on select customer segments that can serve as product ambassadors, especially in the early stages.

• Hardware products must earn a physical place in customers' lives to achieve product market fit.
• The concept of cost per use is a measure of product market fit for hardware items.
• Physical products face the challenge of being chosen and used regularly by consumers.

Physical products are challenging because they have to be chosen by the person every day because they're carrying it.

Speaker A discusses the unique challenges of achieving product market fit with hardware products, emphasizing the need for regular use and value.

• Diverse interview panels with specific roles are crucial for a thorough hiring process.
• Live problem-solving and culture fit are critical components of interviews for all job roles.
• For senior positions, a detailed and lengthy interview helps reveal the candidate's true abilities and experiences.

I'm a really big fan of diverse interview panels where everyone is assigned a specific hat.

Speaker A shares their approach to hiring, highlighting the importance of diverse interview panels and in-depth interviews to assess candidates beyond rehearsed responses.

• The Five Whys technique involves asking "why" multiple times to delve deeper into a candidate's experiences and thought processes.
• This method helps uncover genuine stories and insights about a candidate's capabilities.
• Resistance to this technique can be a barrier, but persistence is key to reaching deeper understanding.

The five whys are the secret of getting to the depth, to the reality, to who someone really is and how they think.

Speaker A endorses the Five Whys technique as an effective method for uncovering the true nature and skills of a job candidate during interviews.

• Speaker A emphasizes the importance of spending time and building relationships to find an entry point for meaningful conversation.
• A lengthy interview process can reveal core values and traits of a person.
• A meticulous follow-up process is crucial to connect missing dots and make confident decisions.

"If you spend enough time with a person and you take a little bit of time to talk about yourself and try to build that relationship, you will eventually find an entry point."

This quote highlights the strategy of using personal sharing as a means to build rapport and encourage others to open up, which is essential in an interview setting.

"Then what I do after that three and a half year interview, I go think for two days, and then I do a follow up one and a half hour where I go back to my notes, I think through carefully, and I figure out kind of the missing dots that connect to a full story."

Speaker A outlines their post-interview process, which involves deep reflection and a structured follow-up to ensure a thorough understanding of the interviewee.

• The discussion focuses on the importance of leadership values in hiring decisions.
• The ability to lead through adversity and build resilient teams is critical.
• Speaker A looks for candidates who have endured significant struggles and have emerged stronger.

"A lot of it has to do with leadership values, right? And how you build teams and how you help people recover from failures."

Speaker A explains that leadership values, team-building skills, and resilience in the face of failure are key factors they explore in interviews.

"I rarely will hire someone who hasn't gone through something that was a big struggle in their careers and can tell their story."

This quote emphasizes the preference for candidates with experience in overcoming challenges as it is indicative of their resilience and leadership potential.

• Speaker A and Speaker D discuss their personal biases that can lead to hiring mistakes.
• Overvaluing certain traits or experiences can cause oversight of other crucial qualities.
• Self-awareness and constant self-checking are necessary to avoid these pitfalls.

"I think I've always over indexed on product nerdiness, so I have to really check myself to not become sort of overly seduced by product nerds when I'm interviewing them."

Speaker A recognizes their tendency to overvalue product knowledge, which might not align with the leadership qualities they seek.

• Speaker A describes the evolution of product management roles within growing organizations.
• The transition from a product manager to a general manager role can be challenging.
• Hiring with future company growth in mind is essential.

"I think product orgs begin to break when the product manager job starts to morph into more of a general manager GM job."

The quote explains the point at which product organizations may start to falter, specifically when product managers are required to take on broader responsibilities that they may not be prepared for.

• Speaker A and Speaker D engage in a rapid question-and-answer session.
• Topics range from user feedback, founder concerns, the nature of product development, and admiration for industry leaders.
• Speaker A provides succinct insights into their product philosophy.

"Listen to their behaviors, ignore most of their opinions."

Speaker A suggests that user behaviors are more reliable indicators of needs than their opinions, which is a strategic approach to product development.

"I would say in a new category, it's 60 40 art to science. In steady state, it's more 40 to 60 art to science."

Speaker A provides their perspective on the balance between creativity and systematic approach in product development, depending on the maturity of the product category.

• Speaker A reflects on their career and the impact of personal connections.
• They express admiration for industry leaders and the importance of emotional understanding in product design.
• The discussion also covers the evolution of Speaker A's approach to building consumer products.

"Steve jobs always. And I would say Tony Fidel is a big mentor over the last many years."

Speaker A shares their respect for Steve Jobs and Tony Fidel, highlighting the influence these leaders have had on their approach to product development.

"Using intuition more and more as I became older."

This quote reveals that Speaker A has increasingly relied on intuition in product development as they gained experience.

• The transcript concludes with endorsements for various tools and services that aid in product management and personal cybersecurity.
• Miro, Stitch, and NordVPN are highlighted for their contributions to efficiency, authentication, and online safety.

"I'm a podcast host, and I need to constantly be balancing between the deliverables from multiple different stakeholders."

Speaker C shares their experience using Miro to manage the complexities of podcast production, illustrating the tool's versatility.

"Stitch. Is your all in one platform for authentication."

Speaker B introduces Stitch as a comprehensive authentication solution, emphasizing its ease of integration and flexibility.

"This is why I decided to team up with the good folks at NordVPN."

Speaker B advocates for NordVPN to protect online privacy and data, drawing a parallel between physical and digital security.