Sean Cosentino

Product is fun, complex, messy, and there are no shortcuts. Once you accept that—and embrace it—amazing things happen to your career. Cat Hicks, PhD puts this better than anyone: "Doing research with developer teams, something that really strikes me is how much people look for ways to make complex problems easy rather than make it easy to work on complex problems What I mean is, sometimes it's really useful to admit we just are trying to accomplish tough things. Asking how we can support our teams who NEED the time and space to work through that, it's often a much more tractable lever than trying to change the inherent nature of the work I think it behooves me to say as a psychologist here that I think people are actually really excellent at working on complex problems! It's one of the reasons research with developers is so great. Overall devs love to learn, love to be curious, love to innovate. It is core stuff. What would it look like if we could ask, "how do I make this the absolute best environment for complex problem-solving" instead of "how do I take away all these annoying hard problems." The stuff we want to accomplish in the world is hard. But can be joyful to accomplish."

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I just went through 244 websites from the latest YC batch and as a designer, I’m going to pick out my favorites The first is Actionbase (YC S24) I like this one because it has an intriguing headline. So many of these companies are just stating what they do. Or at worst, state what they do and do something cringey like “AI automation at the speed of thought”. Don't do that!! You have to understand your customers, what their motivations are —  as a developer, I’m at least intrigued about using this product The second is Unriddle (YC S24) Super clean. Great black/white theme which I associate with writing papers. I think the headline is strong and action-oriented. The third is expand.ai (YC S24) This isn’t a super exciting page, but it doesn’t have to be. It tells me who I am as a customer — and importantly — shows me a demo! If you can show off how your product works without a 30s video. Go for it. Time-to-value there is everything. Next, is Mito Health (YC S24) Honestly, I think I like this site because it dares to be DIFFERENT. All of the other sites are headline/subheadline/cta/product image — which is fine! Those are definitely best practices, but I like seeing companies take a gamble. There’e something about the small video that makes it weird/compelling and makes me want to learn more! And finally, pap! (YC S24) This one is my *favorite* because it doing the 3 core things really well: 1. GREAT headline. It not only tells you what they do, but it invokes an emotional reaction: I’m getting ripped off by the man, and we’re the robin hood who’s going to fight for you, the consumer. I love that. 2. Really simple but effective imagery — just cutouts of images quickly cycling. Just so the customer knows: "Ok. Got it. This is for physical products." 3. Social proof. Their designer was able to seamlessly blend the main imagery with the positive feedback. Honorable Mention: Quetzal Labs Big bold claim: Copy and paste one line int my codebase and see if it works immediately. This is about time-to-value: If I can copy this, and have this translate my product in under a minute, you’ve definitely earned my business Remember: If you’re making a site, especially for a new product, make sure to have copy and imagery that not makes the customer say “Oh, I get it”, but also “And I totally understand the value” If you have that — you’re way ahead of the pack

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The best Product folks have this insane ability to deconstruct consumer behaviors from other apps and apply it to theirs. MPL’s game design, CRED Mint’s referral flows, and Urban Company’s service descriptions are all great examples of these!

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"You can have a great strategy for the next billion-dollar developer product, but the battle is won in the trenches of daily iterations." I love this clip from Lee Robinson (VP Product, Vercel). Lee helped scale Vercel to 1M+ developers and has some of the clearest thinking of developer marketing that I've read. We talked about: - Getting into the developer's mindset - 3 pillars of a great developer experience - Why developers don't trust your marketing A few quotes from Lee: "Most developers don't adopt a tool the first time they hear about it. It's probably the 10th time." "Great documentation is great writing. The tech industry is plagued with jargon and fluff. It would be much cleaner if people wrote more like how they talk." "The battle is won in the trenches. It could be a two-paragraph docs change or a small UX improvement. For every developer that complains, 100 more won't say anything." 📌 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/g-g-u3E5 Also available on: Apple: https://lnkd.in/grhhYVyh Spotify: https://lnkd.in/gGyvBKmX Newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gGkkYG4M

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The Creator Economy generates nearly $250 BILLION annually, Yet 99% of Twitch / Live Streamers earn less than $1 PER MONTH... Crypto will solve this, and it is happening already. Check out my full breakdown on Vodra now. #crypto #contentcreator Vodra

