Hard Calls with Trisha Price

In this episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price and Dave Killeen, EMEA Field CPO at Pendo, explore how Dave’s curiosity about AI became an obsession and why every product leader needs to get hands-on with AI tools today. But here's the twist: Dave is adamant that AI isn't here to replace your taste or judgment; it's here to amplify it. Dave shares his personal experiences using AI and how it has changed the way he works and his thinking about product management. He says what he’s been able to build now is just “absolute bonkers.”Here's what you'll discover:Why product taste and judgment are things AI can't replace. Why getting laid off might be the best thing that happens to your product career. The uncomfortable truth about product metrics and business outcomes. How to use AI for discovery and experimentation at a completely different scale. Hear more from Dave by subscribing to his podcast, The Vibe PM, where he demos new AI tools and explores use cases for product leaders.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction: Dave's Journey to AI Obsession(02:34) The Hard Call: Choosing Obsession Over Comfort(06:22) Why Every PM Needs Hands-On AI Experience(08:00) Voice-to-Text and Claude Code: The Velocity Multipliers(12:15) The 88% Problem: Disconnecting Teams From Business Outcomes(14:15) KPI Driver Trees: The DNA of Business Logic(17:45) AI Red-Teaming Itself to Improve Output(20:45) Product Taste Can't Be Replaced: Only Amplified(23:00) Rapid Prototyping and Discovery at Scale(26:30) The Default Mode Network: Why Rest Drives Creativity(28:15) Career Advice: Lean Into Your Gut and Taste(30:45) Hard Calls on People: The Three Riffs at Product Board(31:45) Closing: The Whack-a-Mole Game of Product LeadershipThe Vibe PM podcast episodes mentioned on the show:Build a KPI Driver Tree app: https://youtu.be/6rHXVwk8VEE Build a Personal Knowledge Management system: https://youtu.be/WaqgSvL-V10 Love the episode?Be sure to follow or subscribe to the Hard Calls podcast and share it with anyone navigating product transformation or working to build better product sense. Every subscription helps more product management leaders find Hard Calls. Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at https://www.pendo.ioConnect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisha-price-3063081/.Connect with Dave Killeen on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davekilleen/ 

In this episode of Hard Calls, CSI’s Senior Vice President of Product Management, Daniel Haisley, and host Trisha Price explore the hard calls that define product leadership, not just the ones on a product roadmap, but the ones about people. They then dig into how banks are deepening customer relationships through digital banking services. Here’s a hint: It has everything to do with data. Here's what you'll discover:The hardest call isn't about features - it's about people. When reviewing a team structure, one must decide who's ready for the next level and who deserves honesty about their next move. Daniel walks through how to make those decisions with both clarity and compassion, and why delivering hard news can be a gift.The evolution of community banking: From branches to digital. For decades, local banks differentiated themselves by the in-person relationships they had with customers. Then digital happened. Daniel reveals how to sustain customer loyalty by knowing customers as deeply online as a teller knew them in person. The data opportunity: Why banks are sitting on gold they can't use. Most banks sit on goldmines of customer insights - transaction history, spending patterns, life events - but they encounter issues that prevent them from acting on those insights. Daniel shares the issues he sees most often, and more importantly, how to break through each one.The experimentation barrier: Why banks still fear testing. With technology and AI, teams can build and iterate on new ideas in minutes, not days, yet many banks still hesitate to test new ideas. Daniel exposes the perfectionism mindset that kills experimentation and shows how to shift from "get it right" to "get it learning" - even in risk-averse industries.Giving tools to banks: Differentiation without complexity. Community and regional banks can't hire massive data science teams or compete on R&D budgets. But they can compete on personalization if you give them the right tools. Daniel reveals the product strategy that lets traditional institutions differentiate and actually serve their customers better in a digital-first world.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction: From SaaS Builder to CSI Leadership(03:36) The Hard Call: Making People Decisions in Acquisition(06:11) When High Performance Becomes a Problem(07:34) Why Honest Feedback Can Be the Best Gift(09:05) The Evolution of Community Banking: From Branches to Digital(10:48) What Gets Lost When Banking Goes Digital(12:31) Data as the New Relationship Currency(14:02) The Five Whys: Getting to Root Problems(15:20) Customer Research That Actually Informs Strategy(16:32) The Data Opportunity: Why Banks Are Sitting on Gold They Can't Use(19:07) The Maturity Gap: Financial Institutions Aren't Ready(20:42) The Ownership Problem: When Everyone Has a Veto(22:41) Finding Best Practices Across the Institution(23:29) The Experimentation Barrier: Why Banks Still Fear Testing(24:34) How Technology Made Iteration Accessible(25:33) Beyond Vanity Metrics: Measuring Real Outcomes(27:29) Personalization Isn't About Messages—It's About Outcomes(28:01) Why One-Size-Fits-All Doesn't Work Anymore(29:36) Giving Tools to Community Banks: Differentiation Without Complexity(31:13) The Partnership That Changes EverythingLove the episode?Follow us and share it with a teammate navigating transformation or trying to build better product instincts. Every subscription helps more product leaders find Hard Calls. Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at Pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn. 

