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Peter Sellis

What Peter Sellis thinks about product management

@peter-sellis · 18 positions · 0 changes of mind

Former head of product at Discord; earlier Snap's first product manager, where he spent seven years, and before that a product manager at Ustream.

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6 dated positions, 2026, in their own words. Our reading of what Peter Sellis has said — not written or endorsed by them.

The shading behind a date shows how recently it was said: full within a month, empty after three years.

  1. Our readingSpiky product managers are like bands: sometimes they put out a dud album, and if you still believe in them as artists you stick with them.

    Their wordsThat's kind of how I think of a lot of the spikier product managers that I've worked with, which is like, man, sometimes they whiff on an album, but if I still believe in them as an artist, like I'll stick with them.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 3rd of 18 in this recording

  3. Our readingThe way the product management profession is set up, its median practitioner is probably pretty bad.

    Their wordsmathematically uh it's kind of like set up to be this profession where the the median product manager is actually probably pretty bad.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 4th of 18 in this recording

  5. Our readingGreat engineers rarely complain about product managers, because they bend them to their will and do not put up with bad ones.

    Their wordsI really don't hear great engineers complain about product managers that much because great engineers a they know how to bend product managers to their will. They get the the the use out of them that they want and b they just like don't put up with bad ones.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 5th of 18 in this recording

  7. Our readingAds are the product-market fit of consumer monetization on the internet.

    Their wordsads are truly the magical kind of like product market fit of consumer monetization on the internet.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 6th of 18 in this recording

  9. Our readingA product's core value needs both a phrase and a metric: metrics alone mean little to people, and a phrase alone does not get acted on.

    Their wordsif it's just metrics, it's kind of meaningless to people. If it's just a phrase, it doesn't get actioned day-to-day by data scientists, product managers, and engineers.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 17th of 18 in this recording

  11. Our readingA really good product manager has to be very confident, often to the point of bordering on arrogance.

    Their wordsI think to be a really good really good PM you kind of have to be like really confident and that borders on arrogance a lot of the time.

    ↗90 minutes of unfiltered product advice from Snap and Discord’s product chief | Peter Sellisyoutube.com 18th of 18 in this recording

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