Who to Read and Listen to About Product Management in 2026: 15 Experts Worth Knowing

1. Ivan Zamesin (CustDev & Advanced JTBD)

Creator of Meta (a therapist-matching service), author of the How to Build a Product course, and creator of the @zamesin Telegram channel. He previously served as a Product Manager at Yandex (Yandex Images) and Chatfuel.

Zamesin popularized Advanced Jobs To Be Done (AJTBD)—an evolution of classic Customer Development (CustDev). Instead of relying on static Customer Journey Maps (CJM), AJTBD builds a "Jobs Graph": a dynamic system of interconnected jobs a customer is attempting to accomplish.

Core Principles of Zamesin's Approach:

• Never Ask About the Future: Avoid hypothetical questions during user interviews ("Would you buy...?"). Investigate past behavior exclusively: what they did, how much they spent, which workarounds they used, and why they were dissatisfied.
• Job-Based Segmentation: Segment users not by demographics (age, gender), but by the specific job they are hiring your product to perform.
• CustDev as a Practice: Theory is useless without conducting 15–20 consecutive live interviews.

2. Anna Podobrazhnykh (Opportunity Discovery & Product Audit)

Author of the Product Manager’s Daily Life Telegram channel (@annapodobrazhnykh) and personal blog annapodobrazhnykh.com. Expert in customer research, focused on Opportunity Discovery frameworks and comprehensive product audits.

Anna specializes in evaluating feature potential before handing tasks over to engineering teams. Her frameworks help product managers structure hypothesis testing, eliminate premature releases, and build transparent product strategies.

3. Anna Buldakova (BigTech Careers & No Flame No Game)

Author of the No Flame No Game project and co-founder of the Vektor AI mentoring platform. She progressed from product roles at Yandex and Intercom to Product Lead at Meta (Facebook) in London. Speaker at TEDx, Slush, and World Summit AI; writer for TechCrunch and Mind the Product.

Buldakova is essential for professionals aiming to build an international BigTech career. Her content answers tactical questions: managing stakeholders in enterprise tech, passing FAANG product interviews, and scaling product thinking across distributed cross-functional teams.

4. Oleg Yakubenkov (GoPractice, Cohort Retention & Analytics)

Founder of GoPractice. Led analytics for geoservices at Yandex, worked at ZeptoLab (King of Thieves, C.A.T.S.), served as Director of Product at API.AI (later Dialogflow, acquired by Google), led analytics at MSQRD (acquired by Meta), and worked at Meta (Workplace).

GoPractice provides interactive product management simulators. Students solve hands-on business problems using real datasets (in Amplitude), make mistakes in sandbox environments, and master Data-Driven Product Management.

Key Takeaways from Yakubenkov:

• Cohort Analysis as a Foundation: Always measure Retention Rate by acquisition cohorts rather than overall averages.
• Mechanics of Growth: Understanding how A/B testing, funnel conversion, and cohort retention interact to drive product economics.

5. Ilya Krasinsky (Unit Economics & Rick.ai)

CEO and co-founder of Rick.ai (an end-to-end analytics platform) and creator of Product Heroes. Previously led mobile development at LinguaLeo and served as a mentor at IIDF and Yandex Tolstoy Camp.

Krasinsky is a recognized authority on Unit Economics and finding business bottlenecks. His framework identifies the single critical constraint in the funnel (LTV/CAC ratio, unit margins, or first-purchase conversion rate) and directs all engineering and product resources toward unlocking it.

6. Mikhail Karpov (ProductStar, ProductCamp & Product Culture)

Co-founder of ProductStar and ProductCamp. Worked at Yandex (Yandex Jobs, Search), directed media services at VK (Music, Video, Streaming), and served as Chief Product Officer at Skyeng. Teaches at HSE University.

Karpov focuses on product team organization and talent development. ProductStar is one of Eastern Europe's largest digital education platforms, while ProductCamp is an international community for product leaders.

7. Arkady Moreynis (Dark Side & Business Model Validation)

Entrepreneur and investor. Founder of Price.ru (acquired by Rambler) and Glavstart incubator. Author of the Dark Side Telegram channel (@temno) and Fast Founder project.

Moreynis offers a blunt perspective on business models: "Show me repeat sales and cash flow, not vanity engagement metrics." His focus is not product process per se, but validating whether a business model's economics close before wasting capital.

