What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why hitting the limits of your own capacity can reshape how you prioritize
• The moment Teresa realized no one has the “right answer” in hard times—and how that unlocked - her agency as a leader
• Petra’s hard-earned lesson about loyalty, burnout, and setting healthy boundaries
• How early user interviews (and a nudge from Marty Cagan) transformed Petra’s product practice
• The humbling reminders that you are not your user

Key Moments:

• [02:30] Teresa’s crash course as a startup CEO during the 2008 recession
• [11:20] Realizing prioritization is survival, not just a backlog exercise
• [18:45] “No one knows the answer” — the leadership shift that gave Teresa agency
• [29:10] Petra’s story: why the company doesn’t love you back
• [42:05] The pay raise that came too late
• [50:15] Marty Cagan and Petra’s first user interviews at Starbucks
• [01:02:00] Funny user research fails: “close the window” taken literally

Resources & Links:

• Follow Teresa Torres: https://ProductTalk.org
• Follow Petra Wille: https://Petra-Wille.com

Mentioned in this episode:

• The True Story of Struggles and Success Of A Startup CEO with Teresa Torres by Barry O’Reilly
• Petra’s work on coaching product leaders
• Marty Cagan
• iPAQ