Transforming Sweden's first housing marketplace | Francesca Cortesi (Hemnet)

#13: In this episode, Axel chats with Francesca Cortesi, the CPO of Hemnet, one of the world’s most popular property portals and one of Sweden’s most beloved products. Through her career, she contributed to building some amazing digital products: from a global community for girls to express their creativity, to e-commerce platforms, a two-sided marketplace in its expansion phase, and a startup in the sustainability space.

Francesca shares the story of how she seized the opportunity of becoming the CPO of Hemnet, what were the levers she used to make that move possible. We cover the foundations of a product transformation and how to create a movement in the organisation. She also shares her experience working with teams and providing clarity on goals, supporting their growth and progression.

Where to find Francesca

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-cortesi/
• Website: https://www.francescacortesi.com/

Where to find Axel

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/axelsooriah/

About Panash

We provide training and coaching programs to help product professionals unlock their true potential and become high performers.

You can learn more about our programs here: https://www.panash.io/

Our blog contains articles and free resources on key topics for product managers and leaders.

Check it out here: https://collection.panash.io/

Referenced in this episode

• Hemnet: https://www.hemnet.se/
• Inspired by Marty Cagan: https://www.svpg.com/books/inspired-how-to-create-tech-products-customers-love-2nd-edition

Show notes and highlights

(01:39) Francesca's background

(04:24) About Hemnet, Sweden's #1 housing marketplace

(10:11) Early transformation post acquisition by Private Equity

(15:45) Importance of getting buy-in from C-Suite

(23:55) Creating an environment for the product team to thrive

(28:23) Supporting the growth and progression of PMs

(33:16) Giving clarity to teams and setting goals

(34:56) Transposing business outcomes into product outcomes

(40:03) The danger in copy/pasting frameworks out of context

(41:37) Francesca's Treasure Chest