Gibson Biddle on his DHM product strategy framework, GEM roadmap prioritization framework, 5 Netflix strategy mini case studies, building a personal board of directors, and much more artwork

Gibson Biddle on his DHM product strategy framework, GEM roadmap prioritization framework, 5 Netflix strategy mini case studies, building a personal board of directors, and much more

Lenny's Podcast: Product | Career | Growth

June 20, 2022

Before getting into teaching full-time, Gibson Biddle was VP of Product at Netflix and CPO at Chegg (a textbook rental and homework help company). He now spends his days speaking, writing, and hosting workshops on product leadership, strategy, and culture.
Speakers: Lenny Rachitsky, Gibson Biddle
**Lenny Rachitsky** (0:04)
Gibson Biddle, whose name is really fun to say by the way, has directly taught and worked with more PMs than only a handful of other people in the world. Before going full time on teaching, he was VP of product at Netflix and at Chegg, and has written what is almost surely the most popular medium post on product strategy. In our chat, we learned about Gibson's very popular product strategy and prioritization framework, and we go through a bunch of real life case studies from his time at Netflix to see how they apply in the real world.
I love how Gibson comes up with such clear and memorable frameworks, which help demystify the vagueness that surrounds strategy and prioritization. We're really lucky to have Gibson share these with us, and I hope you enjoy.
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Gibson, I am so excited to be doing this. We've collaborated on some writing, we've done a couple of our set chats together, but we've never really dug deep into anything. And so I'm really excited for this opportunity to chat. So welcome.

**Gibson Biddle** (3:27)
Great, Lenny.
Thanks for having me.
It's fun to virtually be in the same place at the same time. Someday we'll do that in person.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (3:34)
Oh man, I can't wait. For folks that aren't that familiar with you, could you just share a very brief overview of your journey through Product?

**Gibson Biddle** (3:43)
It's hard because I'm older than dirt to be very brief, but I'll give my best shot. The intro was I discovered I love teaching. Early, I ran a sailing school, took a year off from college. That was my first startup. And then the three chapters of my life, the first one was in marketing. So I actually started in the mail room at an ad agency and then went into account services and create a service that helped name new companies and products. Like if you're in the Bay Area, the Versatel or the Versateler, it's a Bank of America name.

**Lenny Rachitsky** (4:10)
I've always been so curious about that industry, but that's a discussion for another time.

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