From "ideas worth spreading" to products worth building with Thaniya Keereepart | Episode 10

Thaniya Keereepart has spent 20+ years at the intersection of product, community, and behavioral economics, from MLB's first live streaming app to TED's founding head of product, scaling TED from 500K to 2 billion video views and building TEDx. She's navigated the tension between what a brand wants to be and what its community needs it to become at Patreon, Harvest, the Athletic, and MetaLabel.Themes:Community as brand amplifier — Opening TED up to TEDx uncovered talent the mothership never would have found, including Brené Brown.The product-community circular relationship — Why product teams need a liaison role that makes user satisfaction a product metric.Creator legal infrastructure — MetaLabel and Artist Corporations build legal tools around how artists actually work, not how corporations do.Original thinking in the age of AI — AI content normalizes to the center of a bell curve, where non-AI assisted thinking allows for novelty.Takeaways:If your community needs something and you don't build it, someone else will. Patreon → OnlyFans.Harvest waived fees during COVID. 2021 became their highest revenue year. Generosity is rewarded.Product leaders must face users directly. Shielded teams create misaligned products.Start with human problems, not technology solutions. Product before protocol.Chapters:2:14 - Growing Up on Airplanes6:40 - Dreams Worth Helping to Actualize13:25 - Building MLB's Live Streaming Product from Scratch18:25 - TED's Founding Head of Product20:59 - The Birth of TEDx30:37 - Community as Brand Amplifier34:54 - The Athletic and Sports Journalism's Future45:12 - Harvest and the Business Case for Generosity52:57 - The Circular Relationship Between Product and Community58:50 - The Product Liaison Role1:06:07 - MetaLabel and Artist Corporations1:20:37 - AI and What Endures1:28:51 - The Roundabout Brand StoryLinks:https://thaniya.orghttps://www.linkedin.com/in/thaniya/https://metalabel.comhttps://theathletic.comhttps://getharvest.comAbout Tim:Tim works with leadership teams on community product strategy and co-creation programs. If this episode sparked something for your team: [email protected]