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 April, ProductTanks hosted 64 meetups around the world, covering topics ranging from PLG to challenges faced by product teams. In this article, we’re excited to spotlight a few standout events and highlight some of the insights, energy, and community spirit that make these meetups so special.
Our organiser, Thomas Vidaurre, shared a summary of the meetup:
"April’s ProductTank was all about Product-Led Growth — and it delivered!
In our latest edition of #ProductTankCL at the vibrant iF Chile, we explored how Product-Led Growth is not just a strategy, but a mindset. From discovery to activation and retention, we unpacked how product is at the core of real growth.
A massive thank you to Luciana Barchini and Javiera Sánchez Téllez for their inspiring talks filled with insights, humanity, and vision. You truly raised the bar!
We were thrilled to have Unlearni as our host — their energy, openness, and support made this gathering unforgettable.
We also celebrated a special moment: the official welcome of our new host Paola Yévenes Sepúlveda, who joins us to keep pushing this movement forward with all the power and passion it deserves."
One of our organisers, Sarah Roberts wrote:
"How do you really know if you’ve hit product-market fit? John Fagan 🏄♂️''s ProductTank talk last night got us all thinking....
Taking us on a journey through his career (and sharing real, recent examples from the last two years at Scribe) John underscored the importance of knowing exactly where your product sits in its lifecycle. He made a compelling case for why founder-led businesses should be obsessed with customer feedback, and how to spot the early signals that you’ve genuinely reached product-market fit.
Huge thanks to John for sharing his insight, and to everyone who came along and contributed to the buzz in the room. I'm super excited to see Norwich’s product community growing and thriving 🤍
Stay tuned for the quote of the evening... 😅
✨ Join me and Catherine in May for the next Tank.
📸 Big thanks to Andreas Laust for the snaps!"
Michelle McDaid, Founder of The Leading Place, was a speaker at our meetup, shared:
"When Sima Bani got in touch to ask if I would do a talk for Mind the Product ProductTank Meetup at Zalando Dublin, I suggested a few topics and she chose "How to Sustain Yourself Across a Career in Tech". Sima felt this would be useful to many, considering the environment we are operating in these days!
A big shout out to all the organisers including Sima Bani, Vlad Kuchkanov, Shaelyn Klaus and Tino Mutscher. Thanks to everyone who attended and engaged with this session. Was delighted with all the questions and conversation! It was a really friendly atmosphere, with 🍕 , 🍺 and 🥂
During the talk I shared a mix of learnings across many areas - from reading, courses I've done, research and theory on the topic but mainly from my career in tech and mistakes I've made along the way, things I've learned the hard way! I love the quote "We don't learn from experience; we learn by reflecting on experience" (John Dewey). If we don't reflect, we can repeat the same mistakes. Yes, the culture in a company may be to overwork but if we don't pause and reflect on our own approach to work, we may be part of the problem. We move jobs and experience the same challenges.
As I mentioned during the talk, each time I have had one to one coaching, I have made big changes in my life. Coaching is about unlocking your inner wisdom. You know what to do - you just need to create the space and thinking time!
Some of the topics covered in the talk included:
✨ What does career success look like for you?
✨ The core indicators of a sustainable career
✨ Decisions around layoffs are not about you
✨ Short-term decision making - Why we need to work in a sustainable manner
✨ Building your 'personal board'
✨ Polarity Management
✨ Challenges women in tech often face
✨ Some tools to support you
See also some great posts about the event by Sima Bani, Shaelyn Klaus, Niamh Cummins Woodcock, Maria Mazlova and Sundeep Jaideep
If you attended, thank you! Please feel free to comment, follow The Leading Place, connect with me directly, or sign up for my bi-weekly newsletter!"
One of our organisers Shipa wrote a detailed description of the meetup:
"After more than a decade in product, you'd think the fundamentals wouldn't hit so hard anymore.
Last night at the ProductTank Chicago - Mind the Product event proved that theory wrong.
Standing in the packed AlphaSense/Tegus space, watching Matt LeMay cut through the noise with his straightforward take on Impact-First Product Teams, I felt something powerful- that mix of validation and challenge that keeps this career endlessly rewarding.
What made his talk so powerful wasn't complex frameworks or buzzword-filled strategies. It was his laser focus on the most overlooked fundamental of all: how do we genuinely connect our daily product work to meaningful business impact?
When Matt posed his deceptively simple question - "If you were the CEO, would you fully fund this team?" - I saw veterans and newcomers alike pause in genuine reflection. No matter how many roadmaps I've built over these years, that question still strikes at the heart of what we do.
During the fireside chat, David Jesse guided the conversation through territory I've traversed countless times, yet somehow made it feel fresh. The questions from the crowd - about misaligned incentives, shifting priorities, measuring true impact - reminded me that the core challenges of our craft remain remarkably constant, even as technologies and trends evolve.
A senior product manager I admire approached me afterward and simply said, "I needed this tonight." Those five words captured everything.
The evening was made even more valuable by the product leaders' roundtable we hosted before the main event. Sharing candid perspectives on challenging product questions with seniors/peers facing similar challenges was refreshing and illuminating. There's something uniquely profound about that level of honest exchange among experienced product professionals. Thanks Pritam Das for moderating it!
Huge thanks to Matt LeMay for bringing both wisdom and refreshing candor to the stage. Your ability to articulate the unspoken challenges we all face is a gift to our community. Thank you also to Tegus (Margaret (MJ) Jastrebski and Kelly Bishop) for your beautiful space to gather, to our organizing team, Pritam Das, Steven R Jones, Kelly Bishop, David Jesse & Hanna Z. for your support and helping run the show smoothly, and to every product person who continues to show up, share, and grow together. Thank you to all who joined us last night and for bringing in your energy and engagement.
Many years in, and I'm still learning. Still finding inspiration in rooms full of people wrestling with the same challenges. Still grateful for this Chicago product community that feels like coming home.
Some things don't get old. They just get deeper."
Join us in celebrating 15 incredible years of shaping the future of product on World Product Day, 21st May. A global celebration of the product profession and the passionate community that powers it. From its humble beginnings to a worldwide movement, World Product Day shines a spotlight on the evolution of product management and the impact of our craft.
This year’s theme is Celebrating the Product Journey so we’re marking this milestone with virtual celebrations, in-person gatherings, and community storytelling — all highlighting the amazing humans and their journeys through product, plus a look ahead to the future.
On the day, get social! Share your story (#WorldProductDay), follow our 15-day countdown on LinkedIn, and hear from product leaders around the world.
