Nikhyl Singhal
VP of Product at Meta, leading the Facebook app’s groups, stories, messaging, and feed. Previously CPO at Credit Karma; product leadership at Google (Hangouts, Photos); co-founder of three startups. Runs The Skip, a coaching newsletter and podcast, and a CPO peer community. Known for coaching hundreds of PMs through career transitions and for the “skip thinking” framework.
Key ideas
- Skip thinking. Career as product: work backwards from end state; think about the job after next, not the job next.
- Ex-growth companies. A dangerous category: large valuation, substantial runway, but still searching for product-market fit. Employees on heavy equity compensation should treat this as an exit signal.
- Four promotion blockers. No advocate; no available role; impatience; unacknowledged development area.
- Shadows of superpowers. Every strength casts a shadow at the next level. Diagnostic: review the discard pile of feedback — anomalies marked as irrelevant are usually the signal.
- Sidecar model for managers. Management is the sidecar on the motorcycle: attached, present, offering counsel, not driving. Must earn the invitation to manage.
- Act three. 60-year careers mean many high achievers catch their original North Star at year 30 and lose direction. Act three requires a new North Star, typically giving at scale.
Appearances
| Source | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Nikhyl Singhal on the PM Career | ~2022–23 | Skip thinking; ex-growth; promotion blockers; shadows of superpowers; sidecar model; IC path; act three |
| Nikhyl Singhal 2.0 on the Future of Product Management | ~2025 | Builders vs information movers; judgment as residual skill; reinvention threshold; modernity over brand; diversity and pace trade-off |