Live today on Diaspora.nz — we're speaking with Bowen Pan, in an episode that ended up becoming something of a *product masterclass*
listen & subscribe on Substack (click above!) Apple & Spotify.
Bowen's career is a playbook on turning hidden opportunities into global products. Check this out:
— founded & led "Facebook Marketplace" while at FB ... after observing emergent behaviour in Facebook Groups across certain demographics. Now used by 800M people around the world every month.
— built Facebook gaming to be the 3rd largest live-streaming platform globally.
— was one of the key players behind Stripe's App Platform: the third-party developer platform and B2B app store, an "operating system for small businesses worldwide."
Today he's VP of Product at Common Room - a Series B startup that's raised $52M+ from Greylock, Index Ventures, and others to reinvent how companies understand their customers.
Bowen’s product philosophy hinges on ruthless curiosity, finding underserved markets, and cultivating teams focused on impact, not visibility...
I try my best to weave together hard earned insights …
— how to think about product as a founder vs. small startup vs. big tech, and where the profession is going next as AI changes everything..
— his talent philosophy and how to see future potential before everyone else.
— his investment thesis as an angel and LP, hunting for founders who've discovered unique "secrets" that drive them to build.
Along the way, we get his perspectives on New Zealand as both testing ground and training camp for global product builders, and how being a Kiwi generalist shaped his approach to spotting opportunities others miss.
💡 send this to a founder who is in the early days of defining their product, or looking for emergent behaviour in their user activity
🙏 make sure you subscribe on your platform of choice - links in comments.
excited for your feedback on this one!
In today’s episode, we cover:
• How Bowen uncovered and scaled Facebook Marketplace from a simple SQL query
• Why high-impact, low-visibility projects are career superchargers
• How New Zealand shaped Bowen’s holistic view of product building
• The secret to spotting hidden user behaviour that others overlook
• The skills you should build (and ignore) to be an exceptional product leader
• Why truth-seeking is the greatest career skill of all
• How Common Room is reinventing go-to-market by putting people first
We also explore Bowen’s thoughts on investing in passionate founders, the future of product management amidst AI-driven tools, and how Kiwi companies can better leverage global opportunities.
Time Stamps
00:32 Bowen’s journey from Trade Me to Facebook, Stripe, and Common Room
02:27 Spotting hidden opportunities: the power of latent user behaviour
09:45 Building Facebook Marketplace from scratch
21:00 How Bowen validated Marketplace’s potential
28:43 Stripe’s mission and building a platform for SMBs
35:43 What defines excellent product management?
47:26 The future of product leadership in the age of AI
55:18 How New Zealand shaped Bowen’s global career
59:25 Using New Zealand as a global testing ground
01:03:55 Investing philosophy: finding founders with secret insights
Resources
Bowen Pan’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bowenpan/
Common Room - Reinventing go-to-market software: https://www.commonroom.io
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