99: Mackenzie Hughes & Tara Goldman: From Jira Junkies to Profit Prophets

Mackenzie & Tara’s playbook for PMs who’d rather understand ROI than write another synergy slide

Mar 23, 2025

Connecting your work to business outcomes is a phrase we hear more and more in product and growth. Here's how Mackenzie Hughes and Tara Goldman from Goldhue lay it out and why we can’t sleep on this anymore.

Chapters with Timestamps

00:00-05:30
Meet the "Therapist for Type A Product Leaders" and the "Ops Whisperer"

Tara Goldman's journey from VP of Product to coaching PMs on speaking executive
Mackenzie Hughes' transition from GTM strategy to the "dark side" of product ops

05:30-15:00
The Great Disconnect: Why Product Teams Struggle with Business Impact

The dangers of incentivizing output over outcomes
Why most PMs can't answer "How much revenue do your ideas need to generate?"
The critical importance of understanding churn at a granular level

15:00-30:00
Beyond Metrics: Building a Culture of Commercial Product Leadership

Why having 40 metrics is worse than having none at all
The power of driving a single metric through your entire organization
Rethinking validation: "We've lost the art of experimentation"

30:00-45:00
The $5 Million Roadmap: Thinking Bigger (and Smarter) About Product Bets

Why your product ideas need to generate 3-5x their cost (an article I recently wrote on this.)
The counterintuitive truth: Bigger bets often require less upfront validation
How to structure gates and learning milestones for major initiatives

45:00-60:00
Empowering Teams in an Age of Anxiety