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Unsticking a Stagnant Product Org:
Twitter's Creative Renaissance

Kayvon Beykpour
Former Head of Product & GM Consumer, Twitter
NOV 2024
The Context

Twitter's
Stagnation Problem

FUNCTIONAL STRUCTUREDEADLOCK & CONFLICT
  • Functional org: product, engineering, design, research all siloed
  • No single decision-maker to resolve conflicts quickly
  • Highly opinionated leaders creating deadlock
  • Result: Product felt frozen. No major changes in years.
  • Sacred cows were everywhere, untouchable by design
"We wanted to change the lack of ambition, the lack of creativity, the lack of customers feeling that the product had changed at all."
The Breakthrough

How Kayvon Shipped
Everything (All at Once)

  • Parag became CEO, restructured into GM model, Kayvon got engineering + design
  • Suddenly: decision-making speed 10x faster
  • Shipping velocity visible to the org (and customers)
  • One person accountable for outcomes, not endless debate
  • Started with Sacred Cows Framework: "What can't we change?"
The Feature List

Super Follows, Communities, Newsletters, Topics, Fleets, Reactions, Edge-to-edge Photos, Twitter Blue, Spaces, Live Video, all shipped in ~2 years

The Principle

Sacred cows are a roadmap. Start by asking: "What are all the things we think we're NOT allowed to change?"

Staffing for Obsession

How to Staff Projects That Matter

  • Skill set matters. Obsession matters more.
  • Hire (or move) believers, not just capable people
  • The curse of ambivalence: "It's hard to build something when the team doesn't believe in it"
  • Disagreement on your team = project dies before it ships
  • Use acquihires to bring in fresh, hungry product leaders
  • Let founders-of-features run their features like startups
The Reverse Chron Timeline Story

Twitter had a "Swish" toggle. Users asked for reverse chronological feed. But the team kept reverting them to ranked because it drove DAU metrics. Customers hated it. Metrics told a lie.

The Real Cost of Ambivalence

"Imagine building something from nothing. Now imagine doing it when half your team doesn't believe in it. That's not just hard, that's toxic to culture."

Culture Shift

Breaking Sacred Cows

  • Map your sacred cows (things you think you can't touch)
  • That map IS your hidden roadmap
  • Kill one sacred cow early to signal: "Everything's on the table"
  • Hire product leaders with pattern-match for restlessness
  • Give them control: GM + engineering + design, not committees
  • Celebrate shipping, not just metrics wins
Kayvon's test"I might flame out completely, but Hell if I don't try." The signal matters. Org needs to feel the PM is all-in.
The Contrarian View

Frameworks Can Paralyze

✗Jobs-to-be-Done solves product clarityINSTEAD →✓ Every framework followed religiously = process theater. You need judgment + nuance.
✗Optimize everything for OKRsINSTEAD →✓ Metrics can hide customer hostility. Amazon buries order details for DAU. That's evil metrics alignment.
✗Consensus-based product decisions scaleINSTEAD →✓ Consensus = deadlock at scale. Functional orgs need a CEO willing to tiebreak fast.
✗You can build culture with ambivalent teamsINSTEAD →✓ Staff projects with people who WANT to be there. Obsession is the cheat code for shipping.
Based on Kayvon Beykpour's episode on Lenny's Podcast. All ideas on this page are from the episode.Watch on YouTubeFollow @kayvz on X
GO DEEPER IN THE EPISODE
04:31 Getting Elon up to speed at Twitter11:34 The story of being let go from Twitter after Elon’s acquisition21:09 Changing the product culture at Twitter29:44 Building the “hide replies” feature32:02 Sacred crows, taking bold bets, and reigniting growth34:28 Aquihires and their impact42:40 Tips for successful acquisitions and staffing47:00 The limitations of frameworks like JTBD53:20 Signs you’ve gone too far with a framework57:44 Lessons from building Periscope01:00:41 Reasons why Periscope failed01:07:24 The challenges of implementing video at Twitter01:12:05 Copying ideas in good taste01:17:58 How to get better at building consumer products01:19:51 What Kayvon is building01:20:31 Lightning round
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