Episode 134: Unpacking Doodle's Growth Strategy with Stephanie Leue, Chief Product Officer at Doodle

In this episode of Product Thinking, Stephanie Leue, Chief Product Officer at Doodle, joins Melissa Perri to navigate the challenges and opportunities of transitioning from a free to a subscription-based model, the importance of a strong organizational support system, and the role of data in decision-making. They also shed light on Stephanie's leadership and focus on people, purpose, process, and performance that have helped Doodle navigate complex product challenges and achieve growth.

Stephanie has an extensive career as a product leader, navigating the worlds of startups to Fortune 500 enterprises with niche expertise in B2B SaaS. Beyond her product leadership, she offers her skills as a freelance Leadership Coach, guiding senior female leaders. Stephanies has over fifteen years of experience designing and leading products and teams.

In her earlier ventures, Stephanie held key roles such as the Head of Product Operations at Europace AG, Director of Product & Design at Contentful, and Senior Product Manager at PayPal. Additionally, her entrepreneurial spirit is showcased as the Co-Founder of 3Weine, a premium shopping platform dedicated to German wines.

If you enjoyed this episode, make sure to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and Google Podcasts; instructions on how to do this are here.

You’ll hear them talk about:

[02:18] - Originally a Swiss-founded tool by students for organizing barbecues, Doodle faced a strategic shift in 2017. Moving from an ad-based model, they adopted a subscription approach. They initially operated two platforms: one for free users and another for subscribers, complicating user upgrades. Recognizing the challenge, Doodle decided to merge the platforms. Despite careful preparations, the launch of the unified platform faced a two-day downtime and the removal of certain features, prioritizing user feedback over existing functionalities.
[07:36] - Doodle experienced customer churn when transitioning to the new platform as the company retired a favorite product and removed some features in March. To deal with this challenge, they started collaborating across teams, analyzing data and focusing on customer support insights. Doodle's mission was to restore key features while refining the new platform and restoring user satisfaction. It was challenging, but in hindsight, it solidified the team and set it on a positive trajectory.
[11:01] - In October, Stephanie was elevated to CPO, taking charge of the entire product team, where she felt an immediate need to shift Doodle towards being product-led, emphasizing data-driven decisions and customer feedback. Stephanie centered her approach on four pillars: People, Purpose, Process, and Performance. What truly set Doodle apart was its dedicated team: a brilliant growth sector, a proactive data department, and a genuine passion for Doodle's products and customers.
[16:56] - When shaping Doodle's strategy, the team faced the challenge of serving both B2B and B2C markets simultaneously. With her B2B background from PayPal, Stephanie believed in separate strategies for each market. However, at Doodle, she noticed the needs of small-to-medium businesses closely mirrored those of individual customers. Both groups strived for mutual availability, valuable conversations, and brand or personal recognition.
[25:15] - When joining Doodle, Stephanie noticed employees' dissatisfaction with ever-changing directions. For a business to thrive, she believes in creating an environment where everyone feels their role is crucial. Two pillars have driven the company's progress: the team's unwavering commitment and a powerful data structure that facilitates quick and informed decisions. Product leaders often face challenging decisions, even pausing initiatives on the brink of completion that didn't resonate with the strategy. Learn to channel your energy more effectively, selecting projects that offer real value to your business and team.

Episode Resources:

If you enjoyed this episode, please visit:

Previous guests include: Shruti Patel of US Bank, Steve Wilson of Contrast Security, Bethany Lyons of KAWA Analytics, Tanya Johnson Chief Product Officer at Auror, Tom Eisenmann of Harvard Business School, Stephanie Leue of Doodle, Jason Fried of 37signals, Hubert Palan of Productboard, Blake Samic of Stripe and Uber, Quincy Hunte of Amazon Web Services

Check out our Top 3 episodes:

Product Thinking is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Product Thinking Guest and Audience Podcast Feedback Form