"Technology doesn't replace service; it helps it scale." - Anuar ChapurMost product leaders build software. Anuar Chapur, Chief Product and Technology Officer at The Palace Company, builds memorable experiences for guests staying at his family’s luxury resorts across Mexico, the Caribbean, Italy, and the Maldives.In this episode of Hard Calls, hosted by Trisha Price, Anuar shares how he applies product thinking to in-person guest experiences. Anuar’s thinking goes beyond software. He and his team use AI and data to scale human connections at each resort, which Anuar calls "coloring moments" that guests remember long after checkout.Here's what you'll discover:The hard call: Transforming a family’s 40-year legacy. Anuar shares the difficult decision to transform the family business into a product-led organization to deliver the best guest experiences, knowing there was no Plan B for him.How product thinking led to scalable human connections. At The Palace Company, product management isn't just about digital experiences—it's about orchestrating exceptional in-person experiences and service. Anuar explains how technology can amplify what makes hospitality magical, rather than automate the magic away. Exceptional service sits at the intersection of data, taste, and product sense. Anuar set out to change the way the company handled feedback and introduced a decision process based on data, not gut reactions. He also reveals how he adapted the concept of "unreasonable hospitality" to empower his team to use AI and data to proactively create moments of delight for guests at scale.Rebuilding the leadership team’s mindset for transformation. Whether you inherit a team or build one from scratch, you need people who are eager to make an impact and create something exceptional. Anuar shares why he rebuilt his leadership team with the right skillsets, product thinking, and obsession over the customer.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction: Product Leadership Beyond Software(06:35) The Hard Call: Transforming Your Family's 40-Year Legacy(11:47) What Product Management Looks Like in Luxury Hospitality(16:30) Using AI to Scale Human Connections, Not Replace It(21:00) Building Healthy Conflict in a Conflict-Avoidant Culture(24:27) Creating "Coloring Moments" That Guests Remember(27:00) How Digital Products Create In-person Experiences(31:30) Rebuilding the Leadership Team for Transformation(36:00) Closing: When Your User Interface Is a Human BeingLove the episode?Give us a like, drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share it with a teammate navigating transformation or trying to build better product instincts. Let’s help more product leaders find Hard Calls.Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

