LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

Епизоди

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  Beyond AI Theater: How a Real AI Product Team Looks Now | Eric Anderson, SVP Product (Datasite) 02.07.2026 33мин

  We’ve all been witness to how AI collapses the org chart: leaders are back to doing IC work, ICs are shedding the busy work, and teams are shipping features in two-week sprints that used to take a year. Our guest today is Eric Anderson, SVP of Product at Datasite, the virtual data room platform where billion-dollar M&A deals get done. He walks us through how a real-life, AI-first team has made progress in adoption and the difficulties along the way. In this episode, Eric shares: How the contract has changed as the PM role has evolved. It’s not a layoff story - but product has collapsed back to subject-matter expertise, judgment, and taste Inside their “iteration zero” process: where PRDs are written live in the meeting, prototypes are wired to real data, and what the new bottleneck is now that building is fast Plus how you build trust in your AI product when a billion dollars is on the line: citations for everything, correlation, not imperative statements, and why nobody lets the computer decide Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eric-anderson-pr0ductexec/ Datasite: https://www.datasite.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:04 AI is flattening the org chart (and why that's a good thing) 07:32 "The contract has changed": PRDs written live, ideas to code in minutes 14:42 Rise of the hyper creator: Blurring roles on the product team 17:53 Shipping fast isn't enough: Why taste and focus are the new bottleneck 21:35 Inside the virtual data room (VDR) 26:52 How Datasite builds trust in AI insights 31:59 Wrapping up Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Eric Anderson.
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  Feedback Is Just the Start: How Acting on It Increased Zipcar’s NPS by Over 50% | Nishaat Vasi, CPO 23.06.2026 32мин

  We’ve all been witness to how AI collapses the org chart: leaders are back to doing IC work, ICs are shedding the busy work, and teams are shipping features in two-week sprints that used to take a year. Our guest today is Eric Anderson, SVP of Product at Datasite, the virtual data room platform where billion-dollar M&A deals get done. He walks us through how a real-life, AI-first team has made progress in adoption and the difficulties along the way. In this episode, Eric shares: How the "The contract has changed" as the PM role has evolved. It’s not a layoff story - but product has collapsed back to subject-matter expertise, judgment, and taste Inside their “iteration zero” process: where PRDs are written live in the meeting, prototypes are wired to real data, and what the new bottleneck is now that building is fast Plus how you build trust in your AI product when a billion dollars is on the line: citations for everything, correlation, not imperative statements, and why nobody lets the computer decide Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nishaat-vasi/ Zipcar: https://www.zipcar.com/ Resources The Right Kind of Wrong by Amy Edmondson: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Right-Kind-of-Wrong/Amy-C-Edmondson/9781982195069 Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:37 Zipcar and the customer experience wake-up call 05:27 Ditching the email survey for real-time feedback 09:55 Turning NPS into OKRs 13:13 The top 3 priorities: Cleanliness, damage, and maintenance 16:51 The zero-cost pilot that now saves millions of dollars 25:42 The issue with "AI theater" 27:43 How genAI spotted a hidden fuel card problem 32:13 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Nishaat Vasi.
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  From Hostile to Rewired: How Descript's CEO Drives AI Adoption | Laura Burkhauser 16.06.2026 28мин

