Competing with giants: An inside look at how The Browser Company builds product | Josh Miller (CEO)
Josh Miller, CEO & co-founder of The Browser Company, discusses their product philosophy of optimizing for feelings over metrics. He shares insights on building a unique culture, shipping quickly, and their vision for Arc as an 'internet computer,' emphasizing trust and human connection.
Deep Dive Analysis
18 Topic Outline
Arc's Growth Metrics and Retention Philosophy
Optimizing for Feelings vs. Metrics in Product Building
Company Values and Rapid Shipping Culture
Developing Company Values: The 'Notes on Roadtrips' Essay
Hiring Exceptional Talent: The Browser Company's Approach
Building in Public: Radical Trust Building
Prototype-Driven Culture and Unique Team Structures
The Membership Team: Holistic Customer Relationships
The Storytelling Team: Communicating Vision and Brand
The Absence of Traditional Product Managers
Future of Product Management at The Browser Company
Inspiration from Airbnb's Snow White Project
Inspiration from the Film 'General Magic'
The Power of Novel Naming for Features and Teams
Why The Browser Company's Approach Suits Arc
Importance of Latency in Communication Tools
The Internet Computer: The Browser Company's Long-Term Vision
Lightning Round
6 Key Concepts
Optimizing for Feelings
This product building philosophy prioritizes how software makes users feel (e.g., joy, speed, organization, focus) rather than solely focusing on quantitative metrics. It aims to evoke human emotions at the moment of creation, using metrics as a tool for honesty rather than a primary driver.
Heartfelt Intensity
A core value at The Browser Company, describing hiring individuals who possess a deep inner drive and purpose, showing up with 'fire in their belly' to achieve something specific. This intrinsic motivation is considered key to remarkable work.
Assume You Don't Know
A value encouraging a beginner's mind, even for subject matter experts, emphasizing that one should start by acknowledging uncertainty and then proceed with action to discover what works. This fosters a bias towards action and experimentation.
Start by Asking What Could Be
A value that pushes for aspirational and ambitious thinking in product development, encouraging teams to dream big and blur traditional boundaries. This leads to more deeply motivating projects and innovative solutions.
Radical Trust Building (Building in Public)
The practice of openly sharing internal company processes, meetings, and challenges (e.g., through videos) to foster deep trust with users. This is seen as a way to counteract the general loss of trust in tech companies by showing human authenticity and imperfections.
Internet Computer
The Browser Company's long-term vision for Arc, aiming to be to the web browser what the iPhone was to the cell phone. It envisions a future where our entire computing lives (applications, files) reside in the cloud, and Arc serves as the primary interface or 'computer' for this internet-centric world.
9 Questions Answered
The Browser Company primarily tracks 'D5, D7,' which measures how many people use Arc at least five days a week. This metric captures retention, engagement, and growth in a single, hard-to-game way.
Their philosophy is 'optimizing for feelings,' focusing on how the software makes users feel (e.g., joy, speed, organized) rather than solely on quantitative metrics, which they believe leaves a lot on the table.
Instead of traditional corporate values, they organically identified traits defining their team through comprehensive interviews, then crafted an essay called 'Notes on Road Trips' to share these values in a more personal, narrative form.
They focus on building a 'dream team' and a fun, values-driven way of working, aiming for individuals who want their work at the company to define their careers, fostering a culture of empowerment, kindness, and public celebration of individual contributions.
This 'radical trust building' approach aims to re-establish trust with users in the tech industry by showing authenticity, imperfections, and the human side of the team, believing that knowing the people behind the product fosters trust.
They have a 'Membership Team' that holistically manages the entire customer relationship from onboarding to feature requests, and a 'Storytelling Team' that handles all external communication, marketing, and PR to tell the company's story.
They view product management as a set of 'verbs' or roles that different multidisciplinary individuals can take on depending on the project, rather than a fixed team or discipline, aiming to hire people who like to 'make things' regardless of a specific title.
Their vision is to build an 'internet computer,' an interface for a future where all computing lives in the cloud. They aim for Arc to be to the web browser what the iPhone was to the cell phone, eventually becoming a robust development platform for web-based experiences.
