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Larry Mickie

If you could be a maker for any company, who is the company you'd choose and why?

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I'd love to be a fly on the wall, mirroring Snapchat's Product & Experience teams. From positioning themselves as a brand to creating and maintaining an intimate space within the app, I'd be interested in learning how the magic happens!
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Ryan Hoover
Fun topic, @larrymickie. Snap is up there for me too. I'd love to sit in various Twitter meetings. They have many big challenges to overcome with their product and seeing how teams execute within a larger org than I've ever worked in would be enlightening.
Larry Mickie
@rrhoover twitters a great pick for sure. Especially watching how they handle being a larger seasoned startup, because every incremental change to the product creates larger scale ripples.
Amrith
@rrhoover @larrymickie It's got to be Twitter for me too for all of the reasons Ryan mentioned and also to learn how decision making has to happen when the smallest changes you make affects millions of people, it blows my mind.
Abadesi
I'd love to choose something far removed from what I do but still fascinating like SpaceX or Impossible Meat... I don't get to interact with a ton of machinery in my role but I'd love to go to labs and check out what's happening in R&D!
Larry Mickie
@abadesi there's something about stepping into the unknowing and soaking up the learnings in uncharted territory, the impossible. haha.
Abadesi
@larrymickie exactly! I loved being in the chemistry lab during school days and feel like I'd enjoy being in a lab coat hehe.
Larry Mickie
@abadesi yeah i agree! it would be super fun. Also, if i'd shadow at spaceX, it would be pretty hard to do anything non space related after.
Stephen
Coinbase would be fascinating, a lot going on in that sector! Curious how they manage so much change and uncertainty. Seems like a place that would benefit from and be open to innovative ideas!
Larry Mickie
@builtbystephen Great point! How do you build a solid road map around something with so much change? I'd like to learn that too.
Corben Heuser
You might want to check your grammar.
Larry Mickie
@snobcatt so is that grammarly?
Jose Niño Pérez
I'd probably go for Stripe . I like Patrick's position on many relevant issues and I believe the company is in a place where they'll be able to contribute to those in the future.
Larry Mickie
@jaironpz great point on positioning.
Armand
Sweetgreen, it's the details. Check out the drip: https://shop.sweetgreen.com
Larry Mickie
@armand drip checkd
Tomas Batrla
OpenAI
Larry Mickie
@bartolomej thats a good one. What interests you the most about them?
Tomas Batrla
@larrymickie I just like the idea of AI being shared and open to anyone
Larry Mickie
@bartolomej 100% agree.
Christina Luo
Away would be one. Interesting to see how an industry as seemingly predictable and "matured" as luggage can be disrupted with a travel-as-a-lifestyle brand intentionally built around it. Also Stitch Fix because there are so many virtual stylists and subscription boxes for clothing out there that it would be neat to see how the use of algorithms and machine learning differentiate it. The supply chain operations of both would be fascinating to understand.
Larry Mickie
@christinayluo oOOOoo, i never heard of Away before. I've always found teams that build brand intentionally into their products intriguing. I have to take a look at stitch fix. How do you measure experience in a subscription box? Sounds like a good weekend read/research project.
Constantin
Basecamp, because I've been following them for a long time and I love everything they do. They are one of those rare companies that have a ton of self-awareness and a solid philosophy that aligns with my own.
Larry Mickie
@brbcoding I also like the fact that they bootstrapped as well. I always wondered was their any correlation between companies that bootstrapped and self-awareness.
Constantin
Yeah totally, I forgot the mention bootstrapping, though it's one of their most important traits. Probably a lot of their beliefs stem from that. What's interesting is that the employee churn is very low - people just don't leave Basecamp.
Jas Singh
I will stick to my startup burgundy.app :)
Andrew Tye
really interesting question! I would love to be involved with Google X or similar that is tackling really big problems with few constraints. But also would be fun to be a part of companies that are making product decisions for something at a huge scale where every decision impacts hundreds of millions of people...
Michael Andreuzza
Figma 1.0 Or Vectary 2.0 I like how they think....
Larry Mickie
@michael_andreuzza definitely great products too! Its been great to see the growth of both products.
Amol Patil
Lemonade would be my pick - Very fascinated by the product and the team there.
Larry Mickie
@a_patil great pick i like their take on insurance and i'd be interested in learning more about how they build models for their AI systems.
Bill Bailey
Goodreads, probably because it's related to something I'm building right now. If I were on on their team I'd probably understand why they're leaving so much on the table. What drives their decision to not pursue what seems like obvious improvements in their product. Maybe I wouldn't need to be building what I am building ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Larry Mickie
@fromjamrock that's a good choice.
Vinish Garg
If it were 2015, I would have loved to be with Product Hunt. I have closely watched their each milestone, how they accelerated by being community-driven, and it is such an amazing piece of work.