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Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders” | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)

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Dec 4, 2025

Guest

Tomer Cohen

Tomer Cohen, the chief product officer at LinkedIn, discusses his innovative Full Stack Builder program, which merges AI with product development. He reveals how traditional models have become inefficient and introduces a new approach to empower cross-functional teams. Tomer emphasizes the significance of culture, creativity, and specialized AI agents in building products faster. He also shares insights on adapting to the rapid shift in skills needed for the future workforce and provides valuable advice for companies looking to innovate in their product processes.

01:07:32

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Episode notes

00:00 / 00:00

Process Complexity Kills Velocity

Product development processes grew into unnecessary complexity that slows delivery and iteration.
Collapsing process and organizational complexity restores craftsmanship and speed.

00:00 / 00:00

Builders Should Own The End‑to‑End

Full Stack Builders combine skills across research, design, and code to take ideas end-to-end.
The human focus should be vision, empathy, communication, creativity, and judgment.

00:00 / 00:00

Rearchitect Platform For AI

Invest in platform re‑architecture so AI can reason over your systems instead of bolt‑on tools.
Customize third‑party models heavily; off‑the‑shelf agents rarely work on enterprise stacks.

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Why product development needs reimagining

04:37 • 60sec

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The Full Stack Builder vision

05:37 • 2min

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How process complexity created organizational bloat

07:12 • 3min

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Builders should focus on judgment and vision

09:48 • 2min

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Pods and small teams replace large orgs

12:03 • 5min

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Three pillars: platform, agents, culture

16:36 • 51sec

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Re-architecting platforms for AI

17:27 • 2min

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Building LinkedIn-specific agents like trust agent

19:28 • 4min

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Customizing third-party tools is essential

23:35 • 2min

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Specialized agents and an orchestrator approach

25:30 • 1min

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Coding and maintenance agents already moving builds

26:44 • 1min

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Pilot timeline and data curation challenges

Early pilot results and time savings

31:49 • 2min

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Pod model, APB program, and hiring changes

33:47 • 3min

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Top performers adopt AI fastest

37:11 • 3min

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Change management: incentives and performance reviews

40:39 • 3min

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Encouraging experimentation and visible examples

44:02 • 3min

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Practical advice for companies starting FSB

46:41 • 9min

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Don't wait — act and iterate

55:27 • 1min

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Lightning round: books, podcasts, products

56:44 • 7min

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Tomer reflects on leaving LinkedIn

• Mentioned in 56 episodes

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The Origins of Power, Prosperity and Poverty

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Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that the success or failure of nations is determined by their political and economic institutions. They present a comprehensive theory based on 15 years of research, using historical examples from the Roman Empire, the Mayan city-states, the Soviet Union, and various other regions to demonstrate how inclusive institutions foster economic growth and prosperity, while extractive institutions lead to poverty and stagnation. The authors discuss critical questions such as China's economic growth, the future of the United States, and the most effective ways to help countries move from poverty to prosperity.

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In this book, Dr. Peter Attia draws on the latest science to deliver innovative nutritional interventions, techniques for optimizing exercise and sleep, and tools for addressing emotional and mental health. The book aims to replace the outdated medical framework with a personalized, proactive strategy for longevity, focusing on creating the best individual plan for long-term health. It covers topics such as the limitations of cholesterol tests, underdiagnosed liver conditions, the importance of exercise, and the integration of overall health with relational health.

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• Mentioned in 135 episodes

The Beginning of Infinity

Explanations That Transform the World

David Deutsch

In this groundbreaking book, David Deutsch argues that explanations have a fundamental place in the universe and that improving them is the basic regulating principle of all successful human endeavor. The book takes readers on a journey through various fields of science, history of civilization, art, moral values, and the theory of political institutions. Deutsch explains how we form new explanations and drop bad ones, and discusses the conditions under which progress, which he argues is potentially boundless, can and cannot happen. He emphasizes the importance of good explanations, which he defines as those that are 'hard to vary' and have 'reach', and argues that these explanations are central to the Enlightenment way of thinking and to all scientific and philosophical progress.

