I see corporate structure as more than a cultural issue; it is also shaped by the product itself. This is the lens through which I examine PMs’ voices at Spotify, Airbnb, and Zappos.
Spotify: the squad, on paper. The 2012 model fits Spotify’s experiment-driven product: each squad has a product owner who ranks its backlog; leaders define the problem, and the squad decides how to solve it. Engineers report to chapter leads, so the PM leads through persuasion rather than managerial authority. The model has since evolved: Gustav Söderström, now co-CEO, says key decisions sit with VPs.
https://blog.crisp.se/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/SpotifyScaling.pdf
https://blog.crisp.se/2014/03/27/henrikkniberg/spotify-engineering-culture-part-1
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/lessons-from-scaling-spotify-the
Airbnb: Brian Chesky. The top-down approach aligns with the business’s trust-intensive nature. Since 2020, Airbnb has operated as one functional organization with one roadmap and two releases a year, with Chesky reviewing the work himself. PMs didn’t disappear; their roles merged with product marketing, while program managers took over coordination. The PM owns the story, not the priority list.
https://investors.airbnb.com/governance/default.aspx#management
https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001559720/2395a7f3-5507-497a-971b-f3e4b606c6c7.pdf
https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach
Zappos: the rulebook. Holacracy extends Zappos’ service-oriented culture by moving authority from bosses into written roles. Whoever fills a product role can make decisions within its domain; changing that domain requires a governance meeting. The irony is that holacracy itself was imposed by ultimatum in 2015, and by 2020 managers had quietly returned.
https://www.holacracy.org/constitution/5-0/#art4
https://qz.com/work/1776841/zappos-has-quietly-backed-away-from-holacracy
My pick: Airbnb for my first PM job. As a junior PM, I think it’s essential to learn under a clear vision and see how effective product decisions get made. My background is in content and go-to-market, so a role blending product, marketing, and storytelling fits. Airbnb may offer less autonomy, but autonomy is only useful once you develop the judgment and taste to use it well. I would use that first role to build those instincts, then move somewhere with more independent product ownership.