It's the first week of a new year. You're looking at your roadmap, your team, your strategy - and you're realizing something: You need to make some hard decisions. The thing is, the hardest calls aren’t deciding what features to build.Rather, it's likely determining who on the team comes with you on the journey. Or deciding which products to sunset, even if they're generating revenue. Or it's making the choice to bet everything on a new direction.In this special compilation episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price brings together the three types of hard calls shared by her guests, featuring Jodi McDermott, Jessica Soroky, Pierre Naudé, Peter Bailey, Naomi Larivière, Noa Ginsberg, Mark Mitchell, Ben Currin, Todd Olson, Gabrielle Bufrem, and Marty Cagan.This isn't a highlight reel. This is a breakdown of the three types of decisions that define product leadership: the People Calls, the Stop Calls, and the Go Calls.Here are the three types of hard calls you’ll hear about in this episode:The People Calls that define your culture. The Stop Calls that protect trust and enterprise value.The Go Calls that reshape the company and customer adoption.Episode Chapters(00:23) Introduction: The Three Types of Hard Calls(01:51) Part 1: The People Calls(02:20) Jodi McDermott: The High Performer Who Undermines Culture(03:00) Jessica Soroky: When a Good Person Isn't the Right Fit(04:30) Pierre Naudé: Scaling Beyond Your Founding Team(05:58) Part 2: The Stop Calls(06:38) Peter Bailey: Pausing a Federal Reserve Launch at JPMorgan(09:20) Naomi Larivière: When Innovation Collides with Trust at ADP(11:35) Jodi McDermott: Sunsetting a Product Built for One Customer(14:38) Mark Mitchell: Walking Away from a Large Prospect(17:09) Ad Break: Pandemonium 2026 Festival(18:04) Part 3: The Go Calls(18:16) Noa Ginsberg: Trust Your Gut But Verify with Data(19:22) Ben Currin: Pivoting Vantaca's Entire Strategy to AI(20:32) Todd Olson: Building Without Budget or Permission at Rally(22:51) Gabrielle Bufrem: Betting on Herself as a Coach(25:13) Marty Cagan: The eBay Lesson on Product Adoption(27:43) Closing: Making the Call with the Right DataWhether you're navigating AI transformation, restructuring your team for the next stage of growth, or deciding what to say no to this year, this episode gives you the confidence to make the hard calls that matter.Love the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and share it with a teammate navigating transformation or trying to build better product instincts. Every subscription helps more product leaders find Hard Calls.Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

"And I tell all my clients, you all are in transformation. If you are not transforming, you are dying." Gabrielle BufremIn this episode of Hard Calls, Gabrielle Bufrem and host Trisha Price explore what transformation truly means, why trust is the currency that unlocks everything else, and how focus, fewer products, and AI work together to build products customers will love.Gabi didn't set out to become a product leadership coach. After building products across nine industries and three continents, she realized her real passion was helping leaders to make the shift from feature factories to outcome-driven products. But here's what makes her approach different: she knows transformation isn't a project you complete. It's the permanent momentum of building products that matter to your customers.Here's what you'll discover:Why every company is in constant transformation. Gabi reframes transformation as permanent evolution, not a one-time initiative.How to earn trust when you're starting from a deficit. Product teams often inherit "trust debt" from past failures. Gabi shares her framework on how to deliver business outcomes that the organization actually cares about, even if they don't yet understand product speak.The difference between empowered teams and abandoned teams. Gabi reveals why truly empowered teams need more coaching, not less, and what that coaching actually looks like.Why you don’t need an AI strategy. Gabi challenges the hype and breaks down when AI works as a solution lever versus when it's just noise masking a lack of strategy.The energy audit that changes everything. Gabi's energy list exercise surfaces where people waste time on work that doesn't move the needle, and often doesn't need to be done by them at all.Episode Chapters(01:28) Introduction and Gabi's Path to Product Leadership(02:52) The Unconventional Journey from Google Intern to Coach(07:35) The Hard Call of Leaving Product to Become a Coach(11:32) How to Know If a Company Is Ready for Transformation(15:33) The Uncomfortable Truths Leaders Must Confront(17:15) Starting with All-Star Teams and Building from Success(21:22) The Trust Problem: Earning Credibility from Deficit(23:06) Why Empowered Teams Need More Coaching, Not Less(27:06) AI as a Lever, Not a Strategy(32:21) How AI Is Accelerating Discovery and Prototyping(34:09) Why Engineers Are More Valuable Than Ever(36:14) The Energy Audit: What Brings You Joy vs. What Drains You(38:58) The Calendar Test: Do You Really Need to Be There(42:35) Making the Hard Call: Choosing What to Focus OnLove the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and share it with a teammate navigating transformation or trying to build better product instincts. Every subscription helps more product leaders find Hard Calls.Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

