LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

Today on LaunchPod AI, we’re talking with Sierra Hahn-Ventrell, Director of Product Management at Apartment List. In this episode, we discuss how they: Analyze customer interviews with ChatGPT, even uncovering a missed insight that led to a full product strategy reset Built an AI Slack bot to flag issues in a new customer-facing tool before they become big problems And transformed sales enablement and automated documentation using NotebookLM and Claude Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shahnventrell/ Apartment List: https://www.apartmentlist.com/ Tools ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/ Claude: https://claude.ai/ NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google.com/ Storylane: https://www.storylane.io/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:47 AI Slack Bot for Property Management 03:59 Hackathon Project and Implementation 07:20 Challenges and Solutions in AI Integration 10:19 NotebookLM for Sales Enablement 13:10 AI in Product Strategy and Market Fit 16:52 Pushing AI to Its Limits 17:44 Using ChatGPT for Product Strategy 18:36 Guiding AI for Accurate Market Analysis 20:53 Leveraging Gong and AI for Sales Insights 24:40 Automating Documentation with AI 26:41 Balancing Innovation and Control in AI Adoption 31:36 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: Sierra Hahn-Ventrell.

Today, we’re talking with Charlie Kaplan, VP of Product at Audiomack about Product Market Fit and how to tell if you’ve got it or not In this episode, we discuss: How he drove 50x user growth at Cymbal, and why that still didn’t matter because they lacked strong fit The story of how he launched Audiomack’s product org and scaled to 42M MAUs, on the back of strong product market fit How he transformed failed features into new revenue streams—helping Audiomack grow into a platform big enough to host Taylor Swift, Kendrick Lamar, and more Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/charliekaplan/ Audiomack: https://audiomack.com/ Resources The Lean Startup, by Eric Rise: https://theleanstartup.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 05:23 The Rise and Fall of Cymbal 13:12 Lessons Learned and the Birth of Audio Mac 16:54 Finding Product Market Fit at Audio Mac 28:40 Innovative Growth Strategies and Experiments 35:11 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: Charlie Kaplan.

Today, we’re talking with Lanie Schenkelberg, former product manager and current VP of Product Marketing at Inovalon. In this episode, we discuss: The 4 essential elements of compelling product storytelling How to spot weak messaging - and what strong positioning really looks like How Lanie’s team led a storytelling overhaul that contributed to Inovalon’s growth Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laineschenkelberg/ Inovalon: https://www.inovalon.com/ Resources Make it Punchy, By Emma Stratton: https://punchy.co/make-it-punchy-book/ Obviously Awesome Positioning, April Dunford: https://www.amazon.com/Obviously-Awesome-Product-Positioning-Customers/dp/1999023005 Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:48 The Importance of Messaging and Storytelling in Product 03:01 How to go from Product Management to Marketing 06:10 Understanding the Customer's Big Win 12:45 The Hero Story Format 15:12 The Role of Positioning and Differentiation in Product Marketing 21:23 How Lanie Scaled Positioning at Inovalon 31:29 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: Lanie Schenkelberg.

Today, we’re talking with Dr. Deepti Mehtani, VP of Clinical and AI Solutions at NextGen Healthcare. In this episode, we discuss: How Dr. Mehtani’s team proved AI can be trusted with sensitive medical data - So why are you avoiding it in your own product? The key lessons behind NextGen’s AI that turns doctor-patient conversations into medical-grade, accurate, structured data And how Deepti and her team won over skeptical doctors and turned them into AI champions - saving them hours per day in the process Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/drdeeptimehtani/ NextGen Healthcare: https://www.nextgen.com/ Resources Spotlight Interview: https://blog.logrocket.com/product-management/leader-spotlight-deepti-mehtani/ How To Say "Not Yet" To Enterprise | Deepti Mendiratta, VP Of Products (HungerRush) | LaunchPod: https://youtu.be/WHapWGbuS0Q Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:04 From Medicine to Tech 03:41 NextGen Healthcare Overview 04:54 AI Solutions for Clinicians 09:17 Patient Summaries and Ambient Assist 18:46 Building Trust in AI 21:12 Data Privacy and Security 27:51 Improving Patient Access 33:10 Cross-Industry Insights 34:56 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.Special Guest: Deepti Mehtani.