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Want to Know the Most Overlooked Factor in Tech Growth? What’s holding tech companies back from scaling faster? It’s not funding or talent. It’s something most leaders don’t even consider 🤔 Tech growth isn't just about what you build - it's about when. ⏳ Research shows that market timing is the #1 factor driving growth. Adelina Chalmers Founder of The Geek Whisperer®'s Associates Pro Tip: Instead of just asking for more resources, ask: Why do I need more now? Is this the right moment to scale? Knowing when to grow is the secret that top CEOs and CTOs use to gain a competitive edge. Don’t rush - make smart, timely moves. 💡 🎬 Watch now: https://lnkd.in/ePxwsKYh #TechGrowth #CTO #Entrepreneurship #Startup #Business #TechLeadership #Podcast #Technology #InvestorMindset

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My FAVORITE part of the job as a PM is something I get to do as an entrepreneur too and I love it——- it’s PRODUCT DISCOVERY. Can’t believe it’s part of a job lol cause it’s so much fun! You’re just talking to a certain type of people/ personas, and asking curious questions to know them deeply, identifying problem patterns to build product hypothesis on… And then, you get to go back to them and ask them if it’d solve the problem… if it goes well, you literally have found a happy friend (for life if you wanna put in the effort)!!! I mean, whaaaaaaaat? Making friends is part of my job, now? Who would have thought? Definitely not teenager Arunima who was getting super scolded by her mom for being “too social” for a Boards-exam-studying-student. I got 95%+ or something (def 90+), don’t worry, but according to my Mom I could have done much better if I was more “focused” lol… Joke’s on you my (best in the whole world) Mumma, cause being social is kinda in the JD now 😎 I’m just loving it so much. Atleast today lol. There are thorny days too fam, to be clear. When I’m working on the most boring operational stuff and thinking about things I never had to think of or care about cause of being such a pampered corporate employee, alas! All in all tho, 2025 Arunima do feel she is exactly where she’s supposed to be. And if you’re reading this post TILL this point, YOU HAVE A HUGE HAND in helping me get past the tough times in 2024… thank you so much for reading my long expressive essays and filling the void I felt when I didn’t have a team to just discuss things with. Extra-TMI-level personally, having the “social” feeling of community I had here in 2024 is a huge reason why I was able to be productive with long lonely working sessions on research stuff and some emotional processing of stepping into an entrepreneurial life. So, while I am aware of the lawyer/mentor/friends advice I often get on having a more traditional “executive presence” online, and at the risk of creating wrong/inaccurate/half-baked perceptions about me…. I wanna say that LinkedIn has changed my life. The last decade I wouldn’t have been able to achieve even a quarter of the things I was able to achieve, if my dear Stanford friend didn’t introduce me to this Networking tool that could help me grab opportunities in the US while being a college student in India, and not an IITian at that haha. Thank you, Network. And thank you, LinkedIn. And I hope that I’m able to help more and more hard-working people in the world use LinkedIn to network more efficiently in ‘25, through NavHub AI. Let’s see what adventures are ahead, hopefully atleast as many wins as learnings from mistakes/ failures…. But then again, yo girl has done an almost-PhD in turning adversities to opportunities until there just are enough wins to make an year count! #Entrepreneurship #ProductManagement #Innovation

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I’ve spent the majority of my career working with fintech clients. When I ask myself what has kept me excited and fulfilled over the years, it’s that fintech, like any other space, is part of the human experience, and that means it requires human-centered design. Human-centered design is at the core of everything that we do at Tangible and I was so excited to write about designing for the emotional side of fintech in my latest piece for the Tangible Real Talk blog. Take a look when you can and please share your thoughts on the unexpected ways in which the human experience pops up in design!