8. Teresa Torres (Continuous Discovery Habits & OST)

Author of Continuous Discovery Habits and creator of the Opportunity Solution Tree (OST) framework. Runs producttalk.org and executive training programs.

Core Frameworks by Teresa Torres:

• Opportunity Solution Tree (OST): A visual model linking measurable business Outcomes to customer Opportunities (pain points), Solutions, and Assumption Tests.
• Product Trio: Product Manager, Product Designer, and Engineering Lead conduct user interviews together.
• Continuous Discovery: Engaging with users at least weekly rather than relying on quarterly research bursts.

9. Marty Cagan (SVPG, Inspired & Empowered)

Founder of Silicon Valley Product Group (SVPG) and author of Inspired and Empowered. Former product executive at Hewlett-Packard, Netscape, and eBay.

Cagan introduced the Product Operating Model, contrasting Feature Teams (executors of top-down feature lists) with Empowered Product Teams (teams given problems to solve and held accountable for outcomes). PMs own Value and Viability, Designers own Usability, and Engineers own Feasibility.

10. Lenny Rachitsky (Lenny's Newsletter & Product Benchmarks)

Author of Lenny's Newsletter (the top business newsletter on Substack) and host of Lenny's Podcast. Spent seven years leading supply growth at Airbnb following the acquisition of his startup Localmind.

Rachitsky is the premier curator of product management knowledge, providing SaaS conversion rate benchmarks, PM hiring matrices, and battle-tested templates from CPOs across Silicon Valley.

11. Shreyas Doshi (LNO Framework & Product Sense)

Former Group PM at Google (AdWords), Director of PM at Twitter, and early PM leader at Stripe. Creator of practical mental models for product leaders.

• LNO Framework: Categorizing work into Leverage (10x return tasks), Neutral (standard execution), and Overhead (minimized routine).
• Product Sense: Cultivating intuitive product judgment through systematic analysis of user behaviors.

12. Melissa Perri (Escaping the Build Trap & Product Operations)

CEO of Produx Labs, author of Escaping the Build Trap and Product Operations. Former Harvard Business School instructor; advisor to Capital One, Vanguard, and Walmart.

Perri coined the term Build Trap—when teams measure success by feature output rather than customer value and business impact. She also pioneered Product Operations to streamline data, tools, and processes across product organizations.

13. Julie Zhuo (The Making of a Manager & Product Design)

Co-founder of Sundial, author of The Making of a Manager. Spent 14 years at Facebook, rising from intern to VP of Product Design, leading News Feed and Like button teams.

Julie Zhuo focuses on management transitions, team leadership, and product design principles. Her insights are essential for PMs transitioning into people management roles (Lead PM, CPO).

14. Elena Verna (Product-Led Growth & PLG Monetization)

Head of Growth at Lovable, former SVP of Growth at SurveyMonkey, interim CMO at Miro, interim Head of Growth at Amplitude and Netlify. Reforge instructor and author of Elena's Growth Scoop.

Elena Verna is a leading practitioner of Product-Led Growth (PLG). She specializes in self-serve monetization, freemium/trial loops, and transitioning B2B products from Sales-Led to Product-Led growth engines.

15. Brian Balfour (Growth Loops & Reforge)

Founder and CEO of Reforge, former VP of Growth at HubSpot.

Balfour replaced the traditional linear AARRR funnel with Growth Loops. Growth is not a single pipeline with drop-offs, but self-reinforcing loops where the output of one cycle (e.g., user-generated content) fuels the input of the next.

💡 Where I Fit into All of This (Roman Babunts)

My perspective differs from consultants, educators, and course creators. Zamesin, Torres, Cagan, and Perri primarily teach and advise. Rachitsky, Yakubenkov, and Krasinsky build media and simulators.

I operate inside products as an executive product leader. Yandex, Semrush, ivi, and Yota were not consulting clients; they were companies where I owned P&L, ARPU, Retention Rate, paid conversion, and incremental revenue. My cumulative economic impact exceeds $100M+ in generated revenue.

My Approach: Quant-First, Qual-Second Discovery

1. Quantitative Signal (Quant-First): Cohort and funnel analysis pinpoints exact revenue leaks.
2. Targeted CustDev (Qual-Second): Conducting 5–7 interviews using Zamesin's AJTBD framework within 48 hours of a quantitative signal.
3. Rapid Experiments: Monetization smoke tests and pricing A/B tests validate hypotheses before full engineering commitment.

📊 Comparison Matrix of Product Management Leaders