Early-stage product strategy lessons — Don Pawlowski (Co-Founder, Streamline)
In this episode of Product Unplugged, Mike Belsito sits down with Don Pawlowski, co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Streamline. Together, they explore the messy, exhilarating early stages of building a startup. From forming the founding team to tackling onboarding friction head-on, Don offers a candid look at what it really takes to move fast, learn faster, and iterate with purpose.Featured Links
Streamline – Discover what to watch and where
Pendo – The software experience platform
Mind the Product – The home for product people
Chapters
0:00 – Intro and sponsor message
0:30 – Guest introduction: Don Pawlowski of Streamline
1:20 – What is Streamline and what problem does it solve?
4:00 – Don’s origin story and why he joined the startup
6:30 – Early MVP and team formation
8:40 – The onboarding “oh no” moment
11:20 – Realising friction in user signups
13:30 – Iterating with startup quizzes and social logins
15:20 – Balancing speed, priorities, and perfection
18:00 – Lessons learned and trade-offs
21:00 – Retention, virality, and what's next for Streamline
24:00 – Final thoughts: experiment boldly
25:00 – Where to find Streamline
Key Takeaways
— Onboarding insights are gold: Don’s realisation that only 40% of users were creating accounts led to critical changes, including value-focused onboarding flows and adding Apple login—raising conversion to nearly 70%.
— Startup chaos requires ruthless prioritisation: Early-stage product development demands a tight focus. Don emphasises picking just a few hypotheses to validate quickly and efficiently.
— Don’t delay shipping for perfection: Even seasoned product leaders miss obvious things under pressure. Learning from usage and adapting is more valuable than launching “complete”.
— Speed and creativity are your best assets: At the early stages, especially with limited resources, being nimble and imaginative trumps exhaustive roadmaps.
— Retention and virality are next: After tackling onboarding and acquisition, the Streamline team is now focused on turning early adopters into loyal users and natural advocates. Receive SMS online on sms24.me
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