LaunchPod | Product Management Podcast

This week, we’re joined by the undisputed queen of B2B positioning, April Dunford. April is the best-selling author of the seminal book "Obviously Awesome" and the new hit "Sales Pitch." She has spent 25 years as a startup executive and consultant helping companies stop guessing and start winning. If you have ever struggled to explain exactly why customers should pick you over the other guy, this episode is a masterclass. In this episode, April talks about: Why Positioning is a Product Problem: How undefined positioning leads to wasted roadmaps, "not good enough" feedback from Sales, and engineering teams burning out on features that don't win deals. The "AI Washing" Trap: Why saying "We have AI" is no longer a strategy—and how to articulate the specific value your tech unlocks that the competition can’t. Why she loves when competitors lie: How to ethically trap competitors who over-promise features (and the one question sales should tell your prospects to ask them). And finally, Vision vs. Reality: How to sell the "glorious future" without losing the deal you need to close today. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aprildunford/ April's website: https://www.aprildunford.com/ April's books: https://www.aprildunford.com/books Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:45: April's journey from engineering to marketing to product positioning expert 05:00: The shifting lansscape: Position from COVID to the AI era 10:45: Moving beyond "AI washing" to find differentiated value 15:30: Defining your true competitive landscape 20:30: How to be worth your customers' migration risk 23:45: Why April likes when competitors "lie" about their capabilities and features 32:00: Why positioning is critical for product and engineering alignment 35:00: April's new book details Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: April Dunford.

From U.S. Army sniper to VP of Product, Robert Henkhaus knows a thing or two about high-stakes decision-making. Today, he’s a product leader at Enverus, the software platform guiding billions of dollars in global energy capital. Fresh off Enverus’ acquisition by Blackstone, Robert joins us to discuss how to innovate when the pressure is on. In this episode, we cover: Why "Black Box" AI Fails: How Enverus builds trust with investment stakeholders by forcing AI to "show its work" on multi-million dollar recommendations. The Death of the Dashboard: Robert’s hot take on why AI will soon make traditional charts obsolete. Surviving Acquisition: The "60-Day Horizon" strategy Robert uses to keep team velocity high amidst Private Equity uncertainty. Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-henkhaus/ Enverus: https://www.enverus.com/ Chapters 00:00 Intro 03:39: Product innovations at Enverus 4:03: AI in the energy sector: How Enverus is implementing AI in oil and gas operations 6:47: Progressive disclosure and using AI to improve the user experience 9:56: Product engagement scores: How Enverus tracks success metrics 15:39: How internal teams are engaging with AI at Enverus 17:53: Are dashboards dead? How AI is transforming analytics 19:36: Enverus' recent acquisition by Blackstone 28:00: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Robert Henkhaus.

In this repeat episode of LaunchPod, originally published on Aug 12, 2025, we’re talking with Bret Tushaus, VP of Product at Deltek. In this episode, we discuss: * How Deltek built Dela — an AI agent framework powering everything from smart summaries to autonomous accounting * Why AI is rewriting the role of Product Management, and what leaders need to know now * How Bret’s team leveled up their AI skills fast — with short, high-impact sprints focused on real tools and real problems Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-tushaus-b959b56/ Deltek: https://www.deltek.com/en Chapters 00:00 Introduction to AI in Product Management 01:06 Building AI-Powered Solutions at DelteK 03:05 Smart Summaries and Predictive Analytics 08:24 Intelligent Exploration and Conversational Interfaces 17:39 The Future of AI Agents 22:14 Getting Started with AI in Your Team 26:52 Final Thoughts Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Bret Tushaus.

This week, we sat down with Berni Fisher, VP of Product at Appcues and a self-described "first principles goddess." Berni goes deep on what it was really like behind the scenes during the notorious 2012 Apple Maps launch, the triple threat problem at ButcherBox where they exist at the intersection of grocery, eCommerce, AND SaaS, and more. In our conversation, Berni discusses: Surviving the "2012 Apple Maps Debacle" and the intense backlash post-launch, as well as how the team used a "triage mindset" to prioritize fixes based on customer usage and risk. Her Black Friday Gamble: Why she pushed for a risky site overhaul at ButcherBox right before their busiest season, resulting in double-digit conversion gains And Customer-Led AI Innovation: how Appcues used their own product to poll users on AI trust, leading to a roadmap driven by actual customer needs rather than industry hype. Links Berni's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bernadettefisher/ Accues: https://www.appcues.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:43 Berni Fisher's product journey 04:44 Challenges and Lessons from Apple Maps 15:26 Transition to ButcherBox 17:27 Innovations and Customer Focus at ButcherBox 24:35 AI Innovations at Appcues 27:34 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Berni Fisher.

Today, we’re joined by Tricia Maia, Head of Product at TED. We all know TED Talks — but behind the scenes, TED is undergoing a massive product transformation to adapt to a post-AI media landscape. In this episode, Tricia Maia, Head of Product at TED, pulls back the curtain on how they’re solving the “discovery” crisis facing digital media today. Tricia shares: * Why “views” are dead: Explaining why TED is abandoning top-of-funnel traffic as their North Star metric and shifting focus to “depth,” completion rates, and account signups to combat volatile search algorithms * AI that actually scales: How TED is using advanced AI auto-dubbing — not just subtitles — to clone speakers’ voices into other languages, driving 2-3x better performance * The “gap” strategy: The challenge of connecting a decentralized ecosystem of free users and volunteers at TEDx with an ultra-premium live experience that can cost up to $12,500 per ticket Links Tricia's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/triciamaia/ TED.com: https://www.ted.com/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:51: TED's Media Landscape in an AI World 02:17: What does "Product" mean at TED? 04:24: How TED is Dealing with Challenges and Strategies in Media Discovery 14:59: Evolving Metrics and Goals Beyond Vanity Metrics Like Views 24:24: How TED is Connecting Digital and Event Audiences 32:22: TED's New AI Auto-Dubbing Initiative 37:14: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Tricia Maia.

