Klein Blue
PRINCIPLES
What I believe
about product work.
Taste is the job.
Anyone can build anything now.<citation needed> Product sense is the whole game. I've been developing mine since long before I even knew what a product manager was. Actor, circus performerI could jump on my back in a jump rope doing double dutch. No longer., kid obsessed with elegant design and how things work.
Product is where I practice it now.
Empathy is a superpowerthe one AI can't replicate.
AI is powerful.
But it's built on words. Words are translations of experience.Some might say "The tao which can be told is not the eternal Tao." Translations are lossy.
The thing beneath the thing.
Every problem has a surface explanation and a real one. And everything is connected.
I often don't know where I'm going when I start, but curiosity is my compass.
It is true for self-understanding. It is true for building products. The right question is the answer.
Make others better.
A 10x PMI never liked the 10X meme, but bear with me. is a great PM. An elite PM makes the five people around them 2x.
Stay light.
Customers are people. So are teammates. And people are weird<citation needed>.
Bringing humor and humanity to the work is what lets great teams create great experiences.
Responsible for it all.
A wise person once pointed out that a PM's role is to "define the product and coordinate actions across the org to enable its success."
It doesn't matter if I get the credit.
It matters that the product wins.
SELECTED WORK
Fifteen years.
Four companies.
I've seen a lot.
Focused on AI-enabled experiences for learners, parents, and teachers. Rebuilt the async class experience from scratch. Built up 3 product teams from scratch in a remote environment.
Owned both sides of a two sided marketplace. Connected creators to early adopters.
Yes, that onebuy me a coffee. Built tools for SMBs and creators to find new customers. Grew active professionals from 700k to 13.5M.
Everything from data/ML to B2B SaaS to the consumer marketplace. Grew from IC to leading teams. Most of my PM DNAimprinted for life was formed here.
COACHING
Book me by the hour.
I coach individual PMs on product sense and career decisions. Pick the option that fits your circumstancesyou'll get the same coaching no matter what..
WRITING
(not a) blog.
Occasional essays and thoughts, on the internet, as the spirit moves me.
KIND WORDS
Don't take
my word for it.
“John's focus and dedication serve as a model for other teams coming on board.”
“Always thinking about the next problem we needed to solve. It was contagious in the best way.”
“A prime example of what a team player should be — proactive, dependable, collaborative.”