This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of Whatnot)

Tom Verrilli, chief product officer at Whatnot, a live shopping platform with over $8 billion in GMV, said in an interview that his product team was founded on the premise 'we regret that product management exists' and discussed how AI is reshaping the PM role, what he looks for when hiring PMs, and the shift toward senior individual contributors doing the work. Verrilli, previously CPO at Twitch and director of product growth at Twitter, also shared his 'play the accordion' mental model and lessons from his time at Twitter.

Tom Verrilli is the chief product officer at Whatnot, a live shopping platform that’s become the fastest-growing U.S. marketplace business in history, with over $8 billion in GMV. Before joining Whatnot, Tom was CPO at Twitch and director of product growth at Twitter during one of the most turbulent periods in the company’s history . Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts In our in-depth conversation, we discuss: Why Whatnot’s product team was founded on the premise “we regret that product management exists” How AI is reshaping the PM role What Tom looks for when hiring PMs The shift toward senior ICs doing the work How AI has transformed data science at Whatnot Tom’s “play the accordion” mental model Why “hire great people and get out of their way” fails His biggest lessons from his time at Twitter Brought to you by: WorkOS —Make your app enterprise-ready, with SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more Mercury —Radically different banking, now with Command Where to find Tom Verrilli: • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-robertson-042 https://www.linkedin.com/in/tom-robertson-042 Referenced: • Whatnot: https://www.whatnot.com https://www.whatnot.com • Building, and Whatnot: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-whatnot-tom-verrilli-bwkdc https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-whatnot-tom-verrilli-bwkdc • Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv https://www.twitch.tv • Why Netflix is betting on systems thinkers—not specialists—in the AI era | Elizabeth Stone CPTO : https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/netflix-cpto-on-ai-and-the-future https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/netflix-cpto-on-ai-and-the-future • Peter Bailis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbailis https://www.linkedin.com/in/pbailis • Mike Krieger on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger • Anthropic’s CPO on what comes next | Mike Krieger co-founder of Instagram : https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-cpo-heres-what-comes-next • Ben Kus on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkus https://www.linkedin.com/in/benkus • Henry Shi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrythe9th https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrythe9th • Hex Threads: https://hex.tech/product/threads https://hex.tech/product/threads • Product management theater | Marty Cagan Silicon Valley Product Group : https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-theater-marty https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/product-management-theater-marty • Grant LaFontaine on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantlafontaine https://www.linkedin.com/in/grantlafontaine • Logan Head on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-head https://www.linkedin.com/in/logan-head • Emmett Shear on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmettshear https://www.linkedin.com/in/emmettshear • Kara Swisher on X: https://x.com/karaswisher https://x.com/karaswisher • Jeff Bezos: Amazon and Blue Origin—Lex Fridman Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcWqzZ3I2cY • Star City on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/star-city/umc.cmc.2l8p785osmtmiyk64bh6tfde1 https://tv.apple.com/us/show/star-city/umc.cmc.2l8p785osmtmiyk64bh6tfde1 • For All Mankind on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7 https://tv.apple.com/us/show/for-all-mankind/umc.cmc.6wsi780sz5tdbqcf11k76mkp7 • Service NSW Mobile App: https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/services/service-nsw-mobile-app https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/services/service-nsw-mobile-app • Rudyard Kipling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard Kipling https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudyard Kipling • E-fish.com: https://www.e-fish.com https://www.e-fish.com Recommended books: • The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers―Straight Talk on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062273205 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0062273205 • The Purpose Driven Church: Every Church Is Big in God’s Eyes : https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310201063 https://www.amazon.com/dp/0310201063 • Babel: Or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators’ Revolution―An Historic Fantasy of Dark Academia : https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021439 https://www.amazon.com/Babel-Necessity-Violence-Translators-Revolution/dp/0063021439 Production and marketing by https://penname.co/ https://penname.co/ . For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email email protected /cdn-cgi/l/email-protection 64140b00070517102408010a0a1d1605070c0d10170f1d4a070b09 . Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.