
McKinsey on Building Products
Hear from distinguished software product and engineering leaders and learn about their real-world experiences of building exceptional products. Each episode will feature an innovative leader covering topics ranging from product-led growth to generative AI. If you are passionate about building products that customers fall in love with, this is for you. Visit McKinsey Product Academy to find out more.
Latest episodes

Sep 20, 2024 • 29min
Inbal, Twilio's CPO on product leadership in the age of AI
Inbal Shani, Chief Product Officer at Twilio and a former CPO at GitHub, shares her insights on product leadership in the AI era. She discusses the evolving role of CPOs and the importance of a cross-functional mindset. Inbal emphasizes designing user experiences by prioritizing customer perspectives and integrating AI seamlessly. The conversation also covers the shift towards outcome-based success metrics in AI product development, highlighting essential skills for product managers navigating these changes.

Aug 14, 2024 • 25min
Trisha, Pendo's CPO on leveraging data to build a great product
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, join Trisha Price, Chief Product Officer at Pendo.io, and host Rikki Singh for an insightful discussion on leveraging data to inform product decisions. From gathering customer feedback to setting strategic and operational goals, this session provides a roadmap for innovation through measurement.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Jun 14, 2024 • 24min
Scott, Docker's CEO on empowering developers to build scalable platforms
Scott Johnston, CEO of Docker and former product lead, shares insights on building scalable platforms while balancing standardization and flexibility for developers. He emphasizes the importance of customer clarity and effective communication in scaling startups. The conversation explores the transformative role of generative AI in engineering productivity and the need for cohesive development tools. Johnston also discusses fostering a high-performing engineering culture focused on customer value and the challenges of navigating open-source collaboration and monetization.

May 24, 2024 • 26min
Ya, LinkedIn's VP of Engineering on building AI and machine learning products
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, join Ya Xu, VP of engineering and head of data & AI at LinkedIn, and McKinsey partner Rikki Singh for an insightful discussion on how leaders can prioritize and mature AI use cases, and capture the impact of AI in any organization. This conversation originally took place as part of the McKinsey Product Academy speaker series.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

May 10, 2024 • 25min
Kareem, IBM's SVP of PM & Growth on how sustainable products can be profitable
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, listen to Kareem Yusuf, SVP of Product Management and Growth at IBM, and McKinsey partner Rikki Singh for an insightful discussion on building sustainability products, the connection between sustainability and profitability, and how to empower customers to be more sustainable. This conversation originally took place as part of the McKinsey Product Academy speaker series. See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Apr 26, 2024 • 26min
Thomas, GitHub's CEO on how GenAI impacts the engineering experience
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, join Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, and McKinsey partners Rikki Singh and Shivam Srivastava for an insightful discussion on generative AI’s impact on software engineering experience, the evolution of the developer's role, and the opportunity to accelerate innovation. This conversation originally took place as part of the McKinsey Product Academy speaker series.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

Apr 12, 2024 • 26min
Alex, The New York Times' CPO on building products outside of big tech
In this episode of McKinsey on Building Products, join Alex Hardiman, Chief Product Officer of the New York Times, for an insightful discussion on how to build successful products outside of pure technology companies. Alex shares her team’s approach to product driven growth, and the power of creativity when driving value for consumers. This conversation originally took place as part of the McKinsey Product Academy speaker series.See www.mckinsey.com/privacy-policy for privacy information

7 snips
Mar 29, 2024 • 27min
Pali, Reddit's CPO on building intelligent products
Join Pali Bhat, Chief Product Officer of Reddit, as he discusses the impact of AI/ML on product development, the power of community collaboration and automation on Reddit, the use of Machine Learning to optimize product development processes, and the importance of clear product principles and continuous learning in building helpful products for a community.

15 snips
Mar 12, 2024 • 26min
Gokul, board member at Coinbase and Pinterest on product thinking and the future of innovation
Join Rikki Singh as she chats with Gokul Rajaram, a seasoned product leader from Facebook and DoorDash. They discuss mastering product thinking for customer-centric innovation, guidance for startup founders, embracing curiosity in product development, and balancing customer and business value in innovation.