ProductTanks, created by Mind the Product, are informal meetups that bring local product people together and provide a space to new speakers to share amazing product insights. With over 200 cities hosting ProductTanks globally, we're excited to highlight some of these fantastic meetups.
In June, ProductTanks were buzzing across the world, with product professionals gathering to talk about everything from user feedback loops to scaling teams. In this roundup, we’re excited to share some standout moments and insights from the month’s events.
But first, a warm welcome to Sujay Annareddy, who has joined ProductTank Bentonville as an organiser.
Speaker call-out: ProductTank Porto is looking for speakers! If you’ve got a story, a challenge, or a lesson learned, they'd love to hear from you.
Luca Costa, one of the organisers, shared a summary from the evening:
'Welcome back Italy “After 3 years of stop, this June we rebooted the ProductTank community in Milan, Italy! 🎉 We talked about do's and dont’s to run the n.1 marketplace in Italy, at the end we hosted an extensive Q&A with Subito B2C Head of Product and we gave space to internal product managers to share their experiences.
The focus of the event has been very practical, real experiences and real lessons learned. Beers at the end made everything more fun!
We will definitely bring the format back after the summer.
Big thanks to our host, Subito.it, for providing an excellent venue, and to our great speakers for sharing their invaluable insights.'
One of our organisers, Mahdi Barkhordari, shared a live video from the meetup - you can see it here.
'We’re in the middle of Master Rapid Prototyping with AI, having Yuan Deng and it’s been 🔥
From idea to prototype in minutes (no code!), this hands-on session is showing just how fast PMs can validate ideas with AI tools such as v0, bolt.new and we're just in the middle of building ZERO to ONE with Lovable!
📣 We're already signing up for September and it's gonna be AWESOME!
🚨Next up: Matt LeMay is joining us in Birmingham!
Author of Product Management in Practice and one of the most respected voices in product, Matt will be with us on September 8 to share insights on building impact-first product teams and we have the.
🤝 Thanks to our Sponsors
X+Why – A flexible workspace provider combining purpose-driven design with entrepreneurial energy to create impactful workspaces across the UK.
AND Digital – A digital delivery partner helping ambitious companies build world-class digital capabilities and close the digital skills gap.
Pre-register now to save your spot early. Join me at Matt LeMay to ProductTank Birmingham https://lnkd.in/ehAPvTCT
Stay curious. Stay product-y. See you there!'
Our regional coordinator, Amit Godbole wrote:
'Wow.. What's a day at ProductTank Pune!
It was wonderful meeting the community and having so many learnings on CyberSecurity. As a core tenet of building scalable products, leaders face challenges while implementing a security-by-design process.
Aalok Karnik shared multiple insights and explained how a paradigm shift is occurring in security with the advent of GenAI.
Unlike some experts, Aalok was refreshingly positive about DevSec teams and other Product teams collaborating.
It was many learnings. Charu Jaju Nevatia, thanks so much for introducing Aalok to the community.
This would not have been possible without our generous patron, iMocha Amit Mohod and Sujit Karpe, for bringing the community together.
And yes.. the organisers, Yogesh M., Paresh Teredesai, Bansidhar D. and many friends who joined.'
Lenka Semradova shared:
'Throwback Thursday - ProductPeerspectives Meetup at Similarweb in short:
2 lightning talks. 60 curious minds.
48 emails exchanged to make it all happen.
2 boxes of milk (𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘨𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘴🥛😄).
1 newly discovered talent for giving presentations (our Matej Tremko 💪).
Countless new connections.
Last week we hosted our first ProductTank meetup at Similarweb and we really had a lot of fun.
Dalibor Pátek from Rohlik shared insights on building complex internal tools combining SW and HW, where planning and strategy are much more important than working iteratively. Matej Tremko spoke about validating early stage products while providing practical tips on how to test your product with your target market before investing too much in the development.