  Our guest today is Laura Burkhauser, CEO of Descript, the video editor that’s been AI-native long before “AI-native” was something you put in a pitch deck. Laura's route to the CEO seat started as a customer. She loved the product enough to knock on founder Andrew Mason's door and ask to work on it. She joined to lead product, but only three years later she's succeeded the well-known founder and is running the company. Today, Laura is here to talk about both sides of that journey: finding peers and mentors when you're suddenly the most senior person in any room, and driving AI adoption across an org already known for AI in its product. In this episode, Laura shares: Her "tech acceptance framework" — the 4 stages from outright hostility to "rewired" — and how to figure out where YOUR team actually sits Why telling IC PMs that AI means 2x productivity just sounds like they’re doing twice the work — and her “find the dream” reframe that actually gets real buy-in How Laura built Descript's AI philosophy around one principle: "Struggle with your art, not with your tools" and why she doesn't want anyone one-shotting their videos Plus the trap most companies are falling into right now: AI systems that walk out the door when the person who built them leaves, and how to make progress durable across your org Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/burkhauser/ Descript: https://www.descript.com/ Resources What Got You Here Won't Get You There: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/what-got-you-here-wont-get-you-there-marshall-goldsmith/1112274786 Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:07: Laura's career journey: From fashion startups to finding her path to product 03:26: The "what got you here won't get you there" moment 4:05: Finding peers and mentors when you're the most senior person in the room 12:06: "Struggle with your art, not with your tools" — Descript's AI philosophy 15:04: AI as a derivative technology and the democratization of creativity 17:59: The tech acceptance framework: From hostile to rewired 18:50: Running AI hackathons and reimagining company systems 22:40: Pitfalls of AI adoption: Cost, durability, and automating broken systems 24:42: The two-by-two framework for getting your team AI-pilled 27:49: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Laura Burkhauser.
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  How AI Helped Me Ship 9 Months of Product in 5 Days | Sriram Iyer, SVP of Product (ex-Salesforce) 12.05.2026 25мин

  A program manager told Sriram Iyer it would take 6 to 9 months to ship the first slice of their new product. Sriram challenged the team to do it in just five days. At first, they laughed. Then he rolled his sleeves up, dug in with the team, and they did it. 5 days, from Monday to Friday. Sriram has spent his career walking into companies like Salesforce, Adobe, and Freshworks, and pulling timelines apart. He calls himself the simplifier in chief, and the secret isn't the AI tooling. It's everything underneath the AI tooling that most leaders won't actually do. That's what make teams trust, and follow, him. In this episode, Sriram breaks down exactly how that five-day sprint worked, including: The "thinnest slice of pizza" principle that kills scope creep before it starts Why AI made it possible — but isn't really the point How to find the team members in any org who are actually ready to just make stuff happen — and why mindset matters more than tooling And why none of this works without trust, prioritization, taste, and an executive willing to get in the weeds and take personal responsibility for the outcome Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sriramviyer/ Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Sriram Iyer.
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  AI Agents Fail for 2 Reasons. Crowdsourcing Solved Both. | Julia Dalton, SVP Product (Capacity) 05.05.2026 27мин

  Long before “AI Agent” was the buzzword in every product discussion, Julia Dalton was already deep into solving the problems of coordinating thousands of worker agents, creating clear instruction prompts, and evaluating output quality. Julia is SVP of Product at the AI-support automation platform, Capacity. Previously, she helped scale workflow orchestration at OneSpace, formerly known as Crowdsource, where thousands of freelancers executed microtasks for major retailers. As it turns out, managing humans at scale and managing AI agents have a lot more in common than most people realize. In this episode, Julia shares: The two failure modes that kill every AI agent before the model ever runs Why running a crowdsourced work platform gave her incredible insights into building effective agentic AI products How Julia and her team built an AI system to triage and prioritize product feedback, automating low-complexity builds and helping make better decisions on high-stakes tradeoffs Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliadalton/ Capacity: https://capacity.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:52 Julia's startup roots at OneSpace 02:00 Transitioning from the human API to AI agents 02:47 Microtasking workflow chains 06:54 Routing rules and AI orchestration 11:55 Validating prompts with simulations 15:08 Recursive prompting in practice 17:46 Data and knowledge orchestration 20:57 PRP triage app for product requests 26:56 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.
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  April Dunford’s 1 Killer Question to Expose Weak AI Product Positioning [Repeat] 28.04.2026 36мин

