Mentioned in Podcasts

Person

Every book Tom Verrilli recommended on podcasts

Key facts

  • Tom Verrilli has recommended or discussed 3 books on podcasts, as of August 2, 2026.
  • Tom Verrilli has talked about books on 1 podcast, as of August 2, 2026.
  • Those books came up in 1 episode, as of August 2, 2026.
  • The 3 books Tom Verrilli has mentioned in the most episodes, as of August 2, 2026: Babel, The purpose driven church and The Hard Thing About Hard Things.
  • The latest episode with a book mention from Tom Verrilli aired on August 2, 2026.

Updated

Guest on Lenny's Podcast · 3 books · 1 episode across 1 podcast

Tom Verrilli shared his book recommendations during an appearance on Lenny's Podcast, covering product management, community engagement, and fantasy fiction. He recommended Ben Horowitz's The Hard Thing About Hard Things, calling it the best book written about product management due to its breadth of real-world challenges and mistakes. Verrilli also offered a slightly left-field recommendation with Rick Warren's The Purpose Driven Church, noting that it examined how people emotionally invest in a community and mentioning that Twitch CEO Emmett Shear used to encourage employees to read it. Concluding his recommendations with a fiction pick for evening reading, Verrilli pointed listeners to Babel by R.F. Kuang as a fantasy book well worth reading for anyone interested in community products.

Books Tom Verrilli recommended or discussed

Who said what is determined automatically. In hand-checked samples, at least 6% of mentions were credited to the wrong speaker, sometimes an interviewer’s line recorded as the guest’s, sometimes the reverse. Every entry below quotes the words and links to the episode, so you can check it.

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  1. Babel

    R. F Kuang · Recommended · 1 episode

    Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: An Arcane History of the Oxford Translators' Revolution is a speculative fantasy novel by R.F. Kuang that examines themes of imperialism, language, and cultural appropriation within an alternate, magic-infused historical setting.

    Recommended
    “Definitely worth a read if you're in a community product of any form. Uh and the last one is if you're looking for kind of like fiction or fantasy, which is where I tend to go in the evening, Babel by R.F. Kuang.”
    Lenny's Podcast This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of… 2026-08-02 Listen at 1:18:40
    Where to get it
    Listen free with an Audible trialAmazon

  2. The purpose driven church

    Rick Warren · Recommended · 1 episode

    The Purpose Driven Church by Rick Warren is a book about community building and organizational focus that argues every institution needs to define its core mission rather than trying to do everything.

    Recommended
    “Slightly left field, um, but the best book anyone's ever recommended to me to read which I now recommend to others, um, is The Purpose Driven Church by a pastor called Rick Warren. Uh, Emmett Shear, the CEO at at Twitch used to basically make sure that people read it.”
    Lenny's Podcast This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of… 2026-08-02 Listen at 1:18:13
    Where to get it
    Listen free with an Audible trialAmazon

  3. The Hard Thing About Hard Things

    Ben Horowitz · Recommended · 1 episode

    The Hard Thing About Hard Things by Ben Horowitz is a practical business book about the trials of executive leadership and entrepreneurship.

    Recommended
    “Okay, uh, not to be clichéd, but The Hard Thing About Hard Things I still think is the best book written about product management. Um, just from a like breadth of things that you have to go through and try and do and screw up a lot.”
    Lenny's Podcast This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of… 2026-08-02 Listen at 1:17:56
    Where to get it
    Listen free with an Audible trialAmazon

Appearances

EpisodePodcastDateBooks
This CPO regrets that product management exists | Tom Verrilli (CPO of Whatnot)Lenny's Podcast2026-08-023