Inside Gong: How teams work with design partners, their pod structure, autonomy, trust, and more | Eilon Reshef (co-founder and CPO)

Eilon Reshef is the co-founder and chief product officer at Gong, one of the most ubiquitous B2B products in the world. In our conversation, we discuss:• Gong’s unique approach to working with design partners• Their unique pod model• Why Eilon makes big decisions quickly• Lessons learned from being early in AI• The power of extreme focus• His “spiral method” for learning complex topics quickly• How to maintain quality while optimizing for speed—Brought to you by:• WorkOS—Modern identity platform for B2B SaaS, free up to 1 million MAUs• Think Fast Talk Smart—Tools and techniques to help you communicate more effectively• Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security—Find the transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/inside-gong-eilon-reshef—Where to find Eilon Reshef:• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eilonreshef—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:(00:00) Eilon’s background(04:20) The pod model(06:33) Working with design partners(09:13) Finding and coordinating design partners(13:12) Balancing customer feedback and vision(15:10) Gong's 95% feature adoption(17:05) The importance of autonomy and trust(23:30) How to implement this unique way of working(27:15) Speed and decision-making(31:47) Early AI adoption and lessons learned(35:50) Building effective AI teams(38:16) The spiral method for learning(41:36) Narrowing down the initial customer profile(44:24) Failure corner(46:35) Lightning round—Referenced:• Gong: https://www.gong.io• Cisco: https://www.cisco.com/• How Gong builds product: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-gong-builds-product• What is Montessori education?: https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/What-Is-Montessori• Isaac Asimov: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov• Amit Bendov on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amitbendov/• Lessons from scaling Spotify: The science of product, taking ri