"In AI, speed matters—but trust compounds."Naomi Lariviere, Chief Product Owner and VP of Product Management at ADP, leads product strategy for a company that processes payroll for millions of people. When even the smallest error can mean someone doesn't get paid on time, there's no room for "move fast and break things."In this episode of Hard Calls, Naomi and host Trisha Price dig into the decision that defined ADP's AI strategy: choosing to slow down full automation on ADP Assist to protect client confidence. It's a masterclass in what responsible innovation actually looks like when the stakes are real."We could have shipped faster. But in payroll, trust isn't something you rebuild easily." - Naomi LariviereHere's what you'll discover:Why ADP paused automation to preserve accuracy. Naomi walks through the hard call to prioritize explainability and reliability over speed-to-market. In high-stakes environments like payroll, trust compounds—and so does the cost of getting it wrong.The 3-question rubric to prioritize what to ship. Naomi shares the simple framework her team uses to evaluate every feature: Does it solve a real problem? Can we explain how it works? Does it protect user trust?How to embed ethics from day one. ADP doesn't treat privacy, compliance, and bias as checkboxes at the end. Naomi reveals how "shift-left ethics" means involving legal and privacy teams at the earliest stages of product development.Why diverse teams build safer AI. Homogeneous teams miss blind spots. Naomi explains how diversity across backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences leads to more resilient products—especially in regulated industries.Building psychological safety in high-pressure environments. Innovation requires teams that feel safe to challenge assumptions, raise concerns, and kill their darlings. Naomi shares how she creates that culture while still delivering outcomes.Whether you're building AI in a regulated industry, leading teams through complex trade-offs, or trying to balance innovation with responsibility, this episode shows you how to make the hard calls that protect what matters most.Episode Chapters00:00 Introduction and Naomi’s Path to Product Leadership 04:32 The Hard Call: Trust Before Speed in AI 07:16 Balancing Innovation and Reliability 09:41 A Simple Product Rubric for What to Ship 11:51 Killing Your Darlings with Outcome-Based OKRs 15:15 Shift-Left Ethics: Privacy and Compliance from Day One 20:10 The Payroll Anomalies Breakthrough 28:02 Upskilling Teams for AI Innovation 36:51 Building Psychological Safety 38:54 Why Diverse Teams Ship Better, Safer AI 42:27 Closing TakeawaysLove the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and share it with a teammate exploring AI in regulated industries. Every subscription helps more product leaders find Hard Calls.Presented by Pendo. Discover more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

Noa Ginsberg, SVP, Product Management Excellence at FactSet, faced a challenge that would make most product leaders nervous: transform how a 40-year-old financial data company builds products. Not a single team or feature, but the entire product organization.In this episode of Hard Calls, Noa and host Trisha Price dig into what it truly takes to introduce modern product thinking to build a Product Management Center of Excellence. They discuss the best practices for rolling out new tooling and analytics-driven processes across thousands of employees without losing touch with the customer and what made FactSet successful in the first place."If we hadn’t positioned for product excellence, we wouldn’t be ready for the AI wave.” - Noa GinsbergHere's what you'll discover:How to build a Product Center of Excellence that scales. Noa breaks down the framework she used to reduce duplication, create clarity, and align product teams around shared outcomes—without adding bureaucracy.Why gut instinct still matters in a data-driven world. Experience teaches you to recognize patterns faster than dashboards can. Noa explains how to trust your intuition while building the discipline to validate it with data.The metrics that actually drive outcomes. Noa describes that aligning product metrics to business outcomes is not as easy as it sounds. Using the FACT Model, Noa shares how her team moved beyond vanity metrics to metrics that connect product decisions to business results.How AI is changing the product development lifecycle. From ideation to prototyping, AI is compressing timelines and allowing anyone to bring an idea to life. Noa reveals where her team is seeing the biggest impact and where human judgment still wins.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction and Noa Ginsberg's Role at FactSet(03:00) The Hard Call of Transforming a 40-Year-Old Company(06:39) Gut Feel as Data: Trust Your Instinct But Verify(12:07) When to Build a Product Center of Excellence(16:34) Stakeholders, Supportability, and Voice of Customer(20:57) How to Get Started Building Your Own COE(25:07) Aligning Product Metrics to Business Outcomes(29:00) Keeping Teams Customer-Connected in the Messy Middle(32:09) How AI and Agents Are Accelerating Product Development(39:13) Closing Thoughts on Decision-Making and Product ExcellenceLove the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and share it with a teammate navigating their own hard call. Every subscription helps more product leaders find Hard Calls.Presented by Pendo. Explore more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