Tomer Cohen is the longtime chief product officer at LinkedIn, where he’s pioneering the Full Stack Builder program, a radical new approach to product development that fully embraces what AI makes possible. Under his leadership, LinkedIn has scrapped its traditional Associate Product Manager program and replaced it with an Associate Product Builder program that teaches coding, design, and PM skills together. He’s also introduced a formal “Full Stack Builder” title and career ladder, enabling anyone from any function to take products from idea to launch. In this conversation, Tomer explains why product development has become too complex at most companies and how LinkedIn is building an AI-powered product team that can move faster, adapt more quickly, and do more with less.

We discuss:

1. How 70% of the skills needed for jobs will change by 2030

2. The broken traditional model: organizational bloat slows features to a six-month cycle

3. The Full Stack Builder model

4. Three pillars of making FSB work: platform, agents, and culture (culture matters most)

5. Building specialized agents that critique ideas and find vulnerabilities

6. Why off-the-shelf AI tools never work on enterprise code without customization

7. Top performers adopt AI tools fastest, contrary to expectations about leveling effects

8. Change management tactics: celebrating wins, making tools exclusive, updating performance reviews

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Brought to you by:

Vanta—Automate compliance. Simplify security: https://vanta.com/lenny

Figma Make—A prompt-to-code tool for making ideas real: https://www.figma.com/lenny/

Miro—The AI Innovation Workspace where teams discover, plan, and ship breakthrough products: https://miro.com/lenny

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Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/why-linkedin-is-replacing-pms

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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/180042347/my-takeaways-from-this-conversation

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Where to find Tomer Cohen:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomercohen

• Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-one-with-tomer-cohen/id1726672498

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Where to find Lenny:

• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com

• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/

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In this episode, we cover:

(00:00) Introduction to Tomer Cohen

(04:42) The need for change in product development

(11:52) The full-stack builder model explained

(16:03) Implementing AI and automation in product development

(19:17) Building and customizing AI tools

(27:51) The timeline to launch

(31:46) Pilot program and early results

(37:04) Feedback from top talent

(39:48) Change management and adoption

(46:53) Encouraging people to play with AI tools

(41:21) Performance reviews and full-stack builders

(48:00) Challenges and specialization

(50:05) Finding talent

(52:46) Tips for implementing in your own company

(56:43) Lightning round and final thoughts

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Referenced:

• How LinkedIn became interesting: The inside story | Tomer Cohen (CPO at LinkedIn): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-linkedin-became-interesting-tomer-cohen

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com

• Cursor: https://cursor.com

• The rise of Cursor: The $300M ARR AI tool that engineers can’t stop using | Michael Truell (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-rise-of-cursor-michael-truell

• Devin: https://devin.ai

• Figma: https://www.figma.com

• Microsoft Copilot: https://copilot.microsoft.com

• Windsurf: https://windsurf.com

• Building a magical AI code editor used by over 1 million developers in four months: The untold story of Windsurf | Varun Mohan (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-untold-story-of-windsurf-varun-mohan

• Lovable: https://lovable.dev

• Building Lovable: $10M ARR in 60 days with 15 people | Anton Osika (co-founder and CEO): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/building-lovable-anton-osika

• APB program at LinkedIn: https://careers.linkedin.com/pathways-programs/entry-level/apb

• Naval Ravikant on X: https://x.com/naval

• One Song podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/%D7%A9%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%90%D7%97%D7%93-one-song/id1201883177

• Song Exploder podcast: https://songexploder.net

• Grok on Tesla: https://www.tesla.com/support/grok

• Reid Hoffman on X: https://x.com/reidhoffman

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Recommended books:

• Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty: https://www.amazon.com/Why-Nations-Fail-Origins-Prosperity/dp/0307719227

• Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity: https://www.amazon.com/Outlive-Longevity-Peter-Attia-MD/dp/0593236599

• The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World: https://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Infinity-Explanations-Transform-World/dp/0143121359

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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com