Today, our guest is Michael Park, VP of Product and Project Management at Buffini and Company. In this episode, Jeff talks to Michael about: His six lessons from scaling product from zero to $25M ARR The nuance that comes with the “founder mode” discussion And what a self-imposed sabbatical taught Michael about product leadership. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gotothepark/ Resources Spotlight Interview: https://blog.logrocket.com/product-management/leader-spotlight-michael-park/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 02:58 The Burden of Digital Inventory and Tech Debt 06:17 The Importance of Focus and Time Management in Product Development 06:48 Challenges and Realities of Product Management Practices 07:37 Michael Park's Sabbatical and Reflections on Product Leadership 13:37 The Value of Consistency and Fundamentals in Product Management 18:25 Hiring for Cultural Fit and Communicating Company Goals 20:47 Transitioning from Founder to Product Leader 27:22 The Role of a Product Leader in Scaling a Business 28:43 The Importance of Founder Involvement 30:45 Balancing Founder Mode and Professional Management 36:19 The Parent-Child Analogy in Business Leadership 41:53 The Debate on Roadmaps: Rigid vs. Squishy 46:32 Product Evangelism and Cross-Functional Collaboration 50:18 Conclusion and 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: Michael Park.

We're excited to kick off a new show focusing on the real-world AI applications that product teams are using to become faster, more efficient, and smarter. Jeff has been traveling across the country meeting product leaders, and he keeps having the same conversation: every product person wants to know how their peers are using AI in their teams and their workflows. So we’re bringing you those conversations about how your peers are using AI in their day-to-day to move faster and more efficiently than ever before. In our first episode, we’re welcoming back Roman Gun, VP of Product at Zeta Global. In this episode, we talk about: The prompting and workflow orchestrations Roman created to automate writing PRDs, one of the most disliked tasks of product managers, and how he has made them into living, breathing documents that initiate collaboration The AI communities and platforms he uses, including Reddit and Discord, to stay ahead, learn new tricks, and gain early access to the best new tools And Magic...not actual magic, but we have a little fun with Roman’s side-project centered around Magic: The Gathering, and how he built tools to prototype new decks and beat players with far more experience Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/romangun/ Zeta Global: https://zetaglobal.com/ Resources Real-world AI products with Roman Gun, VP of Product: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7syxCetzHU Leader Spotlight: Right-sizing processes, with Roman Gun: https://blog.logrocket.com/product-management/leader-spotlight-roman-gun/ Inside Gemini 2.5 | Logan Kilpatrick | PodRocket: https://youtu.be/2LGKwf2xH7g Tools OpenAI: https://openai.com/ Gemini: https://gemini.google.com/ Claude: https://claude.ai/ Figma: https://www.figma.com/ Coda: https://coda.io/ Notebook LM Discorder: https://support.google.com/notebooklm/answer/16268096?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform%3DDesktop Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/ Windsurf: https://windsurf.com/ Loveable: https://lovable.dev/ ChatGPT: https://chatgpt.com/ Chapters 00:25 AI in Action 01:27 Real-World AI Applications 02:41 Community and AI Learning 06:12 Automating PRDs with AI 11:51 Training AI for Better Outputs 14:48 Prototyping with AI Tools 16:03 Generating Baseline Code with AI Tools 16:17 The Power of Prototyping and User Feedback 16:36 Accelerating the Creative Process 18:18 Magic: The Gathering and AI Deck Building 19:28 Challenges and Innovations in AI Deck Building 21:35 Learning and Applying AI in Real Life 25:30 The Future of Junior Roles in Tech 30:21 Final Thoughts and Encouragement 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: Roman Gun.

