Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile
Matt Watson

@mattwatsonkc

Entrepreneur, Startup CTO/CEO, Bootstrapped to a 9 figure SaaS exit, founder of @fullscalekc, podcast Product Driven

ID: 1443969668021116929

linkhttps://newsletter.productdriven.com calendar_today01-10-2021 16:03:01

1,1K Tweet

934 Followers

378 Following

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

Customer: "Great product idea!" You: "Post it in our feedback portal" WTF? They just gave you gold and you handed them homework? Say thank you. Write it down. Log it yourself. Because they won't. Customer feedback is a gift. Stop treating it like a burden.

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

Status updates disguised as meetings are killing your team. The fix? Questions that spark ownership: "What would you do differently?" "What are we avoiding?" "Where are we overcomplicating?" Real engagement > Empty updates Every. Single. Time.

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

"Just post it in our feedback portal" Translation: "Your idea isn't worth my time to write down" When customers give unprompted feedback, they're doing YOU a favor. Don't make them work for it. Don't act like you don't care. Write it down and USE it.

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

"Any updates?" "Following up..." "Just checking in..." Your Slack is where productivity goes to die. Messages should drive ACTION, not confusion. Templates that actually work: ✅ Clear requests ✅ Real accountability ✅ Zero back-and-forth Get 70 templates for free when you

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72% growth over 3 years. That’s what happens when 300+ devs, PMs, and leaders show up every day to serve the hell out of our clients. Today, that growth was recognized: 🏆 We made the Inc. 5000 (again). #23 in KC. #142 in HR. Still focused on the same thing: 🛠 Build better

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Paid a handyman 3x his normal rate. He still: - Didn't show up - Did mediocre work - Made excuses Lesson: Golden opportunities don't fix mediocre people.

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Same retro. Same complaints. No changes. Try the structuring it with COURAGE: "What are we pretending not to know?" "What conversation are we avoiding?" "What would we do if we couldn't fail?" Turn months of surface talk to 30 mins of truth.

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Want to be a CTO? Start a company. No safety net forces you to: ✅ Talk to customers ✅ Make tech decisions ✅ Handle operations ✅ Drive product Trial by fire will take you higher than any corporate ladder.

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The junior dev paradox: Use AI = Code faster, learn less Skip AI = Learn more, fall behind In 10 years when we need senior devs, where will they come from? AI can't architect systems or understand customers. We're automating away our future talent pipeline.

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

Your team logs in thinking about their last task. By the time they engage, half the meeting's gone. Fix: Start with a real question. Not "How's everyone?" But "What are we avoiding?"

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But most teams still run execution interviews that miss this. If you want product thinkers, you have to hire for judgment under ambiguity. Here’s the 60-minute interview scenario + scorecard we use at Full Scale to find owners, not coders : buff.ly/AtdSEV8

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"Where do I even begin?" Every leader wants a product-driven team. Few know step one. All you need is a guide: - Assess where you are - Pick one small change - Build momentum - Scale success No overwhelm. Just progress. Get the roadmap: buff.ly/4WrlGW7

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

Cold starts kill meetings. One warm-up question changes everything: "What's unclear right now?" "Where are we overcomplicating?" "What needs to be said?" 2 minutes. Total mindset shift. Stop wasting time. Start with intention.

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Engineers used to talk to customers. No PM. No layers. Then we grew. Created "Product Manager" role. Built silos. Now: Two teams pretending to be separate while needing to be one. We put devs in basements like mushrooms. Then wonder why they don't get it.

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3am crisis. Team member quit. Deploy failed. Board tomorrow. Who do you call? I built this Product Driven Coach GPT Your 24/7 leadership advisor for: 👉 Difficult conversations 👉 Team conflicts 👉 Strategic decisions Get real solutions real-time for FREE when you buy my

Matt Watson (@mattwatsonkc) 's Twitter Profile Photo

We broke software development. Before: Engineer talks to user → builds solution Now: User → PM → BA → Engineer → QA → User We added layers to "protect" developers from thinking. Result: They're disconnected from WHY they're building. No wonder nothing works.

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Want a product-driven team but overwhelmed where to start? The secret: Small steps > Big leaps Get the full roadmap: buff.ly/4WrlGW7 📗

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Companies still debating return-to-office in 2025 are already obsolete. They just don't know it yet. The math is brutal: We need 1.4M more developers than exist in the ENTIRE US. That shortage doubles by 2030. There isn't much time left at all.