LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

Today, we’re joined by West Stringfellow, currently VP of Product at Blackhawk Network and former VP of Innovation at Target. In this episode, West shares: How he went from stealth startups to leading innovation at a company with over $77 billion in annual sales The methods he uses to manage up and influence leadership in order to achieve the outcomes necessary to create successful organizations time and time again The bold move that accelerated his Target career, which included hand-delivering over 300 copies of his innovation proposal to every executive at their Minneapolis HQ, even catching the attention of Target’s CEO An inside look at how Blackhawk is thinking about AI and digital transformation by cultivating “culture carriers” to champion AI Links West’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weststringfellow/ Blackhawk Network: https://blackhawknetwork.com/ HowDo: https://howdo.com/about/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:17: West's career journey 02:08: Project Goldfish and West's startup background 05:43: Making product and strategy decisions at Target 06:25: West building a Techstars Startup Accelerator 08:39: How West's work at Target inspired his startup, HowDo 09:44: How did West "manage up" at Target? 17:05: An introduction to Blackhawk 21:02: Digital transformation with gift cards 23:44: How Blackhawk is using AI 30:29: Big AI wins 33:09: 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: West Stringfellow.

Today, we’re joined by Sarah Jacob Singh, CPTO at Medbridge, a digital healthcare platform. In this episode, Sarah shares: Why AI means all companies have to act like startups again, with product more tightly integrated from engineering all the way to go-to-market How many Product Managers are evolving into Product Engineers - building prototypes, shipping code, and helping developer teams innovate faster The ways Medbridge is leveraging AI-enabled Product Engineers to ship big bets weekly instead of quarterly Links Sarah’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahjacobsingh/ Medbridge: https://www.medbridge.com/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:53: Sarah’s career journey 03:56: The expanding role of product management 08:22: The impact of AI on product and engineering 11:35: Prototyping and feedback loops 17:20: AI adoption in healthcare 19:04: What is the “product engineer”? 22:47: In-house vs. Purchased solutions 29:13: Medbridge’s upcoming hackathon 30:54: 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: Sarah Jacob Singh.

Today, we’re joined by serial entrepreneur Raj Singh. His multiple exits have landed him in product leadership roles at companies like Salesforce.com, and, most currently, as a VP of Product at Mozilla, where he’s leading the team creating new AI products for SMBs. In this episode, Raj shares: How his companies navigated multiple pivots, with innovations from ChatGPT and Zoom leading most recently to an acquisition by Mozilla What makes “agentic browsers” the next major interface for the web, and how they could change everything from ad models to API access And why Mozilla’s stewardship of Gecko, one of only three major browser engines, is essential to keeping the internet open in the age of AI Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajansingh/ Mozilla: https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:50: Raj’s entrepreneurial journey 03:52: The evolution of meeting summarization tools 07:51: Raj’s product pivot 08:26: Adapting to video communication during the pandemic 16:05: Pulse’s viral growth and Mozilla acquisition 20:25: AI and browser integration 27:10: Mozilla’s role in browser innovation 30:58: 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: Raj Singh.

Today, we’re joined by Karen Chao, Chief Product Officer at Flowspace, an ecommerce logistics platform, where she’s also taken on a role as head of marketing. Previously, Karen held product leadership roles at Apple, Replicon, Innit, and more. In this episode, Karen shares: How she ended up running Marketing on top of Product, and how bringing these two functions under one leader has improved go-to-market for Flowspace The biggest surprises she’s uncovered running marketing as a product leader, from chaotic tool stacks to the next wave of AI-powered go-to-market automation And how Flowspace’s product team uses AI tools like Cursor and Claude to accelerate discovery and prototyping, and even ship small bug fixes straight to production without Engineers involved Links Karen's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen1chao/ Flowspace: https://flow.space/ Resources (Ethically) cheat your way to $250M+ | Mikal Lewis, Product Exec. (Whole Foods, Nordstrom): https://youtu.be/5txeT2U_YQo Chapters 00:00: Intro 02:06: Karen's career highlights 03:59: How Karen and Flowspace are using AI in their team workflows 15:11: The intersection of product and marketing 22:13: What's surprised Karen most about transitioning from product to marketing 29:12: 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: Karen Chao.

On today’s episode of LaunchPod, we’ve got something special for you. Normally, you’d have to join us in person at one of the dinners we host for product leaders to hear this talk from Oji Udezue. But the response has been so great, we had to bring him onto the show again. Oji has previously held product leadership roles at Typeform, Twitter, Calendly, and Atlassian. Today, he’s joining us to share a major problem in product delivery that he’s seeing as AI adoption increases across teams. In this episode, we discuss: The “three-speed problem,” as Oji calls it – how AI will bring about a 10x increase in engineering velocity. But where does that leave product management and go-to-market teams if they can’t keep up? Why AI is a BS term, as it’s really five new AND distinct capabilities – and how to use those as a framework for smarter product strategy And how his “shipyard model” for product teams will ensure you keep up and thrive, even as AI reshapes how we build software Links Oji’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ojiudezue/ ProductMind: https://www.productmind.co/ Building Rocketships: Product Management for High-Growth Companies: https://www.productmind.co/building-rocketships-book Resources Oji’s past LaunchPod episode: https://www.productmind.co/building-rocketships-book Claude: https://claude.ai/ Cursor: https://cursor.com/ Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 1:21 Building Rocket Ships by Oji and Ezinne Udezue 1:55 What is the shipyard model in product? 5:20 The evolution of technology: Why AI is just a new technology level 7:50 The 5 flavors of AI 13:23 The limiting function of development is no longer the speed of engineering – but what is it now? 17:05 Solving the three-speed problem 21:32 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: Oji Udezue.