Giving something a new, made-up name helps shed preconceived notions, encouraging people to think from first principles about what they are truly trying to achieve, rather than borrowing assumptions from existing concepts.
12 Actionable Insights
1. Optimize for Feelings, Not Metrics
Focus product development on how you want to make users feel (e.g., joy, fast, organized, focused) rather than solely on quantitative metrics. Use metrics as a tool to stay honest, but let human feelings drive the creation process.
2. Product is the Team
View the company’s product as the team itself, prioritizing the hiring of exceptional individuals and fostering a work environment that aligns with shared values. This approach attracts top talent who are intrinsically motivated and aspire to do their career-defining work.
3. Hire for Heartfelt Intensity
Seek out and hire individuals who show up with ‘heartfelt intensity’ and a clear purpose, rather than just obsessing over craft details. Give these passionate individuals ambitious prompts and empower them to do remarkable work.
4. Assume You Don’t Know
Adopt a ‘beginner’s mind’ by assuming you don’t know how things should work or what will happen, even if you’re an expert. This fosters a bias towards action and encourages continuous experimentation and learning.
5. Start by Asking What Could Be
Push your team to be as aspirational and ambitious as possible when starting new projects or features. This mindset can lead to more innovative solutions and more deeply motivate the people working on the product.
6. Build Radical Trust Publicly
Engage in ‘radical trust building’ by sharing internal processes, meetings, and the human side of your team publicly. This helps users get to know the individuals behind the product, fostering trust in an industry where it’s often eroded.
7. Celebrate Hires & Work Publicly
Publicly celebrate new hires and acknowledge the specific individuals who contributed to shipped features. This earnest recognition creates a reinforcing cycle of pride and appreciation, attracting more amazing talent.
8. Operationalize Membership & Storytelling
Create dedicated ‘Membership’ teams to own the full-stack relationship with users from first touch to long-term engagement, and ‘Storytelling’ teams for holistic external communication (PR, marketing, investor relations). This ensures deep connection and consistent narrative.
9. Use New Names for Concepts
Give new product features or teams made-up names to shed preconceived notions and encourage first-principles thinking. This rhetorical tactic helps people get to the root of what they’re trying to achieve without borrowing too much from past experiences.
10. Decentralize Product Leadership
Experiment with not having a dedicated Product Manager organization, instead assigning ‘PM verbs’ to project leaders based on the project’s needs. For example, an infrastructure engineer could lead a performance project, or a membership person could lead a user-focused feature.
11. Remove Self from Product Dev
As a CEO, gradually remove yourself from much of the day-to-day product development process. This transition can be healthy for the organization, empowering the team and fostering autonomy.
12. Approach New Products with Beginner’s Mind
When trying a new product, especially one aiming to redefine a category (like a web browser), approach it with a ‘beginner’s mind.’ Try not to think of it in traditional terms to fully appreciate its potential and new functionalities.
6 Key Quotes
Silicon Valley, at least the most modern version of Silicon Valley, has this obsession with graphs and has this obsession with numbers and metrics... But what we found is that optimizing for metrics leaves a lot on the table and it misses a lot. And so what we do at the browser companies, we talk about optimizing feelings.
Josh Miller
If you have a team that has heartfelt intensity and is there for a purpose and something to prove, you get it. You give them a very exciting, ambitious prompts and get out of their way and they will do remarkable work.
Josh Miller
Our goal of interviews is to convince people not to join the browser company. We don't, if I have an interview with someone, I don't pitch them. I say, what do you want to ask me? Anything you want, I'll be super honest. Most people shouldn't want to work here.
Josh Miller
Building in public, showing you our meetings, uncomfortably so, is an act in, if we were them, why should they trust us? Why should anyone trust us?
Josh Miller
When you give something a new name, it sheds a lot of preconceived notions of what the thing should be.
Josh Miller
We want to be to the web browser what the iPhone was to the cell phone. Yes, the iPhone replaced your cell phone, but it really was something much more.
Josh Miller