  In this week's repeat episode, we’re joined by the undisputed queen of B2B positioning: April Dunford. April is the best-selling author of the seminal book "Obviously Awesome" and the new hit "Sales Pitch." She has spent 25 years as a startup executive and consultant, helping companies stop guessing and start winning. If you have ever struggled to explain exactly why customers should pick you over the other guy, this episode is a masterclass. In this episode, April talks about: Why Positioning is a Product Problem: How undefined positioning leads to wasted roadmaps, "not good enough" feedback from Sales, and engineering teams burning out on features that don't win deals. The "AI Washing" Trap: Why saying "We have AI" is no longer a strategy—and how to articulate the specific value your tech unlocks that the competition can’t. Why she loves when competitors lie: How to ethically trap competitors who over-promise features (and the one question sales should tell your prospects to ask them). And finally, Vision vs. Reality: How to sell the "glorious future" without losing the deal you need to close today. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ April's books: https://www.aprildunford.com/books Resources (Ethically) cheat your way to $250M+ | Mikal Lewis, Product Exec. (Whole Foods, Nordstrom): https://youtu.be/5txeT2U_YQo Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:45: April's journey from engineering to marketing to product positioning expert 05:00: The shifting lansscape: Position from COVID to the AI era 10:45: Moving beyond "AI washing" to find differentiated value 15:30: Defining your true competitive landscape 20:30: How to be worth your customers' migration risk 23:45: Why April likes when competitors "lie" about their capabilities and features 32:00: Why positioning is critical for product and engineering alignment 35:00: April's new book details Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: April Dunford.
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  AI Isn't Breaking PM Teams. Overload is. Explained by Stanford PhD & CPO Jen Wang (Framework) 15.04.2026 29мин

  Our guest today, Jen Wang, holds a PhD from Stanford in behavior sciences, judgment, and decision-making. She built her product career at ThredUp, and now serves as Chief Product Officer and go-to-market lead at Framework. That combination — behavioral scientist plus operating CPO — gives her a rare lens into the most urgent question in product leadership right now: how do you lead and build when the ground is shifting faster than anyone can follow? In this episode, we talk about: The decision-making behind why Framework scrapped their roadmap Why iteration, not technical proficiency, has been the most important skill to drive AI adoption in teams There’s actually a scientific reason why everyone’s so overwhelmed, and it’s called the “Zone of Absorption” Links Jen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangjennifer/ Framework: https://frame.work/ Resources ThredUp: https://www.thredup.com/ Anthropic: https://www.anthropic.com/ Leadership Without Easy Answers by Ronald A. Heifetz: https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674518582 The engineer's ring: https://www.nspe.org/career-growth/pe-magazine/july-2009/called-order Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:50: Why everyone thinks they’re behind on AI 06:29: “The zone of absorption”: The science behind AI overwhelm 10:10: Why Framework scrapped their 2026 roadmap in February 12:31: Choosing your AI toolset: When to experiment vs. When to commit 14:25: Rethinking engineering resourcing to make room for “process debt” 15:43: The A/B testing parallel: Is AI history repeating itself? 18:27: AI prototyping: Productive or underbaked ideas? 25:08: The learning possibilities that AI opens up 26:56: Should product leaders take a Hippocratic oath? 28:21: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Jen Wang.
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  The Analytics Gap Most eCom Teams Don’t Know They Have | Raul Parquet, Dir. eCom (Princess Cruises) 07.04.2026 31мин

  Raul Parquet is the Director of Ecommerce at Princess Cruises, where he’s helping to lead them into a more digital future where visa requirements, multi-destination itineraries, and endless customization options are something customers can actually complete online. In this episode, Raul shares: The unglamorous but vital elements of a complete eCommerce analytics stack, and the table-stakes things teams often skip Why an Analytics team embedded inside product is a requirement, and the deployment discipline that brings with it And how Princess Cruises is using AI behind the scenes to help their team work smarter — and why, when it comes to customers, simplicity will always matter more than technology Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/raul-parquet/ Princess Cruises: https://www.princess.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:00 Why cruises are one of the hardest ecommerce problems to solve 6:00 Embedding analytics teams into product 8:00 The analytics stack: What "table stakes" actually looks like 13:30 How AI is already helping analytics teams work smarter 15:00 The gaps most teams don't know they have 19:00 Simplifying complex bookings: The Tesla analogy 21:00 100% of Princess Cruisers have been on the website 25:00 Where AI actually fits in the customer journey 29:00 Outro Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Raul Parquet.
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  How to Avoid AI FOMO like Patagonia | Angela Clark, VP Digital 24.03.2026 30мин

