Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)
Why half of product managers are in trouble | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google)
Nikhyl Singhal is the founder of The Skip, a community for senior product leaders; a former product exec at Meta, Google, and Credit Karma; and a many-time founder. He’s also one of the most honest, unfiltered voices on what’s actually happening in product management right now.
Listen on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts
In our in-depth conversation, we discuss:
Why the next two years will be the most chaotic period in product management history
Why half of current product managers are at risk, and what separates those who’ll do well
Why you need to find your “moments of joy” with AI
The “smiling exhaustion” he’s seeing across the product community
The psychological barriers that prevent people from reinventing themselves
Why your resume’s fancy logos matter less than ever, and what matters now
His prediction that companies will shed 30,000 people and rehire 8,000—all AI-first
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Where to find Nikhyl Singhal:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl
• X: https://x.com/nikhyl
• Podcast & Newsletter: https://skip.show
• Skip Community: https://skip.community
• Skip Coach: https://skip.coach
• Skip.help: https://skip.help
Referenced:
• Building a long and meaningful career | Nikhyl Singhal (Meta, Google): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-a-long-and-meaningful-career
• COBOL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COBOL
• United Airlines: https://www.united.com
• State of the product job market in early 2026: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/state-of-the-product-job-market-in-ee9
• Head of Growth (Anthropic): “Claude is growing itself at this point” | Amol Avasare: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/anthropics-1b-to-19b-growth-run
• Demis Hassabis on X: https://x.com/demishassabis
• Sam Altman on X: https://x.com/sama
• Dario Amodei on X: https://x.com/DarioAmodei
• Cross on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Cross-Season-1/dp/B0D6X7ZZHC
• Jack Ryan on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/Tom-Clancys-Jack-Ryan/dp/B0CNDCMN8R
• 24 on Prime Video: https://www.amazon.com/24-Season-1/dp/B000HPF85A
• Claude Code: https://code.claude.com
• Codex: https://chatgpt.com/codex
• Lovable: https://lovable.dev
• Sonos: https://www.sonos.com
• “There are only four jobs” on X: https://x.com/yrechtman/status/2039012253341495462
• Paradise on Hulu: https://www.hulu.com/series/paradise-2b4b8988-50c9-4097-bf93-bc34a99a5b4f
• Lioness on Paramount+: https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/lioness
• Tesla: https://www.tesla.com
• Albert Einstein’s quote: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/115696-genius-is-1-talent-and-99-percent-hard-work
Recommended books:
• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: https://www.amazon.com/Adventures-Huckleberry-Finn-Unabridged-Uncensored/dp/195483943X
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
My biggest takeaways from this conversation:
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