#15 Building the Product Proposition - (Spotify) Sten Garmark | Slush 2022

Learn how Spotify built its product proposition through user research, validation, and experimentation, and discover the key role partnerships play in delivering value to users and staying innovative.

Key takeaways
  • To build a product proposition, you need to understand what problems you’re trying to solve and what kind of partnerships you need to make it work.
  • The product proposition should be based on a clear understanding of the market, the competition, and the trends, and should be validated through user research and testing.
  • Partnerships are crucial in building a successful product proposition, and you need to be willing to iterate and adjust your approach based on feedback from users and partners.
  • To stay innovative, you need to have a culture of experimentation and iteration, and be willing to take bold bets and learn from failures.
  • The initial product proposition is crucial in setting the tone for the rest of the product’s development, and you need to make sure it’s scalable and adaptable to changing trends and user behaviors.
  • Converting free users to paid users is a crucial part of the product’s success, and you need to make sure the product is easy to use and provides value to users to justify the conversion.
  • The product proposition needs to be built around a clear understanding of the user’s needs and behaviors, and you need to be willing to iterate and adjust it based on feedback and data.
  • The role of partnerships in building a successful product proposition is crucial, and you need to be willing to work closely with partners to deliver value to users.
  • In the early days of Spotify, the company focused on building a product proposition around music streaming, and then expanded into other areas such as podcasts and playlists.
  • The company used user research and testing to validate its product proposition and make adjustments as needed.
  • The product proposition is built around a clear understanding of the user’s needs and behaviors, and the company is always looking for ways to improve it and deliver more value to users.
  • The company has a strong focus on innovation and experimentation, and is always looking for new ways to deliver value to users.
  • In the words of Stan, “Well, I think fundamentally this is a cultural issue. You need to have a culture where innovation is encouraged and where people feel safe experimenting and trying new things.”