Product Talk

How do product leaders decide what AI should automate and what should stay human-in-the-loop? In this podcast hosted by Mphasis VP of Products Chenny Solaiyappan, Level AI Head of Product Sirisha Machiraju will be speaking on how teams move AI from experimentation to strategic priority while balancing trust, adoption, and risk in enterprise environments. She also shares a practical playbook for evaluating assistive vs. agentic workflows and explains how conversation intelligence is reshaping customer experience across industries, including healthcare.

How can product leaders cut through AI hype to build products that actually deliver value? In this podcast hosted by Boston New Technology CPO Shweta Agrawal, Former Amazon, PayPal & Target Product Leader West Stringfellow will be speaking on how to apply AI with a product-first mindset. Drawing from decades of experience scaling global platforms, he shares how to balance innovation with discipline, avoid overestimating AI capabilities, and focus on what truly drives customer impact and business growth.

What does it take to build AI-powered products that customers actually trust? In this podcast hosted by EY Chief Platform Officer Justin Leibow, Unit21 Sr Product Leader Dhiraj Bhat will be speaking on how product leaders can design systems that leverage AI effectively. Drawing from his experience building fraud prevention products, Dhiraj explores the shift from feature-driven PM to systems thinking, and why implementation and trust will define the winners in AI.

What does it mean to prompt AI the product manager way? In this podcast hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and a Board Member at Products That Count, Ridge Ventures Venture Partner Akriti Dokania will be speaking on how product leaders can approach AI prompting with a product mindset. Akriti brings a rare perspective, having worked as an engineer and product manager at Amazon and Microsoft and now serving as a venture partner and board member to several successful B2B startups. The conversation was sparked by an article Akriti recently published on how to prompt AI models the product manager way, an idea that reframes the current AI conversation. While much of the industry focuses on what AI models can do, Akriti argues that the real variable is the person using them: how the problem is framed, how the conversation is structured, and whether the user knows what kind of help they are actually looking for. Together, they go deep on practical frameworks product builders can use immediately, the mindset shifts that separate those who get real value from AI from those who stay in the shallow end, and what Akriti's experience across engineering, product management, and venture investing reveals about the difference between product builders who are truly AI-native and those who are simply using AI.

How can product leaders navigate the shift from product-centric to platform-centric strategies in financial services? In this podcast hosted by EY Chief Platform Officer within the Financial Services Organization Justin Leibow, Tavant Associate Director of Product Management Sandeep Shivam discusses the evolution of lending experiences through a platform approach. They explore the role of user research in product development, the impact of AI on customer expectations, and the importance of building trust in AI systems. Sandeep shares insights on optimizing operational efficiency, the challenges of regulatory compliance, and the significance of creating real value for users. This episode offers practical guidance for product leaders aiming to enhance user experience and leverage AI effectively in their strategies

How can AI eliminate one of the most frustrating parts of knowledge work: tracking and reporting time? In this podcast hosted by iDonate VP Product & Engineering Nacho Andrade, Laurel Chief Product Officer Jiaona Zhang discusses how AI can automatically capture and classify how professionals spend their time, turning everyday activity into structured insights. The conversation explores how AI agents can automate tedious workflows like timesheets while helping product teams move faster, stay grounded in user problems, and rethink leadership in an AI-native organization.

How can enterprises harness powerful AI responsibly? In this podcast hosted by Mphasis VP of Products Chenny Solaiyappan, Giggso Co-Founder Ravi Venugopal speaks about operationalizing AI safely and responsibly in regulated industries. He shares how governance, security, and observability form the guardrails for enterprise AI, why "AI must be farmed, not left to run wild," and how leaders can balance experimentation, innovation, and compliance while upskilling their workforce in an AI‑native world.

What does it take to build AI for customer service that improves real customer outcomes instead of just sounding intelligent? In this podcast hosted by Boston New Technology CPO Shweta Agrawal, Microsoft Product Lead Madhuri Somara shares how her team is building AI-powered case management solutions that automate routine work while keeping humans in the loop for judgment and empathy. She discusses designing AI systems that increase resolution speed, surface transparency in decision-making, and elevate the overall customer experience in complex service environments.

Can product management be fully automated with AI, and what happens if you try? In this podcast hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and a Board Member at Products That Count, Descript CEO Laura Burkhauser shares how her team experimented with automating nearly 100% of the product management workflow using AI. She discusses the surprising results of that experiment, how AI is changing the role of product managers, and why the future of product work may look very different from the processes teams rely on today.

Can design thinking and partnerships accelerate climate solutions at the pace the world now demands? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, host Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing PolyGone Systems CEO & Co-Founder Nathaniel Banks to discuss the use of design thinking and partnerships to remove and recover microplastics across bodies of water, the balance of product iteration and customer testing, and and importance of education of a problem and relevant solutions to facilitate adoption

AI isn't breaking work, we are. So what actually needs to change? In this episode of the Product Talk podcast, host Denise Hemke sits down with product leader Sriram Iyer to explore why today's workplace crisis has less to do with AI and more to do with culture, trust, and leadership clarity. Drawing on decades of experience across platforms, AI products, and scaling organizations, Sriram unpacks how product roles are collapsing, why durable careers now require lifelong learning and generalist skills, and how a growing trust deficit is undermining teams. From the "70/70/70" career framework to practical ways leaders can rebuild trust and clarity, this episode is a must-listen for product managers and leaders navigating change without losing their humanity.

What does it really take to shift from shipping features to driving measurable outcomes at global scale? In this podcast hosted by EY Platform Operations Lead Justin Leibow, Walmart Principal Product Manager Parul Jain shares how she approaches product strategy, innovation pipelines, and AI-enabled product operations. She unpacks how outcome-based planning reshapes team behavior, how to structure innovation as a repeatable system rather than a one-off event, and where generative AI can meaningfully elevate product decision-making without replacing human judgment.