Huge thanks to Vojta Diatka who's leading the ProductTank community and to everyone who joined us! 💙 🧡
Couldn't join this time? Keep an eye on our posts, we'll be back with something new in autumn!'
From ProductTank Vilnius page:
'🌿 Thank you to everyone who joined yesterday’s ProductTank Vilnius walk & chill!
What started as an easy walk ended in meaningful conversations over drinks at Žveryno PUB — full of sincerity, openness, and shared experience.
🙏 Thank you all for showing up and for being willing to talk honestly (and vulnerably) about the challenges we face in product and tech.
Special thanks to:
🔹 Dainius Kavoliunas for pitching Hostinger Horizons and leading a great Q&A
🔹 Laura Lydekaitytė for sharing her journey at Röntgen
🔹 Justina Grigaliunaite for giving a real look into life of used parts at Ovoko RRR.LT
🔹 Lukas Mačėnas for opening up about internal challenges at Omnisend
🔹Aris for being the most cute participant ❤️
💬 One takeaway that stuck with me:
We’re all struggling in one way or another.
There’s no silver bullet or golden answer — and that’s exactly why these honest meetups matter.
Thanks again for the energy, the presence, and the stories.
See you next time — maybe in August? 👀'
David Jesse wrote a great summary:
'I had the privilege of attending John Cutler's ProductTank Chicago event last week. He's someone whose prolific, thoughtful commentary on the complexities and organizational forces in product organizations has resonated with me for years.
He framed this as "The Core Challenge:"
"Product is inherently complex. We're surrounded by uncertainty. How do we navigate the line between oversimplifications and analysis paralysis (while staying healthy and sane)?"
I can't do his talk justice (I wish I had a transcript!), but here's a favorite quote that captures the essence: "Change is about people negotiating with their self-identity."
Often product leaders (including me!) overemphasize the mechanics of product, when so much of change management is also about helping people navigate uncertainty. The event and John's content overall shed light on other parts and nuances of teams and organizations.
If you want to follow John further, he writes at https://lnkd.in/gA3yDHEj and is also on Bluesky @johncutle.fish.
Thank you to:
• John Cutler for your visit, generosity with your time, and genuine warmth
• Jenny Wanger for moderating the Q&A as well as your excellent product operations event the night before
• Shilpa M., Pritam Das and ProductTank Chicago for bringing John here and organizing everything
• Chicago Product Alliance for fostering stronger community and building momentum
• Capital One, ApMoSys Technologies Private Limited, and my company Crescendo Product Group for being event sponsors.'
Simonetta Battegeir shared this recap about the meetup:
'When we're designing for accessibility in our digital products, we're designing for all of us. Almost all of us temporarily face severe limitation to our eye-sight, hearing, dexterity or cognitive abilities. And 16% of the world's population or 1.3 billion people currently experience significant disability.
Designing for easy access to our sites, also for the person who temporarily can't engage the way they normally would, just makes a ton of sense.
The elderly person struggling with sight
The person sitting in a sunny place with glare on their screen
The mother with only one hand free
The person carrying a ton of bags in one hand and trying to book a subway ticket with the other
The immigrant who appreciates simple language (I've certainly been that person in the US trying to figure out their tax system)
The person sitting in a noisy place and can't hear
The person sitting in a quiet place and can't turn on sound
The person navigating the web with just a keyboard or screen reader
Thank you to Sandra Griffel, Karoline Grass and Konstantin Tieber for sharing stories, best practices and business rationale for why designing for all these use cases simply makes sense.
Thank you to denkwerk GmbH for hosting us and to the brave and dedicated members of our ProductTank Cologne community who came out on Monday night despite the heat!
Product at Heart put this question out last week what we are learning today to curate a better future. You came up with some very relevant examples to make our world a bit more inclusive and accessible to all of us.
Let's build better product experiences that serve all our potential users.
Don't miss out on these free community events! Check out a ProductTank near you: ProductTank meetup page.
