Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product)

What was it like managing me? Most importantly, how painful was it to manage me? Man, how much time do you have? I used to joke with people that you're kind of this Jedi where you get crazy stuff done, really hard stuff done, in a really subtle and a really unique way. I've always used inquiry versus advocacy. A lot of people approach a conversation with a point of view and they begin advocating immediately. We should do this, or no, we should not do this, right? Me, I always took the opposite approach. I inquire first. I'm gonna ask a ton of questions because I fundamentally believe maybe there's something I don't know and there's information that I need to understand to make a better decision. Is there something we can share about just what you learned from Brian about thinking big? I remember telling it Brian one day and he was like something just feels like Off right now. And I remember asking him, like, what do you mean? Our numbers are open to the right. His response was things are just too calm. Sometimes you want to create chaos in an organization to push the organization to think creatively and to actually like make leaps in product development. And I've always told myself, don't be afraid to poke the bear. What are some skills that you believe helped you be as successful as you've been? Impact, impact, impact, impact. That's the only thing that mattered. Today my guest is Vlad Locktev.

This is a very special episode for me because Vlad was my manager at Airbnb for many years. And he's the person that I credit most for teaching me how to be an effective product manager and product leader. Within Airbnb, Flat started as an ICPM. Five years later was leading product for the core Airbnb business, the homes business. A few years later was GM of the core homes business, reporting directly to Brian Chesky, managing over a thousand people, including design, engineering, and other functions. He's also one of Brian's most trusted partners for most of his time at Airbnb. Before Airbnb, Vlad was a founder, is also a senior PM at Zinga, where he grew the game Wards with friends to over 14 million daily active users. Even though Vlad recently moved into Venture Capital as a partner at Index Ventures, he will always be a product manager at heart to me, and I'm very excited for more people to get to learn from Vlad.

In our conversation, Vlad shares the skills and behaviors and mindsets that most contributed to his success, including a ton of really tactical stuff. Also, the strategies and tactics that he's found most helpful in building and scaling a fast growing org. And his thoughts on Airbnb's current ways of working, including their move away from traditional product management and also their approach of thinking very top down. Which I thought was really insightful. And so much more, this podcast I guarantee will make you a more effective product leader, and I am very excited to share it with you. If you enjoyed this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it on your favorite podcasting app or YouTube.

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