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✱ 3 Lessons IT Leaders Can Learn from Watch Duty Metrics to Improve Product Ownership ✱ The current wildfires in Los Angeles have destroyed and continue to destroy many neighborhoods. I cannot even imagine the effort required to rebuild—my thoughts are with those impacted. Since the start of the fire, I have been spending a lot of time on the Watch Duty App. While on their site, I read their blog (link in the comments) on how they managed their costs. This line captured my eye: “Today, we’re proud to share that we’ve driven our operating cost down to $0.34 per active user (1.5x less than last year) — so every dollar you contribute helps more than two people gain access to critical life-saving information.” This insight from the Watch Duty application offers valuable lessons that IT leaders can apply to the products they manage. Lesson 1: Instrument your product costs into your product. Identify and instrument your infrastructure costs into the product—from the start. This approach allows you to measure your infrastructure costs accurately and set user/cost ratio targets that can be lowered or sustained as the product grows. Lesson 2: Monitor how technical debt inflates costs. Compensating for technical debt often involves adding temporary fixes or processes that increase operational costs. By quantifying this impact, you can prioritize addressing debt before it becomes a significant drain on resources. Lesson 3: Choose technology that scales with your user base. Not all technologies are created equal when it comes to scalability. Strategic technology choices early in development can prevent costs from growing at the same rate as your user base, preserving profitability as your product scales. Start Small, Aim Big: While achieving 100% traceability in enterprise products is challenging, begin with measurable areas. In my experience, managing the cost/benefit ratio as a clear metric has driven better outcomes for the products I’ve led. Please contact me if any technology-related projects are needed for recovery efforts. I would like to help And if you’re interested in leveling up cost metrics for your IT products,  DM me to create a roadmap for success.

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👩‍💻🕰️ "Reflections on Three Decades in Tech: A Woman's Perspective 👩‍💻 I get asked all the time what it's been like to work in tech for 30 years as a woman. And I'll be honest–it hasn't always been pleasant, especially in the early days. 🚫 I've been interrupted, ignored, not recognized, had my ideas dismissed only to see a male co-worker strive with the same ideas, passed up for promotion, paid less, and many other negative experiences. 😔 And early on, when I was battling a low sense of self worth and chronic impostor syndrome, this stuff really brought me down. I internalized it and felt like it was my fault. 💡 But I finally reached the point where I decided that I was no longer going to take on and ruminate over the bad behavior of others. I was going to focus instead on the one thing that I did have control over–and that was myself. 🔄 We may not always be able to change external circumstances or the behavior of others, but we can change the way we make these things feel about ourselves. 🏆 We can build an unshakeable confidence so that we truly recognize our worth and the value we bring to our organizations. And with that, we can put the onus back on the offenders, right where it belongs. 🧠 It's difficult to do this though if you're struggling with feelings of impostor syndrome. That's why I've developed my latest course Overcoming Impostor Syndrome, which will provide you with a framework for building your own unshakeable confidence. 📣 Access the new course in my Featured section above! Be sure to use the code CONFIDENT24 at checkout for a special offer.

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🌇 💡NY Tech Week Musings: 3 Days, 3 Thoughts:🗽🚀 Hey everyone, we're halfway through the adrenaline-fueled ride that is New York Tech Week, and boy, do I have 3 thoughts to share! 1) 🌍🤝 Connection Cravings Are Off the Charts With over 200 official events today alone (June 5, 2024), it's clear that people are hungry for networking. I mean, most events are so packed, you can barely squeeze in! It's amazing to see founders and investors from all over the world coming together. The global tech community is truly something special. 2) 🎉🗣️ The Great Networking Paradox Is it just me, or do some of these "networking" events make it nearly impossible to actually network? I feel like I'm shouting over the music half the time! 🎧😅 I love a good party, but maybe we could tone it down a notch and actually hear each other speak? 😆 3) 🌇🔍 NYC Tech Scene: Untapped Potential Alert Chatting with NYC folks, I keep hearing the same thing: we need a better way to stay connected beyond Tech Week.💡 There's so much potential here, and it's up to us to build the community we want to see. 🛠️🌍 So, fellow tech enthusiasts, let's not just network – let's build something awesome together! 🚀 If you're down to create a community that goes beyond a single week, hit me up. I'm all ears (and excited to see what we can create)! 😄✨ #NYTechWeek #newyork #techweek #networking #community I think the video here from one of the events yesterday is a great illustration of the overall spirit of the NYC Tech Week 👇

