Customer journey narrative

Sanchan Saxena shares lessons from working with Instagram, Airbnb, and Coinbase, focusing on how their founders approached product and leadership. He argues that strong product work starts with customer needs and a clear vision, then uses data and experiments to refine decisions rather than dictate them. He describes Airbnb’s practice of designing an ideal customer journey before deciding how to build it, and Coinbase’s model of empowering one accountable decision maker. The talk also covers balancing strategy with execution, building craft, choosing a company that fits your strengths, and creating opportunities through deliberate career choices.