By Teresa Torres · producttalk.org · @ttorres on X · LinkedIn
In this podcast episode, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille examine the hard decision of when and how to sunset products that are profitable and liked but no longer growing. They argue that this mediocre middle ground is more dangerous than outright failure because it escapes scrutiny while consuming discovery capacity and blocking better opportunities. The conversation covers how org design and dedicated teams make decommissioning harder, and Teresa shares her own decision to cut revenue streams, including a move that reduced her income by 40% on purpose. The episode closes with practical portfolio-level practices for making sunsetting a normal, expected part of product lifecycles rather than a stigmatized failure.
01Key takeaways
- Profitable but flatlining products often hide the biggest opportunity costs, so review them as deliberately as failing ones.
- Treat sunsetting as a portfolio-level decision rather than a judgment on the team that built the product.
- Schedule recurring portfolio reviews so that stagnant products get examined on a predictable cadence.
- Make wind-downs visible, for example with a dedicated sunsetting column on your roadmap.
- Use a horizons model (H1, H2, H3) to balance maintaining the core against funding future bets.
- Build an experimentation culture first; without it, killing any product will feel traumatic to teams.
02Key sections
- The dangerous middle ground
- Products that are profitable and somewhat loved but flat tend to avoid review, quietly draining attention. Traction can mislead teams into thinking they have product-market fit.
- Opportunity cost of 'okay' products
- Every hour spent maintaining a stagnant product is an hour not spent discovering something better. Discovery capacity is the real cost being paid.
- Sunsetting in product organizations
- Dedicated teams and org structures make decommissioning feel personal and disruptive. Leaders need explicit conversations about product endings.
- Real examples from Teresa's business
- Teresa describes shutting a popular community and cutting deep-dive courses that made up a large share of revenue, deliberately accepting the income loss.
- Making sunsetting easier
- Regular portfolio reviews, a visible sunsetting column, the three horizons model, and portfolio decisions made one level above teams help normalize endings.
03From the post
“Listen to this episode on: Spotify | Apple Podcasts In this episode of All Things Product, Teresa Torres and Petra Wille tackle one of the hardest decisions in product and business: when—and how—to kill your darlings. They dig into the uncomfortable middle ground between obvious failure and runaway success:”
04Frameworks mentioned
Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.