Tricia Maia, the Head of Product at TED, discusses her role in bridging traditional values and innovative practices at the renowned nonprofit. She shares insights on leveraging AI for content accessibility, including voice-cloned dubbing in multiple languages. Tricia explains how TED navigates its mission-driven goals while pursuing sustainable revenue. The conversation touches on evolving content formats beyond the classic talk, enhancing engagement through strategic distribution, and the importance of data-driven personalization in amplifying TED's reach and impact.
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insights INSIGHT
TED's Unique Hybrid Identity
TED balances being a 40-year legacy institution with a startup mindset, creating a cognitive dissonance of identity.
This hybrid nature allows TED to be innovative while preserving its long-lasting cultural impact.
insights INSIGHT
Curated Personalization Over Third Parties
TED focuses on creating curated, personalized experiences on its own platforms to differentiate from third-party content.
The goal is to offer high-quality content that avoids the typical "doom scrolling" experience.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Diversify Content Formats
Offer multiple content formats like trailers, summaries, transcripts, and podcasts to cater to different user preferences.
This variety helps engage users who can't always commit to the traditional 18-minute TED talk.
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Infectious Generosity by Chris Anderson delves into the overlooked yet defining human impulse of generosity. The book combines inspiring stories, cutting-edge psychological research, and practical guidance to show how generosity can become a contagious force for good. Anderson, the head of TED, draws from his experience in sharing uplifting ideas globally to argue that simple, grassroots generosity can counteract the negative effects of social media and monetized anger, promoting a more equitable and hopeful future.
In this episode of The Product Podcast, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Tricia Maia, Head of Product at TED, the 40-year-old nonprofit organization renowned for its influential talks that have garnered billions of views since launching online in 2006.
As Head of Product at TED, Tricia leads the product organization overseeing ted.com, mobile apps, events products, and backend platforms. Her team manages a complex ecosystem that delivers TED's mission of spreading ideas across borders and languages, with content translated into over 100 languages and distributed across multiple platforms.
We explore how TED balances being both a legacy institution and a startup-like organization, diving deep into their approach to AI implementation, content distribution strategy, and measuring success in a mission-driven environment. We'll discuss how TED leverages technology to make its content more accessible globally while maintaining its high standards and editorial vision.
What you'll learn: • What it’s like to be a product leader at a nonprofit with global digital reach • How TED uses AI to improve accessibility—including voice-cloned dubbing and translation workflows • How Tricia balances mission-driven goals with the need for sustainable revenue • How TED is evolving content formats beyond the classic 18-minute talk and maintains high-quality content while scaling across platforms • How data-driven personalization is blended with editorial curation • The key metrics TED focuses on—including engagement, retention, and impact • How Tricia structures her team and prioritizes projects to drive maximum impact
Key Takeaways 👇: Tricia emphasizes how being mission-driven shapes every product decision while maintaining business sustainability. The organization's unique hybrid model demonstrates how to balance innovation with established brand value. TED's careful implementation of AI technology, particularly in translation and dubbing, shows how to introduce innovative solutions while preserving valuable human contributions and maintaining quality standards. The combination of traditional KPIs with mission impact metrics provides a comprehensive framework for measuring success in a mission-driven organization, balancing quantitative metrics with qualitative impact assessment. TED's effective use of functional teams combined with squad-based execution demonstrates how to maintain expertise while enabling rapid project delivery and focused business objectives.
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