  I keep meeting teams across the country that are facing intense pressure to shoehorn AI into every feature, often without a coherent thesis on the problem it’ll solve. But what if the smartest move in the AI gold rush is to actually slow down? Angela Clark, VP of Digital at Patagonia, is doing exactly that. At a brand known for its fierce commitment to the planet, Angela is applying that same intentionality to their digital experience. Instead of blowing budgets on every new AI tool, she’s taking a thoughtful approach to building a personalized customer journey across an audience that spans both elite pro athletes and weekend warriors. In this episode, Angela shares: How her team is designing a customer journey that caters to the buyer on a 1:1 level, including Product Detail Pages that can speak effortlessly to either extreme of their customer base Her playbook for managing AI-related “shiny object syndrome" and keeping your roadmap focused on the customer. And why Patagonia flipped the definition of “customer lifetime value” to align with their conservation-driven mission — even happily downselling you to a refurbished item instead of a newer, more expensive version. Links Angela's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angclrk/ Patagonia: https://www.patagonia.com/home/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:43 Angela's career journey 03:30: The PDP problem: Serving elite athletes & urban buyers on the same page 07:00: Building personalization through behavioral signals 09:30: Personalization: it's not a tech problem, it's a customer journey problem 00:15:30 How Angela built the foundation of digital at Patagonia 20:30: How to navigate slow-moving organizations 23:00: Redefining customer lifetime value around Patagonia's mission 26:30: AI FOMO — and why you're not actually falling behind 31:30: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Angela Clark.
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  The Anti-Headcount Billion-Dollar eCom Playbook | David Cost, CDO (Rainbow Shops) 17.03.2026 26мин

  How many engineers does it take to run the ecommerce site for a retail company that does over a billion dollars in revenue per year? Well, if you’re Rainbow Shops, the answer is just 2. Most ecommerce teams assume scale requires more engineers, more tools, more complexity. Chief Digital Officer David Cost has built something many people in ecommerce would say isn't possible — a lean, fast-moving digital operation that runs on vendor partnerships instead of a massive internal team. Two engineers, hundreds of programmers' worth of output, and none of the overhead that comes with scaling the traditional way. In this episode, David shares: A detailed, under-the-hood look at the specific vendors they use to stay so lean His playbook for using strategic partnerships with vendors as an external dev team How being a testbed for new tech gives them a competitive edge And why their choice of ecommerce platform was vital in enabling Rainbow’s digital strategy Links David's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidcost/ Rainbow Shops: https://www.linkedin.com/company/rainbow-apparel-co/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:42 David’s product journey 02:36 How Rainbow runs with only two engineers 03:07 Rainbow's decision to migrate from  Salesforce Commerce Cloud to Shopify 07:14 How Rainbow uses AI to support a lean team 11:34 Rainbow's partnership with Lica for AI-generated product images 17:25 The future of personalization in ecommerce 23:01 Shop Pay and Rainbow's checkout features 26:15 Conclusion Resoures Lica: https://lica.world/ Fuego: https://fuego.io/ Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: David Cost.
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  The World’s Safest Driver Isn’t Human. Can Waymo Stop Traffic Deaths? | Chinmay Jain, Dir. Product 10.03.2026 24мин

  40,000 people a year die from traffic accidents in the US. Our guest today is Chinmay Jain, Director of Product Management on Waymo's Driving Behavior team, who is working to make that number 90% smaller. In this episode, Chinmay shares: How he thought through leaving YouTube at its peak to join a moonshot company that could have civilization-level impact Waymo’s actual AI eval process, using massive simulations based on millions of real-world driving miles to maximize edge cases, ultimately turning trust into their real product And the misleading, but common, metrics Chinmay and his team learned to spot that could have seriously derailed Waymo’s progress Links Chinmay's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chinmayjain/ Waymo: https://waymo.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:40 Chinmay’s decision to leave YouTube for Waymo 04:12 How does Waymo test its AI in the physical world? 06:09 Waymo’s layered evaluation system 09:53 Simulations and ML gains at Waymo 16:48 Waymo’s metrics for safety 21:33 What driving choices make training AI drivers the hardest? 24:00 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Chinmay Jain.
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  The Cortisol UI: How We Fix FinServ’s Empathy Problem | Melissa Douros, CPO (Green Dot) 03.03.2026 32мин