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The Power of NOT being perceived as a threat 😎 When Andreas Bischoff and I spoke about Lisa Moskotova and I doing a panel on traffic monetization via API, I didn’t think much of it other than being excited because I was going to be sharing the stage with someone whose knowledge complements mine and that loves tech as much as I do, which would make it a good session no matter what. But it turned out to be so much more than that… This is one of my favorite subjects and I speak about it very often, as per usual the audience was 95% male online marketers with different levels of experience on the subject. But this time it was so different and it left me thinking of what made it so!? 1) Lisa Moskotova and I have been friends for at least 10 years and know each others areas of expertise relatively well. 2) From the get go we set out to add as much value and knowledge as we could, given that we both dislike sessions that are disguised sales pitches. 3) We had fun with it. We understand that is a complex and complicated subject but also understand that there is power behind making something complicated seem simple and putting your audience at ease. 4) We are both extremely passionate about what we do and that translates to a great deal of positive energy in the room. 5) Like it or not the fact that it was just two women up there made it so unthreatening for the audience that by the second half of the session it became so interactive that we ended up running out of time. People opened up about their own experiences, their doubts, their fears, their challenges and because we were so nurturing and non judgmental: ALL FILTERS WERE OFF. It might have been one of my favorite sessions ever and if you have been following for a while you know I have a crazy amount of speaking engagements a year, so I decided to stop and try to come up with the answer to what made it different so I could share some takeaways to help us all: 1) Speak about stuff you are both, passionate and knowledgeable about. 2) Make the complex seem simple by not over complicating your explanations. 3) Try to gauge the level of knowledge of your audience so that you can adapt the complexity of your content to keep them engaged. 4) Do your best to add value to the attendees. 5) Understand the power of not being perceived as a threat and have sooo much FUN with it. Good vibes are contagious! #publicspeaking #onlinemarketing #affiliatemarketing #ceolife

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*Update: check out the perfect Delta solution in the comments* 🙇‍♂️💝 I had a really rough airport experience today; that could have easily been solved by better UI 🥺 I'm hosting a Product Operators / Leaders dinner in Denver tonight, but got denied boarding by Southwest Airlines and missed my flight from NYC 😱 I arrived at the gate right at the cutoff time (maybe 1 min early) but the gate attendant said I was too late to board ⛔️ I was like "WTF?!!?" Upon some challenge, I learned that they had already given my seat away *before* the cutoff to board and so couldn't let me on 😤😤😤 Attendant was super defensive and completely unhelpful -- telling me to go speak to someone outside the secure area. To me it was a sign they messed up and didn't want me to confront them about it 🫤 Apparently they had made a last call announcement but because I was still on the way to the gate I didn't hear it (it didn't play away from the gate) 👎 I had actually arrived at the airport well ahead of time and was working and cognizant of the time... I wasn't dawdling but also not running to the gate 🤦🏾‍♂️ I assumed it would be fine to arrive at the gate 20 mins after boarding starts because it normally takes that long to get folks onto the plane 😬 All of these missed expectations (and stress/anger) could have been prevented by some really simple improvements in the Southwest app and associated notifications: 1️⃣ The app shows the boarding time but not the gate closing time! If they had clearly stated the closing time then I'd know to arrive before. 2️⃣ It seems the cut-off time is actually before the gate closes; I wasn't even aware that I had to be there before to retain my seat (lesson learned) but I could have easily gotten a notification to arrive within X mins else my seat might be given away 3️⃣ Once I missed the flight the gate attendant told me to leave the secure area and talk to a customer service rep to deal with my ticket. But then I'd have to go back through to get another flight. There's nothing in the app that supports the flow of dealing with a missed flight.. surely it happens enough and it's been long enough to add this as an option! Just a reminder that good software design can make life a lot easier / less stressful and that everyone working on improving UI/UX is making a difference to people's happiness every day... so thank you! 💚 -- (Luckily a United Airlines rep was *much* more helpful 🙏 and I was able to get on a United flight that should get me there on time... I'm in the air now, so let's see! ✈️)

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Relaunch story 👇 First launch as LinkedRecs → $133 MRR → Had to shut down (manual work) 3 weeks of rebuilding → Relaunched as LinkedBase.io (fully automated) → $193 MRR Users kept asking for the product even after shutdown. Sometimes you need a second try to get it right 🚀