Why do 85% of AI projects fail, and how can product leaders beat the odds? In this episode of the Product Talk podcast, host Denise Hemke sits down with Greg Nudelman, product and UX leader and creator of the Snowball Sprint, to unpack why AI initiatives break down and what it really takes to build AI products that succeed. Drawing on real-world examples from cybersecurity, enterprise AI, and IoT, Greg shares practical frameworks for framing the right use cases, thin-slicing real data, escaping POC purgatory, and redefining success beyond accuracy. A must-listen for product managers and leaders navigating AI-driven product strategy.

How can product leaders turn today's climate urgency into scalable hardware and software solutions that attract capital, unlock long-term energy storage, and build the diverse teams needed to make it all work? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, host Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing Terrament Co-Founder & COO Eric Chaves to discuss leveraging existing technologies to generate sustainable energy and enable a long-term storage solution, as well as the importance of diverse experiences to identify a co-founder and future hires.

How should product leaders rethink pricing in an AI-driven world where value, speed, and automation are constantly shifting? In this podcast hosted by EY Platform Operations Lead Justin Leibow, Decisionalpha CEO Etinosa Agbonlahor speaks on behavioral economics and the evolving psychology of pricing. She explores how companies can move beyond cost-plus models, design pricing as a strategic feature, and adapt monetization strategies as AI reshapes outcomes, efficiency, and customer expectations.

What really breaks when a company scales and why do proven playbooks suddenly stop working? In this podcast hosted by Boston New Technology CPO Shweta Agrawal, Apollo.io CPO Bela Stepanova speaks on what it takes to scale from $40M to $200M ARR and beyond. Drawing from her experience scaling multiple high-growth companies, Bella unpacks the mindset shifts, product strategy changes, and organizational decisions required to navigate hypergrowth without losing focus, quality, or customer trust.

How do you build an AI product that delivers real value long before AI becomes a buzzword? In this podcast hosted by Products That Count CEO Hoda Mehr, Amplitude Head of AI and former Kraftful Founder Yana Welinder speaks on building AI-native products, staying relentlessly focused on real customer problems, and navigating the journey from startup to acquisition. Drawing from her experience taking Kraftful from early experimentation with large language models to being acquired by Amplitude, Yana shares practical lessons on product focus, founder-led growth, and what it truly takes to scale AI inside a large organization.

What if the most important part of product management has nothing to do with roadmaps, features, or technology? In this podcast hosted by Rachel Owens, Meta Product Leader Rick Sanchez speaks on why clarity is the most critical responsibility of a product manager. Drawing from a career spanning media, gaming, consulting, and AI-driven products, the conversation explores how great product leaders create alignment, unlock creative execution, and navigate complex problem spaces without relying on rigid frameworks.

How do you move from shipping features to building a product vision that actually drives growth? In this podcast hosted by Huntress Director of Product Nisarg Desai, American Express Vice President of Product Management Jose Quesada shares how he approaches product vision and strategy for one of the world's most scaled B2C platforms. Jose breaks down the difference between vision and strategy, how to ground ambitious north stars in execution, and what it takes to turn product thinking into a durable growth engine.

How do you turn messy, unstructured healthcare data into real-time intelligence that actually improves care? In this podcast hosted by Mphasis Vice President of Products Chenny Solaiyappan, Datycs CEO Dr. Srini Rao shares how his career spanning AI at IBM, global telecom infrastructure, and healthcare data engineering led him to tackle one of healthcare's hardest problems: making unstructured clinical data usable at scale. The conversation explores interoperability, NLP versus GenAI in regulated environments, and why real progress in value-based care depends on transforming clinical notes into actionable, standards-based data.

How do you decarbonize the world's most emissions-intensive industries at the speed climate science demands? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, host Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing Calectra CEO & Co-Founder Pauliina Meskanen to discuss decarbonizing heavy industries' manufacturing processes with thermal batteries to store high temperature heat, the role of customer discovery to building and scaling a product, and the importance of choosing the right partners and building relationships with trust and value creation.

How do you scale generative AI in healthcare without sacrificing trust, transparency, or governance? In this podcast hosted by Mphasis Vice President of Products Chenny Solaiyappan, Cognizant Senior Director Elliot Papadakis shares how Cognizant is building and operationalizing an AI gateway that sits at the center of its responsible AI strategy. Elliot discusses embedding generative AI into payer workflows, designing human-in-the-loop guardrails, and using AI orchestration to unlock productivity gains across complex healthcare systems while keeping accountability and patient impact front and center.

What does it take to create an AI product that becomes part of someone's workflow for good? In this podcast hosted by Products That Count CEO Hoda Mehr, Grammarly/Superhuman Chief Product Officer Noam Lovinsky breaks down the company's bold shift from a writing assistant to a multi-product ecosystem spanning agents, email, documents, and more. He shares the product frameworks, organizational structures, and leadership philosophies behind this transformation, offering a candid look at what it means to build deeply retentive AI products at scale.

How do product leaders think big enough to compete in an AI-native world? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Walmart U.S. former Chief Product Officer John Alferness joins us again and speaks on scaling AI at retail and enterprise scale. He breaks down how CPOs can separate core AI capabilities from applications, choose the right moonshots, and use AI to unlock personalization, efficiency, and growth in low-margin businesses.

What does it take to think bigger when your products already operate at massive scale? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Walmart U.S. former Chief Product Officer John Alferness breaks down how product leaders can push beyond incremental gains to unlock true step-change growth. He explores the mental models behind moonshots, the discipline required to manage risk at scale, and why AI is accelerating the pace of change for every product organization.