What’s it really like to make a hard call inside a global bank? Peter Bailey, Product Director at J.P. Morgan Payments, joins Trisha to unpack the decision that nearly “got me fired” - calling off a launch when the data vendor wasn’t the right fit, but then won the trust of his peers and leaders by making the right call.In this episode of Hard Calls, he and host Trisha Price reconnect as past colleagues and dive into the benefits of focusing on the developer experience. Peter explains why building for developers at J.P. Morgan is as strategic as building for customers. And speaking of customers, the two talk about the knowledge they’ve gained when they bring customers along with “near-vana,” (listen to the episode to learn more). They also discuss the mindset needed to lead through today’s disruptions from AI and blockchain, all the while maintaining data security and compliance.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction and hard calls in global banking(01:50) The “almost got me fired” decision to either launch or hold the line(08:15) Services to Product: Lessons from Primatics(16:30) Owner mindset inside a global bank(21:30) Navigating AI disruption with curiosity(27:15) Customer and developer feedback loops(28:00) “Near-vana” - Advisory panels, betas, shared accountability(35:10) When Peter flips the script and interviews Trisha(39:00) Closing ReflectionsLove the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate navigating their own leap to leadership. Every download and subscription helps more product leaders find the show! Presented by Pendo. Dive deeper at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn

“At the end of the day, your job is to build enterprise value as a CPO.” - Jodi McDermottIn this episode of Hard Calls, three-time CPO turned product and board advisor, Jodi McDermott at Switchback Advisory, talks with host Trisha Price. Together, they explore how to navigate the tough decisions product leaders face and what it takes to be a successful product leader today. Here's what you'll discover:The hard calls that protect team culture. The tough talent decisions every leader eventually faces: removing a high-performer who's quietly poisoning the team culture, and reassigning a beloved team member who is simply in the wrong role for them and for what the team needs. When to walk away from a product. Not all revenue is good revenue, and a product leader needs to know when to say no in order to focus resources on what can actually scale.Why financial acumen is a product leader's biggest flex. Product leaders must act as P&L owners, not just product visionaries. Learn the ideal investment distribution for most products: 30% maintain, 30% sustain, and 40% growth. The strategic power of Product Operations. A good product ops team can be an extension of a CPO, setting the operating standards for the team, collecting and analyzing data, so the team can be free to explore and spend more time with users.How to build connected teams. Embrace servant leadership and vulnerability to foster genuine connections with team members spanning the globe.Episode Chapters(00:00) Introduction(01:05) The Hard Call: The Culture Hire or the High Performer?(04:30) The Right Person in the Wrong Role(07:45) Proving the ROI of R&D to PE-backers(11:00) Balancing Investments with Maintain, Sustain, Grow Distribution(15:00) Product Ops and How it Extends the CPO’s Strategic Influence(18:30) Building Vulnerability-Based Trust Across Teams(25:40) The #1 Skill Gap for Aspiring CPOs (and It’s More Than Curiosity)(30:45) AI Disruption: Internal Tools, Product Strategy & Changing Perceptions(36:45) The One-Way vs Two-Way Door Metaphor to Decision MakingLove the episode?Drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate navigating their own leap to leadership. Every download and subscription helps more product leaders find the show! Presented by Pendo. Dive deeper at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn

