Meta’s Head of Product (and 29th employee) on working with Mark Zuckerberg, early growth tactics, why PMs are like conductors, and more | Naomi Gleit
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How did Naomi Gleit first land a job at Meta as employee #29?
I really believe in frameworks for things that helps drive extreme clarity. I work on a lot of different projects. A lot of times I'm ramping up mid-project. I'm like, where can I learn what I need to learn about this project? I ask five different people, get five different answers. That is unacceptable. Of course, I'm sure there's hundreds of docs associated with the project, but there needs to be one canonical doc. Everyone should know exactly where the canonical dock is. That's the one place I can go to to get all the information I need about. a project and it will link to all the other docs. Things on the canonical dock are
Today, my guest is Naomi Gleit. Naomi is head of product at Meta. Other than Mark Zuckerberg, she's the longest serving executive at Meta. She joined what was then called Facebook as employee number 29 and has been at Meta for almost 20 years. She's seen the company scale from 30 employees to the $1.5 trillion business that it is today. Naomi does very few podcasts and interviews, and so is really excited. Excited to chat with her and have her on this podcast. In our conversation, we dig into the many lessons that she learned from Facebook's early and legendary growth team, her superpower of taking really complex and gnarly problems and projects, simplifying them and delivering results. We also get into leadership lessons she's learned from Zuck, including his recent transformation into possibly the coolest CEO in tech.
Also, YPMs are the conductor of product teams. Some very tactical tips for running meetings, writing docs, working out, getting better sleep, and even how to get more protein in your diet. This was such a fun conversation and such a wide-ranging conversation, and whether you are in product or growth or any other tech function, you will get something useful out of this conversation. If you enjoy this podcast, don't forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcasting app or YouTube. It's the best way to avoid missing future episodes. And helps the podcast tremendously. With that, I bring you Naomi Glite. Naomi, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the podcast.
Thanks so much for having me. As I told you earlier, I refer your podcast all the time and so I can't believe I have the opportunity to actually talk on it.
Wow. I'm so flattered. Uh I never get tired of hearing that. Appreciate you sharing that. I want to share a couple tidbits about you because it's pretty crazy when you've uh see this list. Okay, so you're Meta's longest serving executive other than Mark Zuckerberg. You're employee number 29 at Facebook. You've been there for over nineteen years, sorry, at Meta, formerly Facebook.
I do that all the time. That's what happens when you've been at Meta for nineteen years is you can't get the name right.
Okay, good. I won't feel bad about that then. And then the last thing is just you've been uh at the center of some of the most foundational products that Meta and Facebook have worked on, including working on the early growth team and thinking about the early growth strategy. Basically, you've been there from employee number 32, today, a one and a half trillion dollar company, one of the largest companies in the world today. Very few people have ever seen this sort of growth and scale. Dale from the inside. First of all, I guess let me just ask this do you ever th reflect on this and just realize like holy shit, what a journey I've been on, how how wild.
Um, it's a great question. I would love to say that I I reflect on it. The truth is I think I barely have time to reflect right now. I'm thinking about all the things that I need to do on my to-do list. So I'm pretty in it still, even after nineteen years. I am really focused on the work that I need to do. I do honestly have moments where I get to reflect, for example, like on this podcast. Um, sometimes people do ask me, you know, and I think especially as I approach the 20 year milestone, my twenty-year face versory, I'm sure that will give ample opportunity for me to look back.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Naomi Gleit first land a job at Meta as employee #29?
0:00–13:00
2
What lessons did Naomi learn from working closely with Mark Zuckerberg?
13:00–24:29
3
How did the early Facebook growth team define and use activation metrics?
24:29–39:35
4
What are Naomi’s “Naomiisms” for achieving extreme clarity on projects?
39:35–53:13
5
How does Naomi run effective meetings and keep teams aligned?
53:13–1:06:51
6
What leadership principles does Naomi apply as Head of Product at Meta?
1:06:51–1:19:24
7
How does Naomi balance exercise, sleep, and personal health with a demanding career?
1:19:24–1:31:24
8
Where can listeners find Naomi’s work and how can they contribute to her ideas?
1:31:24–1:38:10
Speakers
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