August 13, 2025
How can product leaders balance scaling product teams and maintaining an innovative edge? In this podcast hosted by Mark Bailes, Merge Director of Product Anuj Jhunjhunwala will be speaking on scaling teams with intentionality and avoiding complacency. Anuj shares insights from his experience at a high-growth startup, offering practical strategies for building high-performance product teams while maintaining a lean, focused approach.
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Show Notes
- Recognize team scaling needs by tracking unresolved problems and slowing velocity
- Prioritize leverage over pure efficiency in product development
- Treat every project, meeting, and document as a designed “product” with intentional user experience
- Understand that negotiation is central to product management – clarity matters more than always saying yes
- Develop a “working at” document to clearly communicate company culture and expectations
- Balance short-term contractor work with long-term full-time hires to maintain core IP
- One hire in a 100-person company can significantly influence overall culture
- Use AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance productivity and problem-solving
- Approach career growth as navigating a mountain, not climbing a linear ladder
- Prioritize problems that have the highest customer impact
- Learn to tell concise, compelling stories about product decisions
- Be transparent about company stage and growth expectations during hiring
- Seek candidates who demonstrate agency, ambiguity navigation, and clear communication
- Understand that startup growth requires marathon and sprint mentalities simultaneously
- Evaluate potential hires based on their ability to spot and solve cross-functional problems
- Recognize that customer feedback is crucial but shouldn’t completely dictate product direction
- Develop a “leverage mindset” that focuses on maximizing output with available time
- Create interview questions that test for curiosity, adaptability, and problem-solving skills
- Encourage team members to think about their role as a continuously evolving “product”
- Maintain high energy and commitment to solving complex, undefined challenges
About the speaker
About the host
Mark Bailes
VNS Health, Director - Technical Product Management
I am passionate about using technology to solve problems and I take great pleasure in helping others to achieve their goals. I live these values every day working in Product.