Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
00:22:09 · Hector Serrano, Lenny Rachitsky
And then taking a shot on them, and you can't just bring a young person in and then be like, okay. Like, you're not where you... Where I want you to be. Like, you're gone. Like, Tanay and Daniel, again, and the whole Wispr team always gives us a lot of time to learn and fail. And I know for a fact for the first seven months at Wispr, I was kind of I was kind of all over the place. I mean, I still joke about it with Daniel how, there was some hard conversations here and there where you're like, what's Hector doing? But, yeah, they gave me the freedom to to keep experimenting, keep trying new things, and it didn't really matter if you failed as long as you're con... Consistently, like, learning and getting better and getting better, and, like, that's the same for Tobin. Tobin came in. They gave him some money and some time to experiment, and after, like, two months, he found something that worked, and it stuck. [00:22:52] S0: Okay, this is extremely valuable. There was this tweet the other day that came out of just like the hardest role to hire for right now is basically someone like you, someone that can talk about the product, the technical aspects, get people excited, make the product compelling. You're telling us what this profile looks like. So just to reflect back what you just said, one is evidence that they're very hardworking, evidence they're a good person, that their values and culture kind of aligns with your company. Three, they've actually grown a platform to at least 10,000 followers, and this could be any platform like Instagram, TikTok.
00:22:52 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:22:52] S0: Okay, this is extremely valuable. There was this tweet the other day that came out of just like the hardest role to hire for right now is basically someone like you, someone that can talk about the product, the technical aspects, get people excited, make the product compelling. You're telling us what this profile looks like. So just to reflect back what you just said, one is evidence that they're very hardworking, evidence they're a good person, that their values and culture kind of aligns with your company. Three, they've actually grown a platform to at least 10,000 followers, and this could be any platform like Instagram, TikTok. [00:23:27] S1: I I would say Instagram is probably the highest sign because TikTok is typically, like, a bit more brain rock content, and, like, Instagram is, like, a bit more polished, better package, and also the followers you get on there as a platform are just better. So I just think Instagram is probably a higher signal than TikTok. It's pretty easy to grow on TikTok, like, posting some brain rot stuff, I would say. [00:23:46] S0: I see. What about, like, x and YouTube?
00:23:46 · Lenny Rachitsky, Hector Serrano
[00:23:46] S0: I see. What about, like, x and YouTube? [00:23:48] S1: YouTube is is decent, but I would say if you understand a platform like Instagram, you can crack any platform. And, yeah, that's my experience. I mean, Instagram and YouTube, I would say, if you can if you can crack Instagram and YouTube, I confident, especially if you're a young individual, you can crack any platform. Like, I'd I'd never posted on x much until, like, two weeks ago, and I went from, like, 500 followers on x to, like, 18,000. And I wasn't really used to posting on a text only platform, but I figured it out after, like, a week. It's like, okay. It's a volume game. You need to keep it short, kind of have your own style, and, like, actually give some value, and, like, that was pretty easy to learn. And I also think if you start on x, it's a bit harder to get into video because video is, like, a whole another beast. Sitting down and filming is is not an easy thing. I've I've had some colleagues. Like, I pushed them to start making videos. Shout out to Eric. He's our he's our media buyer, how to make a video. And, yeah, he he struggled a little bit in his first one, but I think it's good to step out of your comfort zone and and try to trump some videos. But, yeah, it's definitely not easy. So I would I would say, yes, Instagram and YouTube.
00:24:50 · Lenny Rachitsky
[00:24:50] S0: That's actually how I discovered Duanex, and it's it's just, like, blown up on on my entire feed. Just Hector videos recently. I didn't realize you just started posting in two weeks. That's insane. Clearly another sign of how effective you are at this. So another kind of bullet point I want to double down on there is just this idea of young talent. That's something you talk a lot about, just the value and almost like the alpha in hiring young people.
00:25:14 · Hector Serrano
[00:25:14] S1: Yeah. I mean, also going back to the point that you had just mentioned, like, it's the hardest role to hire, I think it's very simple. It just boils down to, like, what I mentioned, like, the two resumes. You... There's there's no clear path for a good marketer or a good modern marketer who understands socials. And if you, like, look for these things that you might think are high signal where that's, like, the best grades, the best school, certain majors, like, you're not gonna end up with the market that you had envisioned. So I think that's why it's hard because there's no real, like, defined path of, okay. This is how you find the next Tobin or the next Hector or the next x person. So, yeah, I I would like... My suggestion, if you're trying to find someone similar to me would be try to not find someone similar to me because you're not gonna find the right person. It's just like, give a shot to some kid who has, like, some crazy background, and the crazier, the better, and obviously has some some proof in the work. But, yeah, the point that you were asking was the importance of young talent. Right? Like, why that really matters? Yeah. I think I've seen this example honestly in a lot of different industries. I don't know if you've heard of Jimmy Farley, but he's, like, one of the TikTok shop, like, OG guys. Like, he's he's been on there. I don't know since he was like 17. Built a huge agency, worked with some of the biggest brands. And recently, I think his agency got acquired by Physician's Choice for like $2,000,000 and now he's like in house with them and also works with other brands. But I've just seen this kid, like, surround himself. I mean, he's older than me now, but I've seen him surround himself with, like, all these older founders, and all these older founders of these ecomm brands are always, like, just talking about how, like, having a Jimmy next to you is, like, so much alpha because a 30, 40 year old founder doesn't understand what an 18 year old kid who's in these Discord chats or who's scrolling every day on Instagram and TikTok. They don't understand, like, what's actually working and the best ways to approach these new channels.
00:26:58 · Hector Serrano, Lenny Rachitsky
And if you have young people next to you in whatever industry you are, whether you're in SaaS, you're in ecom, whatever it is, and you just find someone that kinda understands the things that you don't and the early things and you're able to ask questions and learn from them, I think it's, like, a no brainer to have someone like that on your team. It's like even even if you do your best now to dive into TikTok shop or into Trybe, like, you're still gonna struggle because you're not gonna be able maybe to connect as much with the creators or you're not gonna understand certain things, and it's just gonna take you a a longer time to get used to those things instead of, like, putting your time into something that you're better at and then bringing someone that can kind of manage those things for you. [00:27:37] S0: I love this advice. There's always talk about, you know, no no jobs left for young folks. AI is taking everyone's jobs, and this is a really good example where young people are actually much better at this work.