Products That Count Podcast

How do product leaders think big enough to compete in an AI-native world? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Walmart U.S. former Chief Product Officer John Alferness joins us again and speaks on scaling AI at retail and enterprise scale. He breaks down how CPOs can separate core AI capabilities from applications, choose the right moonshots, and use AI to unlock personalization, efficiency, and growth in low-margin businesses.

What does it take to think bigger when your products already operate at massive scale? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Walmart U.S. former Chief Product Officer John Alferness breaks down how product leaders can push beyond incremental gains to unlock true step-change growth. He explores the mental models behind moonshots, the discipline required to manage risk at scale, and why AI is accelerating the pace of change for every product organization.

What does it take to build products that stand out in one of the most technical spaces in the industry? In this podcast hosted by Cassio Sampaio, Nutanix Vice President & General Manager Dan Ciruli speaks on how product leaders can guide customers through complex infrastructure decisions and stand out in ecosystems dominated by hyperscalers. He explores the realities of legacy systems, the skills PMs need to thrive in deeply technical environments, and the opportunities emerging across the evolving infrastructure stack.

What happens when a fragmented internal tool becomes the strategic backbone of a multibillion-dollar enterprise? In this podcast hosted by EY Platform Operations Lead Justin Leibow, Walmart Sr Product Lead Sangita Raj shares how she rebuilt an overlooked portfolio system into a high-impact engine for clarity, alignment, and productivity. She traces her journey across T-Mobile, Microsoft, Amazon, and Walmart, and reflects on the product thinking, leadership lessons, and human-centered mindset that shaped her approach to scale and transformation.

How do you build an AI product that's powerful, reliable, and grounded in real user needs? In this podcast hosted by Qventus Product Director Mark Bailes, Google Product Lead Alankar Agnihotri discusses what it really takes to build impactful AI and LLM-driven products. He shares the hidden complexities behind model behavior, the shift from deterministic to probabilistic design, and what product managers must do to deliver AI experiences that scale. You'll hear firsthand insights from someone shaping Gemini in Android Automotive and building the future of in-car intelligence.

What separates the CPOs who scale with confidence from those who get stuck? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Pendo Chief Product Officer Trisha Price breaks down how top product leaders think, operate, and make decisions that move entire organizations forward. She shares hard-earned lessons from scaling complex enterprise software, leading both vertical and horizontal product portfolios, and shaping product strategy in a fast-moving AI era.

What challenge separates teams that ship real customer impact from those that just ship features? In this podcast hosted by Cassio Sampaio, Retool Head of Technical Customer Experience Chris Harry explores how customer-facing teams and product teams can partner to drive meaningful adoption, credibility, and long-term trust. He shares practical insights from two decades of working with deeply technical products and demanding enterprise environments, offering a grounded perspective on what it takes to translate product vision into real-world value.

What does it take to build something genuinely new inside a $60B Enterprise? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Outshift by Cisco VP & CPO Papi Menon breaks down how product leaders can drive meaningful innovation inside massive enterprises, and why the future depends on incubating bold bets like agentic AI and quantum networking. He shares how to identify ideas worth pursuing, how to navigate internal pressure from sales and the board, and how to create strategic optionality that reshapes a company's trajectory. This is essential listening for product leaders looking to understand what high-stakes innovation actually demands.

What happens when product teams operate in markets where failure isn't an option? In this podcast hosted by iDonate VP of Product Nacho Andrade, Propel VP of Product Marketing Tom Shoemaker explores how teams build high-quality physical products in complex, high-stakes environments. He digs into the realities of PLM, quality management, commercialization, and the rising role of AI across hardware and medtech. The conversation offers a grounded look at collaboration, learning, and delivering reliable products when the margin for error is razor thin.

What if a single platform could turn any online store into a self-optimizing growth engine? In this podcast hosted by Products That Count CEO Hoda Mehr, Moonshot AI Co-Founder and CEO Aviv Frenkel will be speaking on how AI-driven experimentation is transforming conversion optimization for ecommerce brands. Drawing from his founder journey, he explores what it takes to automate CRO, build user trust in AI-generated decisions, and scale a product that continuously learns. He also shares the broader vision for applying autonomous optimization across all digital experiences and the mindset required to build in today's AI-driven market.

