BUILDING PRODUCT MINDSET THROUGH IDEATION & PITCHING

INTRODUCTION
The iPhone improved the way we communicate, and today apps like Uber are changing how
we travel but the question remains, how do great products come into being? Building an
innovative product involves multiple challenges ranging from defining the problem youre
trying to solve, identifying the people you are solving it for and coming up with a solution
that not only meets but also exceeds their expectations.
If you were building a new product from scratch, how would you go about doing it? This
workshop starts with groups of participants picking a shared design problem, followed by an
ideation session to define the product, and a pitching contest where winners with the best
solutions will be chosen. The goal is to gain an understanding of how products are ideated
and develop a framework for evaluating products.
AUDIENCE
Our target audience will be students and recent graduates, or those looking to make a career
transition into tech product development. We want people who are passionate about
products, but perhaps need some guidance on ideation and product strategy.
PLAN OF ACTION
10 minutes: Introduction
In the first section of the session, facilitators will introduce themselves and lay out clear
objectives for the hour. The workshop aims to expose participants to the product design
process and challenges them to evaluate a set of ideas. Everyone in the workshop will serve
dual roles; they will act as original design thinkers who will come up with solutions to realworld user experience challenges, and in the second portion of the workshop, they will serve
the investor role responsible for voting on the best overall proposal. Each participants will
receive $100,000 in play cash (denominations of $10,000). At the end of the exercise,
everyone can individually fund any of the ideas presented during the hour.
To kick off the design challenge, facilitators will ask the participants for the type of industry
categories they are most interested in. Facilitators will come up with a single question around
that space structured as How might we improve X? questions. For example, How might
we improve the grocery checkout experience? or How might we make boarding a plane a
more enjoyable experience?. The objective of the introduction section is to get the
participants familiar with the moderators and excited about a shared design problem. We will
then split the group into even teams (groups of 5-10) around whiteboards spread throughout
the room.
20 minutes: Ideating
During the 20 minute workshop session, teams should come up with a list of ideas for how
they might solve the user experience challenge. They will then come up with a product to
address the problem. Teams should identify who their product is targeting, the single value
proposition the product will deliver, and sketch out initial specifications for what the

product might look like. Finally, they will cap their exercise with a short plan for how they
might deliver their product to their intended customer segment. At the end of 20 minutes,
teams will have a chance to come up with a short 2-minute pitch explaining what they are
building, how it will address the design challenge, and why people should invest in them.
20 minutes: Pitching
In this section, moderators will lead the teams to pitch their ideas in front of the other
participants. In a rapid-fire pitching round, each team will have 2 minutes to present their
elevator pitch to the rest of the participants. The presenting team will discuss their product
idea, explain their rationale for building it in the current market, elaborate on their
implementation strategy, and convince others to invest. Meanwhile, the participants who are
not presenting will act as the investors, listening and take notes on their questions and
concerns. The investors will be encouraged to find holes in the product strategy and point
out major roadblocks or obstacles.
10 minutes: Voting & Wrap Up
Each participant will be given $100,000 in play money (10 bills, each $10,000). Or,
depending on the scale of the session, a mobile voting system. Participants decide how they
would like to invest - they can choose to distribute it across multiple products or go all in
on what they believe to be the best idea. After votes are in, moderators will tally and
announce the winning product idea. Moderators will then lead a discussion to discuss the
winning product - investors can explain why the product resonated with them and ask tough
questions. Winning team members will be given a grand prize, and all investors of that
product will be given a smaller token prize.
OUTCOMES & CONCLUSION
Attendees should walk out of the session having experienced rapid product ideation and
strategy. Teams will have to collaborate cross-functionally, communicate effectively amongst
themselves and ultimately prioritize, make tradeoffs to agree on a final product idea.
This will be an immersive exercise that helps participants experience the product
development process from ideation to shipping.
PARTICIPATION STATEMENT
All participants have made a commitment to attend the conference if accepted.
All the facilitators of this workshop are Associate Product Managers at LinkedIn. Three of
us (Heidi, Thogori, Charu) have been to Grace Hopper as students before and really enjoyed
the experience, but felt a strong need for a space to discuss product ideation and frameworks
on what makes tech products truly great. We have all had very different paths which led us
to product management ranging from entrepreneurship, art, design, engineering, and social
work, which will bring fresh perspectives to the workshop. Being young product leaders at
LinkedIn in very different teams also means that our collective experience spans many
different types of products. Finally, the group is a mixed gender group which brings both
genders into an important conversation around product development.

Here are the bios:

Heidi Wang works on the Relationships team at LinkedIn, focusing on building products
that help you build your network and keep in touch with people that matter. Her interests lie
at the intersection of Computer Science, Art/Design, Social Behavior, and Education. Heidi
previously worked at Box and MIT Media Lab. She holds a masters in Computer Science
from Stanford University.
Ryan Sandler works on the Careers team at LinkedIn. He is passionate about using data to
help people get jobs and make career decisions. Ryan was previously co-founder and CEO at
DareDvl. He holds a bachelors in Computer Science from Harvard University.
Thogori Karago works on the Premium team at LinkedIn, where she works on building jobs
products that create global economic empowerment at massive scale. She loves being able to
build tech innovations that positively impact people's lives. Having grown up in Nairobi,
Kenya, she is particularly passionate about doing so in developing countries. Thogori
previously worked at Credit Suisse. She holds a masters in Computer Science from Carnegie
Mellon University.
Wes Leung works on Search at LinkedIn. He is passionate about solving everyday
inefficiencies (like finding things!) through the intersection of code, data, and design. He is
interested in bringing these areas together to deliver great consumer products. Wes
previously worked at IDEO, Groupon and Intuit. He holds a bachelors and masters in
Computer Science from Stanford University.
Charu Jangid works on the Identity team at LinkedIn, building products which enable
individuals to tell their story and track and engage with their professional identity. She is
passionate about building human-centered products which provide great value but are also
delightful to use. Charu previously worked at Microsoft and Gencore Systems. She holds a
bachelors and masters in Computer Science from the University of Pennsylvania.