Remember the SaaS playbook that built today’s tech giants? Well, it’s officially dead. The AI revolution is rewriting the rules, leaving companies without a roadmap for what comes next. However, Pendo CEO and co-founder, Todd Olson, is mapping out a new playbook using insights from customers, other founders, and his own team, all of whom are either beginning and in the midst of their AI transformations.In this episode, host Trisha Price and Todd unpack how leaders can thrive when everything they know gets turned upside down. This isn’t your typical founder interview - it’s an open, honest conversation about leading when there’s no playbook to follow.Here’s what you’ll discover:“There’s no AI playbook. …Even the AI-native founders are just experimenting like the rest of us.” - Todd OlsonThe power behind an entrepreneurial spirit. Todd shares his thoughts on what the role of a CEO needs to be during a transformation. And why his majors and minors, along with his entrepreneurial mindset, are exactly what the company needs from him right now. Todd’s lesson: Have the conviction to show that your idea can work.How Pendo went all-in on AI. Todd reveals the strategy behind acquiring AI-native companies over established players, and how injecting new DNA changed everything from engineering practices to innovation. He also shares how his role in experimenting with AI tools inspired the rest of the company.How to balance AI innovation with enterprise expectations. Todd explains the balancing act he and his team face with enterprise customers who still expect familiar and compliant solutions, while simultaneously introducing AI agents and workflows to guide the company through an AI transformation. Whether you’re a founder trying to reinvent your business model or a product leader tasked with building your company’s AI strategy, this episode reveals what it actually takes to lead with entrepreneurial conviction when the only certainty is change.Love the episode?Drop us a  ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐  review, and share this episode with a teammate who’s staring down their own hard call today. Every subscription and review helps more product leaders find the show - let’s build better products together!Presented by Pendo. Dive deeper at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

What do you do when a customer asks for a feature that isn’t on your roadmap? In this episode of Hard Calls, Trisha Price and Mark Mitchell, Chief Product Officer at Morgan Stanley at Work, share personal, candid stories of the hardest calls Mark has made - starting with knowing when to walk away from a big prospect that just isn’t the right fit. Mark breaks down how he weighs effort, impact, and adoption when deciding which product investments to make and why “massive size, small impact” requests are the real landmines.Balancing strategy, execution and priorities is always challenging for product leaders, but Mark shares his 90-day-9-month-9-year time-horizon framework, and you’ll be surprised how easy it is to manage.They go deep on user adoption as the north-star KPI, the “whole product” motions that actually drive it, and the customer focus that keeps product, sales, marketing, and education aligned. What makes for a great product organization? “For us, it starts with us making sure that we understand the needs of the customer. Understand the needs of the problem and the problem that we're trying to solve, and spend a lot of time understanding the front side of discovery and planning and all the things that go into building a great product.”Finally, Mark shares how a highly regulated financial services enterprise, such as Morgan Stanley at Work, is embracing AI—from code assistance to internal copilots—and why he believes AI will soon be a prerequisite input for product decisions. Whether you're navigating short-term pressures or long-term strategy, new to product or a seasoned leader, this episode will add to your knowledge base to help you make smarter product bets and deliver value at scale. Love the episode? Download and listen to Hard Calls every two weeks in your favorite podcast app, drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate who’s staring down their own hard call today. Every subscription and review helps more product leaders find the show—let’s build better products together!Presented by Pendo.Explore more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

Vantaca is bringing AI innovation to an industry in desperate need of disruption - community management or HOAs. Vantaca CEO, Ben Currin joins Trisha Price in this episode of Hard Calls and talks about how Vantaca is wrapping AI and agentic workflows into traditional SaaS software to improve the way we work with each other and agents.Product leaders from any industry will gain great insights into how to think differently about their AI projects. You’ll hear about the lessons learned when the team goes all in on letting go of old mindsets, processes, and sunk costs to create a scalable AI strategy that anyone can benefit from. Ben shares how an acquisition made Vantaca’s AI vision take hold and scale its AI roadmap. You’ll also be surprised to hear his story about how understanding the basics of a car, such as the steering wheel and brakes, is the same thinking that product managers should apply to create a great user experience, and the three things he does to balance these two priorities. The two also discuss the benefits Vantaca has gained by becoming product-led and how staying close to the customer allows them to develop and iterate better products using some fun new AI tools.Love the episode? Download and listen to Hard Calls every two weeks in your favorite podcast app, drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate who’s staring down their own hard call today. Every subscription and review helps more product leaders find the show—let’s build better products together!Presented by Pendo.Explore more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