What does it take to lead and excel as a product leader in the age of AI? In this podcast hosted by NEOGOV CPO Denise Hemke, GoodRx former VP of Product Sandy Huang speaks on people sense, discovery, execution, and the judgment required to build great products in an AI-accelerated world. She shares insights from two decades across Amazon, GoodRx, Flipboard, Minted, and Shutterfly, offering a grounded look at how product leaders can stay sharp, adaptable, and customer-obsessed as the pace of building accelerates.

What happens when building a product means outsmarting an intelligent adversary every single day? In this podcast hosted by Cassio Sampaio, Tenable Vice President of Product and Program Management Matthew Frank will be speaking on the realities of creating secure B2B SaaS products. He explores how exposure management is evolving, why identity is becoming the new perimeter, and how AI is reshaping both sides of the cybersecurity battlefield.

How do you build products that can keep pace with the climate crisis without compromising on speed, innovation, or customer insight? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing Elysian Aircraft Co-Founder & Co-CEO Daniel Rosen Jacobson to discuss decarbonizing aviation industry via EV battery, prioritizing to get customer feedback early, as well as being able to learn and unlearn to succeed in product development.

Can product thinking truly transform government services? In this episode of the CPO Rising Series hosted by NEOGOV CPO Denise Hemke, State of Maryland CPO Sheetul Agrawal speaks on reimagining government technology through customer-centric innovation. Sheetul shares her groundbreaking approach to bringing product management principles into public sector digital services, revealing how AI and user-focused design can revolutionize how citizens interact with government platforms.

How do you keep engineering and product aligned while scaling B2B SaaS? In this podcast hosted by Cassio Sampaio, Iru Chief Technology Officer Jimmy Acosta shares his approach to building sustainable, customer-driven roadmaps that balance innovation with reliability. He discusses how engineering leaders can strengthen trust with product teams, manage trade-offs, and create alignment that drives long-term value.

How can diverse career experiences shape a stronger product leader? In this podcast hosted by Rachel Owens, Favor Delivery Chief Product Officer Rachel Losh shares how her unconventional path—from academia and publishing to leading product at Texas's food delivery app—taught her the power of customer empathy, adaptability, and business acumen. Rachel reflects on navigating nonlinear growth, building cross-functional trust, and leading with impact in fast-moving industries.

What does it take to lead product and technology teams through constant transformation? In this episode of the CPO Rising Series hosted by NEOGOV CPO Denise Hemke, ChatPRD Founder and LaunchDarkly Fmr CPTO Officer Claire Vo shares insights on the evolving role of the CPO, why speed beats perfection, and how AI is redefining experimentation and product management itself. Claire discusses her journey from founder to CPO, the rise of hybrid roles that blend engineering and product, and why the next generation of product leaders must think like business owners.

What happens when a product leader reimagines an entire ads ecosystem from first principles? In this podcast hosted by Sid Shaik, Reddit Director of Product Management Amit Ghorawat breaks down how he scaled multi-billion-dollar ad businesses and transformed connected TV performance. The conversation explores his pivots across industries, his approach to 10x growth, and how GenAI is reshaping the future of advertising and product leadership.

What changes when a product leader builds strategy around a single guiding metric and augments decision-making with AI-driven understanding? In this podcast hosted by Rachel Owens, Atelier by FIS SVP of Product Jon Eisenstein will be speaking on transforming product strategy through North Star metrics and AI-powered insights. Jon shares his entrepreneurial journey and breakthrough approaches to aligning product development with business goals, drawing from his extensive experience across technology, financial services, and startup ecosystems.

Packed with actionable leadership lessons about scaling, informal authority, and shifting from execution to systems thinking, in this special episode of Product Talk, Products That Count CEO Hoda Mehr interviews Yahoo Mail General Manager Kyle Miller. It taps into a common aspiration among PMs: climbing to GM/CEO.