  Most financial products are optimized for transactions, not human emotion. For many people, this transforms an already fraught topic into pure anxiety. Our guest today is building banking for what she calls the Cortisol UI. Melissa Douros has spent over 26 years in financial services, starting in debt collection and now serving as the Chief Product Officer at Green Dot. Early on, she learned firsthand that shame is a terrible retention mechanism. That lesson now shapes how she builds financial products for millions of users — for whom the time spent simply navigating their finances can be the most stressful of the day. In this episode, Melissa shares: How finserv companies can design for the “Cortisol UI“ by building trust and experiences that reduce anxiety before the transaction An experiment she ran for Discover’s 5% cashback program where test users collapsed under decision paralysis — proving that more choice can actually increase financial stress How she flipped Great Wolf Lodge’s booking model from 70% call center to 90% digital while enhancing the human experience And how Green Dot is navigating AI and agentic commerce without breaking the one thing banks can’t afford to lose: trust Links Melissa's: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissadouros/ Green Dot Corporation: https://www.greendot.com/ Resources LaunchPod - Nan Yu: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rGB-6XQJg LaunchPod - Ben McAllister: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-6Cs3RJeZw Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:00 Melissa's finserv background and how she landed in product 05:10 How Green Dot builds trust as a financial services product 07:29 Building for the "Cortisol UI" to lessen user stress, especially in finance 9:55 Quietly fixing customer issues while not inundanting them with feature releases 14:35 Green Dot moving compliance from the backend to a key part of the product team 16:20 Launching AI features in a high-risk industry 18:36 Decision paralysis and Discover's failed attempt at a 5% cashback reward program 24:57 How Melissa digitized Great Wolf Lodge's customer experience 30:51 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Melissa Douros.
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  The $500M Lesson from Amazon’s Homepage Redesign | Rahul Chaudhari (ex-Amazon, Kohl’s) 24.02.2026 33мин

  How do you redesign the most visited e-commerce webpage in the world? Rahul Chaudhari helped reshape the Amazon homepage during his years as a product leader there, before becoming VP of Product and Technology at Kohl's. In this episode, Rahul shares: Amazon’s “customer backwards” approach - and how he used it to unlock half a billion dollars of value on the Amazon homepage The secret to product adoption: leverage existing customer habits to unlock new opportunities And how Amazon and Google raised the bar for digital experiences so high that now every other product pays the price Links Rahul's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahul-chaudhari/ Chapters 00:00 Intro: Rahul's journey from marketing to product 03:08 Why “mid” digital experiences no longer work 07:35 Rebuilding the Amazon homepage “hero” to be customer-backwards 12:48 Experimentation + adoption metrics: measuring what actually matters 14:20 Adoption > clicks: Defining the right success metrics 18:41 AI and the future of retail: Rethink the business model, not the tools 21:50 Agentic shopping: What happens when ChatGPT becomes the homepage? 23:30 From keyword search to intent-based shopping 25:57 AI needs containers, not just models 30:29 Will AI level the playing field for small retailers? 33:16 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Rahul Chaudhari.
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  Smarter AI Models Won't Fix Your Deployment | Maryam Ashoori, VP PM/Eng (IBM, Watsonx) 17.02.2026 26мин

  In this episode, we’re joined by Maryam Ashoori, VP of Product and Engineering at IBM’s Watsonx platform. With a background that includes 2 master's degrees in AI, a PhD in Systems Design Engineering, and named on over 30 patents at IBM, she’s been on the bleeding edge for over a decade. Currently leading the charge on Agentic AI and AI Governance at IBM, Maryam is a bridge between the theoretical frontier of AI and the messy reality of enterprise deployment. In this episode, Maryam: Tells why AI has been stuck in pilot purgatory for longer than expected, and what you need to do today for a successful enterprise deployment Calls shenanigans on the “biggest, best model” crowd, and why often a smaller, more focused tool is the right choice Explains how to build an agnostic architecture that can handle the realities of an AI world where models advance faster than anybody can keep up Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mashoori/ IBM: https://www.ibm.com/us-en Resources Reinventing SaaS: Zuora's AI Transformation | Karthik Chakkarapani and Shakir Karim (Zuora): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHVxnLikMpQ Linear’s Secret to Building Powerful AI Products | Nan Yu, Head of Product (Linear): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27rGB-6XQJg Chapters 00:00 Intro 02:18 From ChatGPT hype to enterprise reality: use cases, ROI, and the rise of agents 06:11 Security, accountability & governance: who’s responsible when agents go wrong? 10:37 Risk-based rollout: use-case scoping, Risk Atlas, and guardrails like PII detection 17:10 Observability for agentic workflows 18:21 Why compute optimization matters 22:58 Designing for model agility: abstraction layers, routing, and picking the right model 27:23 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Maryam Ashoori.
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  Using AI to Preserve 140 Years of History at the LA Times | Deepika Manglani, VP Product (LA Times) 04.02.2026 25мин