Today on the pod, we’re talking with Kamal Srinivasan, SVP of Product Development at Alludo. In this episode, we discuss: How CorelDraw was modernized from a legacy desktop tool into an AI-enabled, collaborative SaaS product, including: The user research approach that balanced less mature users with the needs of long-time power users And How they utilized AI to power entire workflows, helping all users behave like pros We also discuss Kamal’s navigation of a major roadmap misalignment with senior leadership, including: The real negotiation tactics he used to diffuse the initial conflict And his “squiggly line” framework for balancing near-term revenue with long-term product vision Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kamalsrinivasan/ Resources Tell Your CEO They're Wrong (And KEEP Your Career) | Steve Nash, Dir. Product (GumGum) | LaunchPod: https://youtu.be/oeEBy8mJfB0?feature=shared Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:56 From PhD to Product Management 02:47 The Value of a PhD in Product Management 05:26 Challenges in Modernizing Legacy Products 06:11 Understanding Vector Graphics Design 09:47 Democratizing Design Tools 16:23 User Feedback and Product Development 19:49 Incorporating AI in Design Software 21:43 Integrating AI into Design Workflows 22:51 Enhancing Productivity with AI 24:15 Proactive Issue Detection with AI 27:21 Understanding Parallels Virtualization 29:50 Challenges and Strategies in Product Development 38:20 Effective Communication and Leadership 41:52 Conclusion and Future Plans 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: Kamal Srinivasan.

Today, we’re talking with Mahesh Guruswamy, CPTO at Kickstarter. In this episode, we discuss: How daily reflection on hard moments helped him grow as a leader—and led to his widely praised book How to Deliver Bad News and Get Away with It. How Kickstarter went from “printing money” and experiencing “insane” PMF to plateauing - and how they created urgency and competition to quickly turn it around The actual process Kickstarter used to activate its creator and backer communities to shape a better UX, build real loyalty, and re-ignite growth Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maheshguruswamy/ Website: https://www.maheshguruswamy.com/ Substack: https://maheshguruswamy.substack.com/ Resources How to Deliver Bad News and Get Away with It: A Manager's Guide, By Mahesh Guruswamy: https://www.amazon.com/How-Deliver-Bad-News-Away/dp/B0D7FHTTNN Tell Your CEO They're Wrong (And KEEP Your Career) | Steve Nash, Dir. Product (GumGum): https://youtu.be/oeEBy8mJfB0 Chapters 00:00 Intro 01:09 Mahesh's Background and Kickstarter Connection 02:08 The Power of Writing and Self-Reflection 04:28 Publishing a Book: How to Deliver Bad News 05:53 Effective Communication and Feedback 06:46 Navigating Tough Conversations 11:03 Kickstarter's Evolution and Challenges 14:16 Listening to Customers and Adapting 19:36 Navigating Market Shifts and Growth 20:34 Prioritizing Customer Feedback 25:59 Building and Engaging the Community 29:54 Competitive Strategies and Organizational Culture 34:05 Leadership and Legacy 37:03 Conclusion and Future Prospects 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: Mahesh Guruswamy.

On today’s episode, our guest is Lauren Schuman, VP of Product Growth at Bitly & former Sr. Dir. of Product Growth at MailChimp. In this episode, we discuss: How Lauren created product-led growth (PLG) as a discipline at MailChimp and turned it into a systematic growth engine The turnaround story behind a failed product launch, and how it led to a 183% spike in adoption overnight Why lagging engagement pushed her to lead a ground-up rebuild of MailChimp’s core email editor to improve growth Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenschuman/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction to Lauren Schumann 03:09 Transition to E-commerce and PLG 07:15 Joining MailChimp and Early Challenges 09:50 Implementing PLG at MailChimp 13:43 Navigating Organizational Politics 19:03 Improving User Experience at MailChimp 19:26 Defining Key Customer Journey Metrics 20:30 Challenges and Solutions in Email Activation 21:40 Balancing Core Competencies and Expansion 22:59 The Role of AI in Product Management 24:50 Human Touch in the Age of Automation 27:48 Future of AI and Personalization 34:50 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: Lauren Schuman.

On today’s repeat episode, our guest is Steve Chazin, CEO & Founder of Skytech.io and formerly VP of Products at Alarm.com. In this episode, we discuss: Steve’s experience working at Apple, competing with Final Cut Pro, and his current role at alarm.com The time he said no to Steve Jobs — and how that pushed his career forward The importance of user-centered product design and the impact of AI in home security Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chazin/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:05 Reviving Apple: The University Consortium 07:04 The iMac and Think Different Campaign 07:37 Lessons from Steve Jobs 11:35 Competing with Apple: The Avid Story 19:05 Current Role at Alarm.com 21:41 The Future of AI in Home Security 27:15 Advice for Aspiring Technologists 29:49 Conclusion and 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: Steve Chazin.