Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth
01:26:58 · Dianne Penn, Lenny Rachitsky
[01:26:58] S0: Yes, it's based on the video game. I think it's witty, it's humorous. It's also super action-oriented, so highly recommend. [01:27:08] S1: Okay, next question. Do you have a favorite product you've recently discovered that you really love? [01:27:12] S0: I really do think Claude Tag is very interesting in terms of a product experience. We actually have different versions of this within Anthropic, and I think it's actually been a really, really, really powerful tool. [01:27:29] S1: Yeah. I think some people are like, "What's the big deal?" The fact that everyone at Anthropic is raving about it tells me something important is going on here. And I'm trying to actually get it working within my Slack community that I have for paid newsletter subscribers. How cool would that be? [01:27:43] S0: Yeah. [01:27:43] S1: Yeah. I'm trying to figure out how it works when it's not a company, when it's just a bunch of people that don't know each other and how that might work, but we're trying it out. Okay. Two more questions. Your favorite life motto that you find yourself often coming back to in work or in life. [01:27:57] S0: So I was actually raised by my grandparents for the first 10 years of my life. And my parents were immigrant college and master's students in the US. [01:28:08] S1: Oh, wow.
01:28:08 · Lenny Rachitsky, Dianne Penn
[01:28:08] S1: Oh, wow. [01:28:08] S0: And my grandfather always says, no matter how far you go, there's always another level, which is, I think, a really good way, though a pretty intense way of describing his life philosophy. But I go back to that whenever there's something new or unprecedented that we experience. And I think first half of this year, there was definitely a lot of that. There was a lot of new things that we were learning, I was learning. So just feeling like there's always another mountain, another opportunity to come. [01:28:50] S1: Not good enough, Dianne. We need to go better. We need to go bigger. Makes me think about, actually, another Ben Mann line from his podcast episode, that this is the most normal it's ever going to be. It's only going to get weirder and crazier. [01:29:04] S0: Yeah. [01:29:05] S1: Oh my God. Okay. Final question. I was poking at your LinkedIn. You were a high yield bond trader at JP Morgan Chase early in your career. You have this redacted $100 million trading portfolio of some kind. What did you learn from that time in your life that has stuck with you? And/or is there a crazy story from that period? It was four years of your life.
01:29:31 · Dianne Penn, Lenny Rachitsky
[01:29:31] S0: I think I learned, actually, a lot that I applied here at Anthropic and other jobs thereafter. So when I was at JP Morgan, the trading floor, you could envision Wolf of Wall Street. That's very different. Most traders, I think, are in front of a terminal. They're much more doing analyses on their computers, but it's still very, I would say, male-dominated. And so I was the only woman. I was the only person with my background on the trading desk. And I learned that there was a very good environment to building one, my sense of authentic self. And two, that even if I was the most junior person, even if I may look different, that the best ideas and having conviction in the best ideas, irregardless of all of those other factors, is the most important thing. And so I think just bring that sense of how I show up more at work. I'm pretty vulnerable and authentic with my team. I try to really make sure that, regardless of people's levels or tenures, if they have a great idea, how to help them pursue that and to do also the same. So to put the idea out there, to actually have conviction in it, to do the follow through, to do the nitty-gritty work to make it happen. So those are all things that I learned from trading. And yeah, I think applies to any job in many ways. [01:31:20] S1: That is beautiful. Where can people find you online if they want to follow you? And how can listeners be useful to you?
01:31:20 · Lenny Rachitsky, Dianne Penn
[01:31:20] S1: That is beautiful. Where can people find you online if they want to follow you? And how can listeners be useful to you? [01:31:28] S0: I don't have a large presence on social. I think the best way to find my work, my team's work is really the Anthropic blog and when we're publishing new models, new product experiences. I think in terms of useful for me, I think the best thing, number one, is your feedback. We actually, if you thumbs up or thumbs down on any of our product surfaces, if you contact your salesperson with feedback about the model, it will make its way to me. We actually, with every research model, I actually get pretty close into understanding favorability and feedback. So giving us that feedback, pushing Claude, telling us where it's falling down, those help us make Claude better. The other thing is if you have folks in your network who seem like this type of profiled person that I just talked about, I'm hiring, the team is growing. We really will love just people who love this technology, who are deeply curious, first principles thinkers, who are fearless in questioning assumptions and who have a tinkering hackery spirit. [01:32:46] S1: Wow, what a dream job. So basically open PM roles at Anthropic on the research team. [01:32:52] S0: Yes. [01:32:53] S1: And they apply, I assume, on the website, the careers page. [01:32:56] S0: Yes. [01:32:56] S1: Holy moly. All right, here we go. Enjoy the flood of resumes you're about to receive. [01:33:01] S0: Thank you, Lenny. [01:33:04] S1: Dianne, thank you so much for being here.
01:33:04 · Lenny Rachitsky, Dianne Penn
[01:33:04] S1: Dianne, thank you so much for being here. [01:33:06] S0: Thank you so much for having me. Thank you for really helpful, though-provoking questions, helping me even connect the dots on how we work, how this whole technology is coming together and being proud of people in it. [01:33:21] S1: I really appreciate that. But thank you, Dianne, for real. Okay. Well, bye everyone. Thank you so much for listening. If you found this valuable, you can subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app. Also, please consider giving us a rating or leaving a review as that really helps other listeners find the podcast. You can find all past episodes or learn more about the show at lennyspodcast.com. See you in the next episode.