Product Decoded: Interview with Todd Yellin, VP Product, Netflix

Product Decoded Season 1 | Episode 3

Todd Yellin, Vice President of Product at Netflix, shares his passion for story-telling, personalization, design, and how he works to delight more than 120M Netflix members worldwide through both “aiming high and aiming low.”

Todd Yellin, current VP of Product, with Gibson Biddle, former VP of Product.

In the third episode of the Product Decoded podcast, I’m the host! It’s great fun for me because when I was the VP of Product at Netflix, I hired Todd as a product manager and now he’s VP of Product. The two of us are happily reunited for this podcast.

Here’s some of the “dirt” and juicy insight from Todd:

• Why “smashing idols” is important in product innovation
• Why Netflix no longer relies on a five-star movie rating system
• How Todd learned to “let go” in order to grow as a VP-level leader
• The “superpowers” Todd relies on as a product manager
• The trade-offs between intimacy and impact as companies transition from startup to the world-class company that Netflix is today.

Left: Todd Yellin, Right: Gibson Biddle

I’d also love it if you could give feedback on the podcast. The link takes you to Survey Monkey and only takes one minute.

Enjoy!

Gib

If you enjoyed this podcast episode, subscribe to Product Decoded on iTunesand SoundCloud.

Below are links to all episodes of Product Decoded:

• Ep: 1 — Deb Liu, VP of Marketplace at Facebook
• Ep. 2 — Chris Abad, VP of Product & Design at UserTesting
• Ep. 3 — Todd Yellin, VP Product at Netflix
• Ep. 4 — Aaron Levie, Founder & CEO at Box
• Ep. 5 — Michael Sippey, Head of Product at Medium
• Ep. 6 — Amanda Richardson, Chief Data & Strategy Officer at HotelTonight

Product Decoded is produced by Spero Ventures and Product Leader Summit.

Spero Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm that is helping entrepreneurs build a future that belongs to everyone. Subscribe to our monthly Spero Ventures Insights newsletter here.

Product Leader Summit is a community of founders and VP Product leaders who gather together bi-annually to network and learn from one another. Subscribe to our quarterly Product Leader Summit newsletter here.