In this episode of Product Coffee, Kevin Gentry sits down with Elliott Poppel, a seasoned entrepreneur with a diverse background in venture capital, ad tech, and product management. Elliott shares his career trajectory, highlighting pivotal moments from his early days at a VC firm, his leadership role in pivoting App.io to a successful acquisition, to founding his own startups like RobinHealth. He delves into the lessons learned from both successes and failures, emphasizing the importance of adaptability and continuous learning. The discussion also covers his time at Facebook, where he navigated the complexities of working in a large corporate environment and contributed to innovative projects like the Portal device. Elliott offers valuable insights into go-to-market strategies, user research, and the significance of being open to change, providing listeners with actionable advice to elevate their product management careers.
Dive in more:
00:00 Introduction to Product Coffee Podcast
00:28 Guest Introduction: Elliot Popple
00:58 Elliot's Career Beginnings in Venture Capital
01:17 First Startup Experience and Pivot to Enterprise SaaS
01:37 Founding Robin Health: An On-Demand Pharmacy
02:02 Joining Facebook and Founding General Collaboration
02:27 Early Career and Education: From Boston to San Francisco
03:05 Networking into Venture Capital
04:33 Challenges and Successes in Ad Tech
06:46 Pivoting to Customer Support Software
08:07 Lessons from Leading a Startup
09:41 Exploring New Business Models and User Research
13:21 The Reality of Startup Failures and Learning from Mistakes
18:13 Fractional Work and Modern Startup Strategies
20:39 Reflecting on Robin Health's Missed Opportunities
24:51 Transition to Facebook
25:01 Challenges and Learning at Facebook
27:01 Dynamic Ads and Team Dynamics
27:41 Navigating Facebook's Corporate Environment
32:20 Building 8 and Hardware Innovations
34:51 Founding General Collaboration
38:35 Product Development and Market Positioning
48:31 Final Thoughts and Advice
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