  In this episode, we’re joined by Deepika Manglani, VP of Product and Program Management at the LA Times. Deepika’s career in media spans over 15 years, culminating in her current role, where she’s bringing the 140-year-old institution into the future. In this episode, Deepika shares: How her team is using AI to preserve a unique trove of historical data, over 12 million pages of news archives from as far back as the 1800s What this digital archive and maturation of AI enables for future storytelling, media innovation, and news personalization Why combining product and program management was critical to navigating massive transformation at the LA Times through a period of heavy M&A activity Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deepikamanglani/ LA Times: https://www.latimes.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 00:15 Deepika's career journey in media and product leadership 01:25 Building from scratch at LA Times 05:06 Digitizing historical archives 08:40 Challenges and innovations in AI and OCR 19:54 Future prospects and personalization in news 24:33 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Deepika Manglani.
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  Designing for Attention: How CrossFit Builds Product for Community-Led Growth | Ben McAllister, CPTO 27.01.2026 25мин

  In this episode, we’re joined by Ben McAllister, the Chief Product and Technology Officer at CrossFit, and one of the most thoughtful product leaders I’ve had the pleasure of speaking with. Ben’s path is anything but linear: with a degree in physics, a short stint in consulting, and time spent as a creative director at a design agency before moving into senior product roles at Under Armour. Now he’s shaping one of the world’s most iconic fitness ecosystems. In this episode, Ben shares: Why attention is the ultimate currency in product design, and how to design for the “spotlight” versus the periphery. The “Infovore” Advantage: Why the best product leaders borrow ideas from outside the tech world; and How to build a cohesive product strategy for a complex, decentralized network like CrossFit’s global community of affiliates and athletes. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mcallister/ X: https://x.com/benmcallister?lang=en CrossFit: https://www.crossfit.com/ Resources The Age of the Infovore: Succeeding in the Information Economy (https://tylercowen.com/dd-product/the-age-of-the-infovore-succeeding-in-the-information-economy/) On the Origin of Stories (https://www.hup.harvard.edu/books/9780674057111) Chapters 00:00: Introduction 00:41: Ben's non-linear career path: From physicist to product leader 03:23: The "infovore" mindset in product management 06:00: Storytelling, juxtaposition, and the science of learning 08:48: Designing product for attention 12:00: Why product leaders shouldn't ignore marketing 15:10: CrossFit's origins as an internet-native brand 19:44: What is the CrossFit Open? 24:37: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.
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  How AI Can Eliminate the “Chaos Tax” in Enterprise Software | Karthik Viswanathan (TalAiro) 20.01.2026 28мин

  In this episode, we’re joined by Karthik Viswanathan. Formerly a product leader at AT&T, Macy’s, and Optum, he’s now the founder of TalAiro, an HR tech startup that is rethinking the operating system for recruiting. Karthik argues that the hidden failure of the modern tech stack is forcing the user to serve as a “manual integration layer. He explains how the push to "unbundle" features results in a “Chaos Tax”— consuming 40-60% of the workday with fighting disconnected tools rather than doing their jobs. Beyond that, Karthik also discusses: How AI can make work more human: Why the true value isn't in replacing jobs, but automating the "devil's cut" of administrative work. The journey from enterprise leader to founder: What building TalAiro from scratch taught Karthik about prioritization after years of leading enterprise product orgs, such as focusing on the 20% of workflows that drive 80% of the value Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karthikvish/ TalAiro: https://www.talairo.ai/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 00:54: Karthik's product background 02:58: The "chaos tax" and how tool sprawl negatively impacts product efficiency 04:25: Challenges in HR tech 09:26: Working backwards from customer problems to build your digital solution 11:53: How TalAiro differentiates itself as an HR tool 15:03: The role of AI in enhancing human potential 20:59: Karthik's transition from enterprise to startup leader 27:14: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Karthik Viswanathan.
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  April Dunford’s 1 Killer Question to Expose Weak AI Product Positioning 13.01.2026 36мин

