Kevin Yien leads product for merchant experiences at Stripe. Before that, he meandered his way from being a technical designer to a product manager, built the restaurants business and ecosystem team at Square, and most recently was head of product and design at Mutiny. He also makes ice cream and teaches for fun. In our conversation, we discuss:• Why aspiring PMs should start in engineering, design, or sales• The importance of writing skills, and how to become a better writer• How to automate user research• Kevin’s “unsell email” technique for hiring• The value of keeping a decision log• Insights on AI and its impact on future generations• Lessons from failure—Brought to you by:• BuildBetter—AI for product teams• OneSchema—Import CSV data 10x faster• Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments—Find the transcript and show notes at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/unorthodox-pm-wisdom-kevin-yien—Where to find Kevin Yien:• X: https://x.com/kevinyien• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinyien/• Website: https://kevinyien.com/—Where to find Lenny:• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/—In this episode, we cover:

Kevin’s background

The story behind Kevin’s profile picture

The role of a product manager

Getting started in product management

The importance of writing skills

Becoming a better writer

The PM’s role with engineering and design

Drawing the perimeter for your team

Feedback tips

Decision logs and product sense

Unorthodox hiring strategies

The unsell email strategy

Automating user research

AI in everyday life

Lessons from failure