Instant Pot had $300M+ revenue, passionate users, and $100M cash on hand.

So why did they file for bankruptcy?

The answer lies in the pattern of how private equity systematically destroys beloved products through financial engineering!

In this podcast, Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel examine the acquisition of Instant Brands and discuss how leveraged buyouts, special dividends, and debt loading likely turned a kitchen innovation success story into a cautionary tale for every product team.

Watch or listen to learn:
• Real reasons successful products fail under PE ownership
• Why "professional management" really means cutting the people who built the product
• How debt servicing kills innovation budgets
• The one question every product manager should ask their CFO
• Why product-led growth can't survive private equity's playbook

This isn't just about Instant Pot - it's about protecting the products and teams you care about from becoming the next casualty of financial engineering.

#ProductManagement #PrivateEquity #InstantPot

References:

• New Lawsuit Accuses Private Equity Company of Plundering Assets of Instant Brands; Michael Wolf, Nov 2024; https://thespoon.tech/new-lawsuit-accuses-private-equity-company-of-plundering-assets-of-instant-brands/
• Arguing Agile #61: AA61 - Experiences in Corporate Buyouts (Mergers & Acquisitions)
• Arguing Agile #96: AA96 - Stages of Company Decline, or When Companies Hate Their Customers

Tags
#ProductManagement #InstantPot #ArguingAgile

LINKS
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com

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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Today we're examining Palantir's "Forward Deployed Software Engineers" - and separating fact from the hype!

Everything old is new again! Move over companies that have been doing this for decades such as SAP, IBM, and countless consulting firms!

https://blog.palantir.com/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-palantir-forward-deployed-software-engineer-45ef2de257b1

Listen as we break down Palantir's 2020 blog post about their Forward Deployed Software Engineers (FDSEs) and discover what these engineers actually do versus what the marketing claims...

Key topics covered:

• What FDSEs actually do, day-to-day
• How this compares to traditional consulting roles
• The difference between software configuration and software engineering
• Why embedded customer roles aren't new
• Career advice for aspiring technical professionals

If you're interested in understanding the reality behind tech industry buzzwords, this is your episode!

#ProductManagement #SoftwareEngineering #TechCareers #Consulting #Leadership #AgileCoaching

LINKS
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YouTube: https://youtu.be/SGvJK-aruJ8
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com
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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)

Today, we're delivering a not-your-typical-leadership-book review: "Extreme Ownership" by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin!

Ed Martin joins hosts Product Manager Brian Orlando and Enterprise Business Agility Coach Om Patel for a chapter-by-chapter review of how military leadership principles directly translate to product management, agile coaching, and team development.

The core message?

True leadership isn't about barking orders - it's about taking complete ownership, empowering others, and leading with discipline and humility.

Some quotes from our discussion include:
• It's not what you preach, it's what you tolerate
• If you can run retrospectives people actually want to attend, you've got leadership skills
• Communication isn't just part of your job as a product manager - it IS your job
• There's no 100% right solution, but leaders must act decisively amid uncertainty

Listen to discover the striking parallels between leadership skill and "agile practices" such as decentralized command and the ability to prioritize and execute under pressure. Whether you're leading a development team or coaching organizational transformation, these principles apply.

#ExtremeOwnership #Leadership #ProductManagement

LINKS

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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@arguingagile
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/362QvYORmtZRKAeTAE57v3
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/agile-podcast/id1568557596
Website: http://arguingagile.com
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Toronto Is My Beat (Music Sample)
By Whitewolf (Source: https://ccmixter.org/files/whitewolf225/60181)
CC BY 4.0 DEED (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en)