  This week, we’re joined by the undisputed queen of B2B positioning, April Dunford. April is the best-selling author of the seminal book "Obviously Awesome" and the new hit "Sales Pitch." She has spent 25 years as a startup executive and consultant helping companies stop guessing and start winning. If you have ever struggled to explain exactly why customers should pick you over the other guy, this episode is a masterclass. In this episode, April talks about: Why Positioning is a Product Problem: How undefined positioning leads to wasted roadmaps, "not good enough" feedback from Sales, and engineering teams burning out on features that don't win deals. The "AI Washing" Trap: Why saying "We have AI" is no longer a strategy—and how to articulate the specific value your tech unlocks that the competition can’t. Why she loves when competitors lie: How to ethically trap competitors who over-promise features (and the one question sales should tell your prospects to ask them). And finally, Vision vs. Reality: How to sell the "glorious future" without losing the deal you need to close today. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ April's books: https://www.aprildunford.com/books Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:45: April's journey from engineering to marketing to product positioning expert 05:00: The shifting lansscape: Position from COVID to the AI era 10:45: Moving beyond "AI washing" to find differentiated value 15:30: Defining your true competitive landscape 20:30: How to be worth your customers' migration risk 23:45: Why April likes when competitors "lie" about their capabilities and features 32:00: Why positioning is critical for product and engineering alignment 35:00: April's new book details Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: April Dunford.
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  Is Dashboarding Dead? How AI Is Changing Analytics UX | Robert Henkhaus, VP of Product (Enverus) 06.01.2026 27мин

  From U.S. Army sniper to VP of Product, Robert Henkhaus knows a thing or two about high-stakes decision-making. Today, he’s a product leader at Enverus, the software platform guiding billions of dollars in global energy capital. Fresh off Enverus’ acquisition by Blackstone, Robert joins us to discuss how to innovate when the pressure is on. In this episode, we cover: Why "Black Box" AI Fails: How Enverus builds trust with investment stakeholders by forcing AI to "show its work" on multi-million dollar recommendations. The Death of the Dashboard: Robert’s hot take on why AI will soon make traditional charts obsolete. Surviving Acquisition: The "60-Day Horizon" strategy Robert uses to keep team velocity high amidst Private Equity uncertainty. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-henkhaus/ Enverus: https://www.enverus.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:39: Product innovations at Enverus 4:03: AI in the energy sector: How Enverus is implementing AI in oil and gas operations 6:47: Progressive disclosure and using AI to improve the user experience 9:56: Product engagement scores: How Enverus tracks success metrics 15:39: How internal teams are engaging with AI at Enverus 17:53: Are dashboards dead? How AI is transforming analytics 19:36: Enverus' recent acquisition by Blackstone 28:00: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Robert Henkhaus.
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  Why AI Agents Are the Future of ERP | Bret Tushaus, VP Product (DelTek) - Repeat 30.12.2025 28мин

  In this repeat episode of LaunchPod, originally published on Aug 12, 2025, we’re talking with Bret Tushaus, VP of Product at Deltek. In this episode, we discuss: How Deltek built Dela — an AI agent framework powering everything from smart summaries to autonomous accounting Why AI is rewriting the role of Product Management, and what leaders need to know now How Bret’s team leveled up their AI skills fast — with short, high-impact sprints focused on real tools and real problems Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-tushaus-b959b56/ Deltek: https://www.deltek.com/en Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI in Product Management 01:06 Building AI-Powered Solutions at DelteK 03:05 Smart Summaries and Predictive Analytics 08:24 Intelligent Exploration and Conversational Interfaces 17:39 The Future of AI Agents 22:14 Getting Started with AI in Your Team 26:52 Final Thoughts Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com.Special Guest: Bret Tushaus.