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🎮 Some People Are Nervous About Twitch Last week, the Wall Street Journal wrote an article highlighting some red flags around the business of Twitch. While Amazon paid $1 Billion to acquire Twitch in 2014, the business isn't profitable, annual views are down, ad revenue has stalled, the company has experienced layoffs and there's some internal criticism around new CEO Dan Clancy. I always envisioned Twitch as primarily an acquisition tool for new Amazon customers and a way to funnel people into buying products on Amazon or signing up for Prime. Regardless of the top line numbers, livestreaming is a highly engaging activity. Livestreamers like Kai Cenat and IShowSpeed have some of the most insanely devoted fans who watch their livestreams for several hours in a row. This level of engagement is a strength for Twitch that should be converted into higher ARPU than other digital media channels that aren't focused on livestreaming. But a big challenge seems to come from big brand advertisers, who I expect struggle to understand the Twitch value proposition as part of their overall media plan AND hold onto fears about streamers being very unsafe for brand reputation. The people who create content on Facebook/Instagram/TikTok/YouTube build the ad inventory that gets sold to advertisers. The people who create content on Twitch build ad inventory that's scary to advertisers. So Twitch has to monetize consumers more than brands, function more like a B2C media business vs. a B2B media business. The rawness of a livestream is what makes the platform appealing to consumers while maybe not to big brands. They should double down on monetization through digital subscriptions and virtual products. Examples from Chinese social media, entertainment, and livestream platforms show how a B2C media business model can work when prioritized over advertising. Livestreaming is a form of media that will undoubtedly continue to grow, regardless of Twitch's own success. Streaming analytics company Stream Hatchet produced a recent report with the following data: -Overall streaming consumption is up 10% YoY in Q2 '24 vs. Q2 '23. -Twitch has lost 10% of their market share, from 70% of the overall market to 60% of the overall market. -A host of streaming competitors, like YouTube Gaming, Kick, AfreecaTV, and Chzzk are growing their market share. Twitch still has a head start and still serves as the cultural home for livestreaming, for now... If they can improve the product experience, encourage more content discovery, and better navigate B2C monetization, they should be able to grow out of their troubles--or at least, they can contribute to Amazon's top line revenue and broader strategic goals. #twitch #amazon #livestreaming #marketing #advertising #kaicenat #ishowspeed #livecommerce

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New Post: Revel’s latest pivot: Ditching all-employee ride-hail in favor of gig worker model - https://lnkd.in/gaQ9KrNr - New York-based Revel has made a lot of pivots since initially launching in 2018 as a dockless e-moped sharing service. The BlackRock-backed startup briefly stepped into the e-bike subscription business. It launched and now operates a handful of electric vehicle charging stations across the five boroughs. And it started an all-Tesla, all-employee ride-hail service, in © 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only. - #news #business #world -------------------------------------------------- Download: #Google #Font #Tester - https://lnkd.in/gKAZYbVN

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Software folks: Product people are not the enemy. The often adversarial relationship between Engineering and Product (or really any two departments) has been a continual source of frustration throughout my career. The amount of time I’ve spent reminding people with different roles that they work for the same company borders on the absurd. I understand why this happens, but it’s still troubling. For example, I recently listened to an engineering leadership podcast where the host asked the guest about an engineering manager negotiating priorities with a business leader. Negotiation is generally a good thing. Groups make better decisions when they take multiple perspectives into account. However, the host talked about “winning” and “losing” the debate. At the point where you frame a decision-making process as an argument, you have already lost. The goal in a process like this is to make the best decision possible, not to win or lose. One of my litmus tests for a healthy product development team has long been, “Do the engineers consider the Product Manager part of the team? Are they willing to go to bat for the PM?” When we remember our shared mission and all pull together, we can do amazing things.

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New York Tech Week starts tomorrow. My tips to those who are attending for the 1st time: • Don't over-plan. It can be tempting to pick and choose from the list of 500 events and schedule your day to the minute, but you'll miss out on the beautiful, unexpected opportunities that are bound to show up. Instead, plan on attending 2-3 "flagship" events every day and leave the rest to randomness. Make room for serendipity. • Telling a stranger, "I love your shoes" can go a long way. Talk to everyone you see. You never know what role a stranger might play in your future. Remind yourself that everyone is nervous and anxious - events are overwhelming! But at the end of the day, everyone is there for the same reason: to meet new people and cultivate relationships. • Approach every interaction with a surplus mindset. When you do talk to a stranger, approach the conversation with a positive-sum mindset. Be there to give - not take. Offer your hand, give generously, help problem-solve, and it will come back tenfold. • Be curious to be interesting. Some people believe that they can convince others that they are interesting just by bragging about themselves. That rarely works. Instead, ask questions and listen more than you talk. Instead of asking “Where do you work?” opt for a more creative one like “What are you excited about?” or “What are you building?”. Be interesting by being curious. • It's all about the follow-up. A surprisingly high number of people do not follow-up after an initial interaction - in my experience, it's 80-90%. Insane! I attribute it to forgetfulness, laziness, or general apathy. Just the act of following up puts you in the small minority. See you out there. P.S. on the last point of following up - I actually created an app to 10x your ability to do this at events and form lasting connections. Download link in comments below.

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