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Preston Smalley

Category: ebay

Posts about eBay and two-sided marketplaces from my years leading design there

The World Is NOT Silicon Valley

Posted on 26 October 20187 November 2019

The best business practices in the world are worth nothing if those implementing them don’t have a deep understanding of their market. In the early 2000’s, when eBay went to do battle in the Chinese e-commerce market, a summer in Shanghai taught me this first hand.

When to Ask Forgiveness and Secretly Build a Product Anyway

Posted on 19 September 201815 February 2020

Don’t let your organization kill your next baby tiger. Learn from an example when keeping secrets at work paid off for everyone.

How to Say “No” to Your Boss

Posted on 23 August 20185 September 2018

Five steps to pivot prescriptive solutions proposed by execs in a way that leads to effective outcomes for your products and teams.

280 characters = Navel Gazing

Posted on 30 September 201730 September 2017

Twitter’s move to test doubling the character limit of tweets this week can’t help but remind me of internal discussions we used to have 10 years ago at eBay around Item Title length. In hindsight those discussions were pure navel gazing and distracted us from the core issues our business faced. I fear Twitter is…

Getting Products out from under the MIDDLE of the Bell Curve and Exceeding Expectations (SVPMA)

Posted on 12 September 201415 August 2018

Given the key role Product Managers play in creating the environment for their teams… what must they do to avoid the bell curve of mediocre products that unfortunately are the norm? I shared my perspective as the guest speaker at the SVPMA (Sept 3, 2014) based on my own experiences and other authors/speakers that I…

Why Design Matters – P&G

Posted on 4 May 201015 August 2018

I recently was invited to speak at P&G headquarters in Ohio on “Why Design Matters”. It was a leadership summit of their Global Business Services division which supports all the brands and employees worldwide. For me it was a great chance to reflect on what aspects I see as critical to design and what can…

My next chapter

Posted on 19 April 201011 August 2010

I’ve decided to wrap up 7 great years at eBay and will be leaving in a couple weeks. I’m proud of the design team I’ve built there and wish them and all my colleagues the very best as the eBay Marketplace completes the turnaround that’s well underway. Since finishing my MBA I’ve been interested in making…

What’s on my iPhone

Posted on 23 April 200925 May 2011

Preston Smalley discusses his most used iPhone apps: Facebook, NY Times, Mint, eBay and Google as well as the ones he wishes existed or were better: LinkedIn, Tom Tom, Skype, PowerPoint, and Fitbit.

You too can do a “World of Good”

Posted on 3 September 200815 August 2018

Yesterday eBay launched a new marketplace for buying environmentally friendly and fair-trade goods from all over the world called World of Good. In the same way you know the groceries at Whole Foods are sourced from vendors who practice environmentally sound and labor friendly practices, this site provides a “Trustology” on every seller which helps you as a buyer…

You too can do a “World of Good”

Posted on 3 September 20083 September 2008

Yesterday eBay launched a new marketplace for buying environmentally friendly and fair-trade goods from all over the world called World of Good.In the same way you know the groceries at Whole Foods are sourced from vendors who practice environmentally sound and labor friendly practices, this site provides a “Trustology” on every seller which helps you as a buyer make…

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