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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guests: Karthik Chakkarapani and Shakir Karim.

Today, we’re joined by Zac Hays, CPO at Luxury Presence, a fast-growing real estate tech platform that made a huge bet on AI adoption across the company.. In this episode, we discuss: Luxury Presence's 30x Value Principle and how they rethought goals and projects to have exponential-level impact The AI design sprint process that allowed the company to 20x product velocity How their mandatory AI bug triage policy has cut resolution time by 80% Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacthepm/ Zac's AI-Powered Design Print Playbook: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/ai-powered-design-sprint-playbook-v01-zac-hays-iu1dc/ Luxury Presence: https://www.luxurypresence.com/ AirOps: https://www.airops.com/ Userbrain: https://www.userbrain.com/en/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 03:31: How Luxury Presence started tinkering with AI 08:15: Automating bug fixes (the 80% reduction) 10:50: Zac's "AI Design Sprint" process 14:00: Using AI to tackle tech debt and codebase rewrites 19:04: Building an "autonomous" AI marketing team 22:22: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Zac Hays.

Today, we’re joined by Phil Lakin, Head of Enterprise Innovation at Zapier. In this episode, we discuss: How Phil built No-Code Ops into a thriving community and SaaS product - and what led to its acquisition by Zapier Why Phil ended up leading the initiative on Zapier’s first solution-based product, and the decision process behind making it Lead Router How Zapier is driving AI transformation across both their org and others with hands-on bootcamps, agent workflows, and a 97% AI literacy rate among employees Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philip-lakin/ Zapier: https://zapier.com/ NoCodeOps: https://www.nocodeops.com/ Chapters 00:00: Intro 01:30: How Phil built the No-Code Ops community and why Zapier acquired it 05:45: Building Lead Router and how it shaped Zapier's roadmap 10:20: Building with Zapier Primitives 15:10: How Zapier achieved 97% AI literacy 20:25: AI agents and workflow automation 26:40: Tactics for bringing employees on board with new AI tools 32:55: What other companies can learn from Zapier’s AI transformation 39:15: Where Phil sees AI, no-code, and automation heading next. 44:00: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Phil Lakin.

How is Optimizely reshaping experimentation with AI? Cory Liebgott, VP of Product at Optimizely, joins LaunchPod to share how her team is building agentic AI tools that put customer trust at the center. Cory shares how her team: Pivoted away from risky benchmarking AI to focus on agentic AI tailored to each customer’s brand and data Launched Opal, Optimizely’s AI suite built on Google Gemini, with strict governance to keep customer data secure Developed experimentation agents that suggest test ideas, run experiments, and summarize results Built internal AI tools like OptiGPT to streamline workflows, from PRDs to customer research, boosting productivity across teams Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cliebgott/ Optimizely: https://www.optimizely.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:52 Implementing Agentic AI at Optimizely 04:58 The Importance of Customer Feedback 06:27 Using AI Tools Internally at Optimizely 15:30 DocuSign and the Squeaky Wheel Problem 30:36 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Cory Liebgott.

How is AI changing the game for sports betting? Marty Styles, VP of Product at Pro Football Focus (PFF), visits LaunchPod to share how his team is bringing pro-grade football analytics, trusted by every NFL team, to everyday bettors. Marty shares how his team: Built Key Insights, an AI-powered feature that simplifies 200+ data points per play into actionable betting takeaways Designed the Player Prop Tool, which combines PFF’s grades with market odds to reveal hidden betting edges Used Play Finder and AI-driven film study to transform raw data into instant, searchable insights Positioned PFF as the “Bloomberg Terminal of sports betting”, giving bettors the same edge NFL teams rely on Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marty-styles/ PFF: https://www.pff.com/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 01:46 The Value of PFF's Data 02:14 Transitioning from B2B to B2C 03:17 Understanding the Sports Betting Market 04:38 The Role of AI in PFF's Products 09:00 Simplifying Complex Data for Consumers 10:32 Key Insights and AI Integration 14:20 Ensuring Accuracy and Trust in AI Outputs 17:20 Introducing the Player Prop Tool 19:36 Targeting Intermediate Bettors 22:12 Product Marketing Strategy 25:53 AI and Data Analysis in Betting 29:32 Future of AI in Sports Analytics 33:23 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Marty Styles.

On today’s episode of LaunchPod AI, we’re talking with Joel Polanco, Senior Hardware Product Manager at Intel’s Edge Computing Group. He’s led dozens of enterprise AI edge deployments and knows exactly what it takes to run AI models locally at scale. In this episode, we discuss: Why AI at the edge will cause a whole new wave of disruption across multiple industries Why moving AI to the edge slashes costs and levels up customer experience And real-world examples of edge AI deployments Joel has seen - from IT assistants to agents that restock store shelves from a single photo Links LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpolanco/ Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/homepage.html Joel's PM articles on the LogRocket blog: https://blog.logrocket.com/author/joelpolanco/ Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:32 Retail Applications of Edge AI 04:57 Cost and Implementation Considerations 06:18 Real-World Use Cases and Challenges 12:00 Future of AI and Edge Computing 30:42 Practical Advice for Product Executives 33:46 Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! 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 (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: Joel Polanco.