In this episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price sits down with Jessica Soroky, product operations leader turned Chief of Staff to the CEO at Engine. The two discuss the symbiotic relationship between product operations and a successful product organization. Their conversation offers an inside look at what operational excellence really looks like and the hard calls it takes to achieve it in your company.A few highlights from the episode:The hard call Jessica had to make to let go of a well-liked team member in order to get her team operating at the next level.How  product operations, when done well, can get more out of your product organization without having to add additional heads. Shifting the product shipping mindset from “done” to “delivered” using the product development lifecycle to make sure that the products built are as successful as possible.Love the episode? Subscribe to Hard Calls in your favorite podcast app, drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate who’s staring down their own hard call today. Every subscription and review helps more product leaders find the show—let’s build better products together!👀 Connect with Jessica Soroky on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicasoroky/ 🔗 Learn more about Pendo at pendo.io 📬 Follow Trisha Price on LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisha-price-3063081/

In this episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price sits down with legendary product thinker Marty Cagan, partner at Silicon Valley Product Group and author of Inspired, Empowered, and his latest book, Transformed.Marty shares one of the hardest calls of his career and the lessons it taught him about how users respond to change. From there, Trisha and Marty explore what it means to truly transform a product organization from the inside out. It’s not about processes or giving people new titles. It’s about building trust, developing product sense and defining what a successful product operating model looks like for your organization.You’ll learn:Insights from Marty’s time leading product teams at eBayThe real reasons why you can’t run products like projects.Why your sales reps may be your best source of product insightHow to build trust and product sense to make better, faster decisionsWhether you’re a product leader at a Fortune 500 or a startup founder scaling your team, this conversation will challenge your assumptions—and give you a framework for action.📚 Grab Marty’s book Transformed 🔗 Learn more at svpg.comPresented by Pendo. Explore more insights at pendo.io or connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn.

In the premiere episode of Hard Calls, host Trisha Price sits down with her longtime mentor, Founding CEO and Executive Chairman of the Board for nCino, Pierre Naudé, for a deeply personal and practical conversation about what it really takes to make hard decisions as a product and business leader. Trisha and Pierre share their lived experience scaling nCino from a scrappy startup to a public company, recounting the pivotal product, technology, and people decisions they made along the way.Trisha reflects on the most important lessons she learned working alongside Pierre: from making platform bets and scaling org structures, to defining “whole product” thinking and knowing when to evolve your team. Whether you're leading your first team or preparing for your company's next inflection point, this episode is packed with honest insight and tactical wisdom.Links & ResourcesCompanion read: Enter Blog Article Title Here → Trisha’s LinkedIn article to be published day before episode airs [Insert Link]Follow Pierre Naudé on LinkedIn →  https://www.linkedin.com/in/pierrenaude/Connect with Trisha Price on LinkedIn →  https://www.linkedin.com/in/trisha-price-3063081/Love the episode? Subscribe to Hard Calls in your favorite podcast app, drop us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review, and share this episode with a teammate who’s staring down their own hard call today. Every subscription and review helps more product leaders find the show—let’s build better products together!Presented by Pendo.Explore more insights at pendo.io 

Every product leader has to make them: the high-stakes decisions that define outcomes, shape careers, and don't come with easy answers.The Hard Calls podcast, hosted by Trisha Price, features candid conversations with product and tech leaders about the pivotal decisions that drive great products and the pressure that comes with it. From conflicting priorities and unclear success metrics to aligning teams and navigating executive expectations, you will hear compelling stories and best practices that drive business outcomes and help you make the Hard Calls.Real decisions. Real stakes. Real leadership.Presented by PendoLearn more at pendo.io/Follow Trisha Price on LinkedIn