Products That Count Podcast

Some fintech products have unique obstacles when delivering enjoyable user experiences. Behind the financial curtain are regulations, tied to sluggish timelines. How do you balance quick and enjoyable user experiences while following regulations? Product Talk Host Patrick Blute sat down with Vouch Insurance CPO, Rajat Kongovi, to discuss how innovative fintech companies approach this challenge.

Every product manager relies on at least one skill to help drive their success and that of their product. Among the more useful skills agreed upon by PMs is empathy for their target customer and stakeholders. How does one practice empathy to deliver the best product? As part of our Product Management series, Product Talk host Adam O’Donnell sat down with Bitcoin Founder & CEO Marc Blinder to discuss empathy and how it plays into product management.

In a COVID world, the role of product teams building for healthcare is central to our society. Telemedicine, in particular, is an ever-growing field with plenty of opportunities for improvements. It provides both patients and health professionals the tools needed to remain in contact and work efficiently. As part of our Innovation in Healthcare series, Product Talk host and Etsy product exec Samantha Scott, interviews Ro Product Head, Jessica Prager, and discusses the healthcare industry and building products that make us healthier.

Part of the product development process is understanding where the finished product stands in the market. While this can easily be confused with product branding and storytelling, it’s an entirely unique and separate phase of creation and marketing. How do you differentiate a product’s branding from its positioning while still illustrating its value? As part of our Confidence and Product Management series, Product Talk host Nikki Ahmadi sits down with Huawei fmr Product VP, April Dunford, to define product positioning and its role in development and marketing.

Content is an important part of creating software experiences, often intersecting with building frameworks and technology. It can be the driving force for many features of a new product. But how do the concepts of content, science, technology, and frameworks all intersect? As part of our Tech Meets Art series, Product Talk host Patrick Blute sits down with Quibi Head of Product, Tricia Lee, to discuss where content meets product.

As eCommerce has become prevalent, the retail space has changed drastically for both the shopper and product managers. When faced with a changing environment, how can you ensure what you’re building is adaptable? As part of our Adaptive Product Management series, Product Talk host and product exec, Christina Lucey, interviews Sam’s Club VP of Product Management, Tim Simmons, and discusses adaptable retail products.

2020 brought unexpected challenges that pushed companies of all types to pivot and rethink how they run their day-to-day. They scrambled to provide employees with the necessary products that made surviving in a remote environment possible. But how did this sudden shift affect those behind these products? In this episode of Product Talk, host Thomas Daly interviews Miro Head of Self Serve Business & Growth, Yuliya Malysh, and discusses the jarring shift into a virtual workspace.

The world we live in is going increasingly mobile by the day. However, the barrier to entry for businesses to go mobile can be high. What if it didn’t have to be? Product Talk host Adam O’Donnell, interviews JourneyApps Founder & CEO, Conrad Hofmeyr, and discusses the simplification of building mobile apps.

Some products consumers will use every day of their lives. Meanwhile, there are products that a person may only need once or twice in their lives. How do you approach building that type of a product when it’s related to something as important as purchasing a home? As part of our Building Products that Span the Digital and Physical Worlds series, Product Talk host and product exec, Samantha Scott, interviews Orchard Head of Consumer Product, Rahil Esmail, and discusses building real estate products.

Many great product leaders will talk about the importance of listening to customers. It’s also essential to know how you should go about doing it. Is there a right and wrong way? As part of our series in partnership with the Product Collective, Product Talk host and Product Exec, Nikki Ahmadi sat down with Oji Udezue, fmr VP of Product at Calendly to discuss customer discovery. They also share some important insight on what it means to be a BIPOC in product.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) continue to be a more prominent part of the products we build. Trust and privacy remain a concern, but users continue to give more and more information. How does AI and ML improve the customer experience? As part of our Real Life Use Cases for AI series, Product Talk host and Product Exec, Nikki Ahmadi, interviews Ravi Mehta, fmr Tinder CPO, on personalization in product with AI.

Many product managers come to the role with an engineering background. It can be helpful in knowing how the sausage is made, so to speak. But what happens when an engineer moves into marketing, or as this guest called it “moving to the Dark Side?” As part of our series in partnership with the Growth Marketing Conference, Product Talk host and product executive, Thomas Daly, sat down with Martin Gontovnikas, SVP of Marketing & Growth at Auth0 to discuss all things product marketing.

Product-focused start-ups face plenty of challenges as they begin to grow. How to go about fundraising, how to get customer feedback and when to have a dedicated product team among them. So, how can they figure it all out? Product Talk host Adam O’Donnell, interviews Skylar Founder & CEO, Cat Chen, and discusses scaling a product-focused startup and the three factors of a great product.

There has been a huge push towards personalization in recent years. The idea is that customers want an experience that is uniquely for them. But is that what they actually want? As part of our Adaptive Product Management series, Product Talk host and product exec, Christina Lucey, interviews The Nudge CEO, John Peterson, and discusses building a product for personalization and realizing that wasn’t necessarily what customers wanted

Product leaders who’ve grown with a successful startup and venture capitalists both have interesting perspectives on product organizations. Wouldn’t it be nice if one person could offer both? As part of our How to Fund Your Venture series, Product Talk host and product exec, Samantha Scott, interviews x, Melody Koh, and discusses scaling a product organization, which she’s seen as the first PM at Blue Apron and now as a venture capital partner.

There is a lot that determines whether or not a product will be successful. It’s up to the product team to determine the KPIs and define what is a win. What does a win look like? As part of our The Feature is Now the Operating System series, Product Talk host and product exec, Christina Lucey, interviews SoFi VP of Products & Data, Amir Hermelin, and discusses his own experience building winning products and whether the best product always wins.

In the face of a global pandemic, businesses big and small had to adapt to a new normal. Many, while lucky enough to still have their jobs, had to adjust to remote work. What have we learned? As part of our series on The Role of Product in a Pandemic, Product Talk host and product exec, Thomas Daly, interviews Samsung NEXT Head of Product Enablement, Danny Carvajal, and discusses the lessons learned from working in a distributed team in a global pandemic and how it might affect how we work together moving forward.

The advancement of artificial intelligence still faces many challenges. There is a factor of cost, integrity, and function. But what if we looked at AI differently? As part of our Real Life Use Cases for AI series, Product Talk host and Product Exec, Nikki Ahmadi, interviews Afshin Doust, Advanced Intelligent Systems CEO, on viewing the AI products we build as a service.

When it comes to healthcare products, oftentimes you’re competing with the archaic healthcare industry itself, rather than another company. Many simply accept the status quo. But how can you drive change? As part of our Innovation in Healthcare series, Product Talk host and product exec, Samantha Scott, interviews Cedar Co-Founder, Arel Lidow, and discusses what goes into building an industry disrupting healthcare product.

AI, in its current state, is all about how much time it can save you and improve your work or your home life. As we continue to bring more AI products into our homes, there are some concerns that can arise. Are companies taking this responsibility seriously? As part of our Real Life Use Cases for AI series, Product Talk host and Product Exec, Nikki Ahmadi, interviews Arsham Hatambeiki, UEI SVP Product & Technology, on building AI products for the home.