Episode 141: Building a Global Product Powerhouse with Jag Duggal, Chief Product Officer at Nubank

In this episode of Product Thinking, Jag Duggal, Chief Product Officer at Nubank, joins Melissa Perri to unravel the process of building a strong global product management team in a fast-growing business. They also dive into the importance of customer obsession, challenges in talent acquisition, and the power of documented principles in scaling businesses.

Jag is an experienced executive in product management and strategy, with a rich history of leading successful Internet businesses across diverse sectors. Today, he is a key figure at Nubank, a front-runner in the digital and mobile banking arena, which revolutionized the fintech domain with its innovative banking and credit solutions, catering to over 75 million clients in Brazil and Mexico. Before this, Jag held prominent product leadership roles at Facebook and Google.

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You’ll hear them talk about:

[11:32] - When Jag joined Nubank, the company was at a key point as it had successfully established itself as a leading credit card company in Brazil and had recently launched a rapidly adopted bank account product. However, the challenge was to transition users from adoption to consistent engagement. Upon joining, Jag and the new executive team faced three key objectives: transform the new bank account product into the primary account for users; broaden the product range by introducing lending, insurance, investing, small business accounts, and cryptocurrency products; and reach two-thirds of the Latin American population. From 15 product managers, Nubank expanded to almost 300. This rapid growth determined the company to adopt a consistent and unified approach to product development across all areas and regions.
[15:50] - When it comes to team development, maintaining high-quality hires is essential. Nubank aims to be a global leader in product development education, so team composition is critical, combining expertise from traditional banking, Latin tech, and global hubs like Silicon Valley. On the product side, ensuring genuine success is a concern. As the company releases more products, initial positive metrics can be misleading. Nubank's goal is to move users from trying a product to becoming its advocates. The company's ethos is cultivating a passionate customer base, given that over 80% come from referrals.
[20:06] - Nubank is dedicated to turning everyday users into product champions by adopting a strong customer satisfaction strategy. The company's guiding metric has always been the Net Promoter Score (NPS), with Nubank consistently scoring high global ratings. Additionally, Nubank closely monitors the Sean Ellis survey score to understand its product's need to users. Beyond feedback and scores, the focus on maintaining a low churn rate is critical. Any unexpected rise in churn drives Nubank to act and correct it. By employing a mix of data-driven insights and innate curiosity, the company ensures it continually refines its offerings for maximum user satisfaction.
[26:47] - Ensuring a unique approach is key to aligning team actions with a broader strategy. Nubank's culture focuses on empowering cross-functional teams' autonomy for teams with clear targets, expecting them to adhere to quality and cultural standards. This level of autonomy requires strong leadership, allowing senior leaders to focus on the broader strategy.
[41:53] - With his extensive growth experience from roles at Google and Facebook, Jag highlights the importance of documenting decision-making processes for product leaders bracing for rapid expansion. Reflecting on his time at Facebook, he recalls how senior leaders frequently referred to guiding principles during debates to ensure aligned decision-making. People make decisions based on their unique perspectives, so having clear, documented principles maintains consistency across larger teams and ensures decisions are aligned with the company's core values.

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