The Product Model Explained: Learnings from Spotify and the Best Product Companies
Learn the principles and practices behind the success of companies like Spotify, Amazon, and Google. This course equips you with actionable insights to grow empowered product teams, foster innovation, and align strategy with execution—all through practical examples and proven approaches. Ideal for leaders and teams aiming to transform their ways of working.
- Duration: 3 days
- Format: Remote
- Level: Beginner
- For: Leaders, Contributors
- Topics: Product Model
Next session: Tuesday, October 13, 2026 to Thursday, October 15, 2026, 09:00 - 17:00 CEST
About this course
As more and more people become intrigued by the inner workings of the best tech-powered companies, the term “Product Model” has emerged to describe the common principles and practices shared by companies such as Amazon, Apple, Google, Spotify and iZettle. Companies that understand the necessity of creating an environment where empowered product teams can exercise their creativity, discovering and delivering innovative solutions that not only customers love, but also drive business success.
This course aims to explain what those principles and practices are and how you can apply them in your organization to create a similar environment. It mixes extensive experience from successful scale-ups and models from prominent product thinkers such as Marty Cagan, Melissa Perri and John Cutler. Many of the examples in the course come from firsthand experience of the trainers, who have extensive hands-on experience from success and failure from scaleups including several unicorns (with a valuation exceeding $1 billion) such as Spotify, iZettle, Einride and Klarna.
What you will learn
- A deep understanding of the principles and practices underlying the product model, and actionable insights for how to transform to this way of working.
- Be able to explain how to create an environment for empowered product teams that fosters innovation and business success.
Course content
Product Strategy – How the company decides the most important problems to solve.
Aligned Autonomy; Spotify Rhythm and the Data-Insights-Beliefs-Bets framework; Mission-based Tribes and Team Topologies; Objectives and Key Results
Product Discovery – How these companies use empowered teams to solve those problems and discover solutions worth building
Empowered Product Teams (aka Autonomous Squads); Tackling product risks with Spotify’s framework Think It, Build It, Ship It, Tweak It; Product discovery techniques such as Spotify Thoughtful Execution Framework and Opportunity Solution Trees
Product Delivery – How they build, test, and deliver those solutions to their customers.
Developing high-performance teams; Small, frequent, uncoupled releases; DevOps and Release on Demand
Product Leadership – How leaders enable and support empowered product teams
Leading with Context, not Control; Servant and Intent-Based Leadership; Transparency and trust; Chapters, Guilds and Hack Weeks; Product Manager vs Product Owner
Upcoming sessions
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 to Thursday, October 15, 2026
09:00 - 17:00 CEST
Format: remote
Trainers: Joakim Sundén, Kalle Persson, Johannes Nordh
Price: SEK 24900 (excl. VAT) — early bird SEK 19900 until Sunday, September 13, 2026
Register for this session
Trainers
Joakim Sundén
Joakim was one of the Spotify coaches directly involved in co-creating “the Spotify Model”, Spotify’s version of a Product Model, during the six years the company grew from 10 to 200+ teams.
Kalle Persson
ex-CPO and product leader with over 10 years of experience building tech and product teams for Swedish unicorns and scale-ups like iZettle, Einride and Volvo on Demand. Worked with digital product development since 1998, covering both B2C and B2B (from SME to enterprise).
Johannes Nordh
ex-CPO and product professional with 20+ years experience from a wide variety of roles within product development in Swedish unicorns and scale-ups like iZettle, Einride and Volvo on Demand. Worked with digital product development since 2002, covering both B2C and B2B (from SME to enterprise).
Mikael Brodd
Mikael has long experience of helping companies such as H&M, Klarna, Telenor, UNICEF, Swedish Red Cross, succeed with strategy work.
Christophe Achouiantz
A transformation coach with 15+ years of experience helping large organizations like Sandvik and Telenor evolve from traditional IT to product-led organizations, establishing and scaling empowered product teams that consistently deliver customer value.
What participants say
I really appreciate doing the course with a teacher who has a proven track record of thinking for themselves and creating ways of work that has contributed to success, it really makes a big difference!
The granularity of the material of the course is world-building: the why's and how's of empowered teams is really impactful
Joakim is an incredible resource/teacher and the content organization was excellent - from high-level company beliefs, down to cellular squad dynamics, and back out to the company-wide planning cadence. For context, I've taken dozens of CE courses from numerous disciplines (mostly medical, per my occupation), but - even coming out-of-field - this was one of my favorite educational experiences ever.
Practical details
Prerequisites
None
Preparation
None
After the course
Participants will receive:
- One hour of free coaching
- Access to Better Product Work community
- Course materials and reading list
- Certificate of completion
Frequently asked questions
What exactly is the Product Model?
The Product Model describes the common principles and practices shared by the world's best product companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, Spotify, and iZettle. It's an approach where empowered product teams discover and deliver solutions that customers love and that work for the business. This course explains what those principles are and how to apply them.
Is this the same as the 'Spotify Model'?
The Spotify Model is Spotify's specific implementation of these principles. This course covers the broader Product Model, drawing on examples from multiple companies including Spotify, iZettle, Einride, and others. Joakim Sundén, who co-created the Spotify Model, is one of our trainers.
Who is this course for?
This course is designed for both leaders and individual contributors who want to understand how the best product companies operate. It's ideal for product managers, engineering managers, designers, executives, and anyone involved in transforming their organization's approach to product development.
Do I need technical experience to attend?
No technical background is required. The course focuses on principles, practices, and organizational design rather than technical implementation details.
How is this different from reading 'Inspired' or 'Empowered' by Marty Cagan?
We reference and build on thought leaders like Marty Cagan, Melissa Perri, and John Cutler. What's different is that our trainers have firsthand experience implementing these ideas at companies like Spotify and iZettle. You'll hear real stories of what worked, what didn't, and how to navigate the messy reality of transformation.
Can my whole team attend together?
Yes, and we encourage it. Having a shared understanding of the Product Model makes transformation much easier. Contact us for team pricing if you're booking multiple participants.
What will I be able to do after the course?
You'll be able to explain the principles behind the Product Model, articulate what empowered product teams look like, identify gaps in your current organization, and have concrete ideas for how to start or accelerate your transformation journey.
Is this course theoretical or practical?
Both. We cover the underlying principles, but ground everything in real examples and practical application. Many examples come from the trainers' direct experience at successful scale-ups and unicorns.
How long is the course and what's the format?
Three full days (09:00-17:00 CET), delivered remotely via Zoom. It's interactive with discussions and exercises, not a passive lecture series.
What's included in the price?
Live instruction from experienced practitioners, all course materials in PDF format, one hour of post-course coaching, access to the Better Product Work alumni community, and a certificate of completion.
What's your cancellation policy?
You can cancel at no cost up to one month before the course, transfer your spot to a colleague anytime, or reschedule to another session up to two weeks before.