Today, we’re joined by Trevin Chow, Chief Product Officer at Big Cartel, an ecommerce platform for independent creators to turn their art into income. Previously, Trevin held product leadership roles at Nike, Microsoft, Axon, and more. In this episode, Trevin shares: How they thread the needle between brand history and innovation — respecting a 20+ year legacy while still driving towards the future His process for creating “simple magic” by making features so simple, they delight users — even if that trades less customization for better ease of use How AI is transforming product and design workflows by drastically cutting down the time between idea and innovation And what product leaders can learn from rethinking simple as a benefit rather than a constraint Links LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/trevin/ Navan: https://www.bigcartel.com/ Resources Lovable: https://lovable.dev/ Unblocked: https://getunblocked.com/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 03:22: The product journey that led Trevin to Big Cartel 05:55: Big Cartel's 20+ year legacy and how they look at innovation 12:28: Why simplicity can trump complexity in software 13:26: Products and features that delight ft. an example from Alaska Airlines 18:03: Why Big Cartel launched a "pause subscription" button, and the value it drove 21:09: What makes features appear "magical" in today's product landscape 23:06: The overlap between product management and product design 23:40: Trevin's guide to hiring for curiosity and grit 33:17: 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: Trevin Chow.

Today, we’re talking with Curtis Stevens, who, until recently, was Tinder’s Director of Product Consumer Insights, and prior to that held product leadership roles at Qualtrics, Amazon, and more. In this episode, Curtis shares: How AI can actually be a tool for human connection His process behind Tinder’s transformation into customer-centricity, with real, measurable results How to balance short-term user joy with long-term product innovation and future features And how AI is driving customer experience changes faster than research can follow, and what you can do to keep up Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/curtis-b-stevens/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 03:03: Curtis Stevens' product journey 7:40: Challenges and strategies in customer experience 14:54: Curtis' journey workshops 20:41: AI's role in customer research 27:41: 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: Curtis Stevens.

On today’s episode, we’re talking with Rajitha Chaparala, VP of Product at Procore, a construction management solution and one of the most successful examples of vertical SaaS out there today. In this episode, we discuss: How Rajitha and her team are using LLMs to streamline complex processes like requests for information (RFIs), project revisions, and construction site walkthroughs Why building trust and showing real, immediate value were key to getting AI buy-in from construction professionals, historically hesitant to adopt new tech Why Rajitha believes this is construction’s moment for AI, and how the shift from skepticism to curiosity happened almost overnight Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajithachaparala/ Procore: www.procore.com Chapters 00:00 Introduction 00:48: The complexity of construction and technology adoption 02:00: AI streamlining Requests for Information (RFIs) in construction 04:00: Why LLMs are ideal for construction's unstructured data 06:00: Building trust for AI adoption 08:00: The future of construction thanks to AI adoption 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: Rajitha Chaparala.

Today, we’re joined again by Nan Yu, Head of Product at Linear. In this episode, Nan shares: Why you’re wrong to think of AI as a way to reduce costs -- and why the real value is in enabling new work that was previously impossible The 3 must-haves he’s deduced from across the most successful AI products to produce consistently great outcomes for users The behind-the-scenes details of Linear’s new Agent Interaction Guidelines Links Nan's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thenanyu/ Nan's X: https://x.com/thenanyu?lang=en Linear: https://linear.app/ Linear's previous episode of LaunchPod: https://youtu.be/7ISWLoQtNOc?si=dNKmSdQ98eqis_JW Resources Linear's Agent Interaction Guidelines: https://linear.app/developers/aig Granola.ai: https://www.granola.ai/ Cursor: https://cursor.com/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 03:24: Using AI as a harness, the systems and context layers that make AI tools repeatable and useful at scale 07:54: Scaling AI tools to ensure consistency and quality 14:14: Analyzing user interaction, tweak time, and feedback 18:29: Linear's new Agent Interaction Guidelines 22:14: How AI is changing the role of engineers 27:42: AI's impact on junior roles 30:10: 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: Nan Yu.

Today, we’re joined by Shakir Karim (Senior VP of Product) and Karthik Chakkarapani (CIO & Senior VP of Corporate Operations) from Zuora. In this episode, Shakir and Karthik discuss: Why they believe AI is a bigger inflection point than web, mobile, or cloud Their internal AI agent workflow that automatically resolves thousands of service requests instantly, freeing teams to focus on strategy How they cut a major feature deployment step from 14 days to 10 minutes using Claude Code Why prompt-a-thons and hackathons have been vital for driving not just AI adoption but AI literacy Links Shakir's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shakir-karim/ Karthik's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chakraj/ Zuora: https://www.zuora.com/ Resources Trupeer: https://www.trupeer.ai/ Gemini Storybook: https://gemini.google/overview/storybook/ NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 02:15: Zuora's 10x initiative 07:00: Zuora's internal AI agent 10:00: Accelerating content creation using Trupeer 12:00: Cutting video content creation down from 4 weeks to 5 hours 17:00: AI in practical workflow 22:00: Scaling AI innovation and literacy internally 28:32: AI prompathons and hackathons 29:54: 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 Guests: Karthik Chakkarapani and Shakir Karim.