Product Leader's Journey

Hosted by Rahul Abhyankar

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Latest episode

Feb 2025

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About the show

Conversations with senior product executives about building successful products, scaling business growth and leading inspired teams!

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26 recent

February 20, 2025Episode 439 min

Ritu Bhargava, xPresident & CPO, SAP CX/CRM - Build "OrgIQ", Manage Up and Across

Ritu Bhargava is xPresident and Chief Product Officer of SAP Customer Experience (CX/CRM) & Consumer Industries. Prior to that she was SVP of Software Engineering at Salesforce for Sales Cloud (CRM) and held various engineering leadership roles at Oracle. Ritu is a sought-after advisor, investor and has also served as a Board Member at Qualtrics. In this conversation, Ritu is disarmingly honest and candid as she narrates stories about her experiences rising up in the organization, balancing getting visibility and being a team player, and learning from people six levels down in the org chart. Key takeaways: 1. COMMUNICATING WITH STAKEHOLDERS - A boss is also a human with a job, not just a title. - Surface real issues and what they need to move forward. - Ask “What would help you?” 2. SAYING NO TO MANAGEMENT - Earn the right to say No - Avoid the temptation to please - Cover No’s in Yes’s 3. BEING A TEAM PLAYER - Play the long game instead of little wins - Be selfless, its not about you - Can you give up the limelight when you could have claimed victory? 4. RISING UP IN THE ORGANIZATION - Raise your hand and put yourself out there - If you want to grow, make yourself redundant - Earn the trust of peers who may report to you - Hire people smarter than yourself without feeling threatened - Build “OrgIQ” 5. DEALING WITH STRESS - Apply five Why’s - Have a growth mindset Connect with Ritu Bhargava: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritubhargava/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar, host of Product Leader's Journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar/ For previous episodes: https://www.productleadersjourney.com https://youtube.com/@ProductLeadersJourney

February 7, 2025Episode 347 min

Michael Margolis, CEO Storied, Author Story 10X - Building Narrative, Influencing at Scale

In this engaging conversation, Michael Margolis, CEO of Storied and Author of Story 10X , shares his unique journey to storytelling expert, emphasizing the importance of narrative in leadership and product management. Michael is a thought provoking storyteller, who has tranied product, data and Go to Market teams at companies such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, NASA, SAP, Salesforce, Uber .. the list goes on. He is also the author two books, Story 10X Turning the Impossible into the Inevitable and Believe Me, a storytelling manifesto for innovators and change-makers. In this episode he discusses the distinction between storytelling and narrative, the significance of understanding the language of business, and the role of soft skills in effective leadership. Margolis introduces the SFB Narrative Method as a framework for influencing others and highlights the importance of listening and understanding assumptions in communication. The discussion culminates in the exploration of influence archetypes and the necessity of aligning expectations to foster better relationships in professional settings. Key Takeaways: Chocolate fosters connection and community. Storytelling is about the narrative, not just anecdotes. Learning the language of business is crucial for success. Soft skills are essential for leadership progression. Influencing requires a future-first approach. Listening is key to understanding and influence. Crafting narratives is vital for executive buy-in. The SFB Narrative Method helps structure influence efforts. Understanding influence archetypes can enhance communication. Aligning expectations is critical for relationship success. Connect with Michael Margolis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelmargolis/ Connect with host Rahul Abhyankar on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar

January 16, 2025Episode 246 min

Fred Koopmans, Chief Product Officer, Big Panda - From QA engineer to CPO, riding tech waves with a "reverse job description"

Fred Koopmans is Chief Product Officer at BigPanda, an AIOps company. He is someone who has managed to ride the tech waves being at the right place at the right time - mobile video optimization on wireless networks, cloud, data platforms, open source, and now AI. Prior to BigPanda, Fred was SVP of Product Management at Cloudera, and Sr. Director Product Management at Citrix, and in engineering roles at Bytemobile. In this episode, Fred shares his approach of writing a reverse job description that tells recruiters exactly what he is looking for. Here are some key highlights and the topics we cover: * What is the flavor of conversations with customers around AI, especially with IT people * How writing can help one become a high-intention person * What is a reverse job description and how to write one * Why it is paramount to have an answer to the question - "Where do you see yourself in five years?" * How does a PM do an effective job in "engineering-led" or "sales-led" companies * What do engineers wish product managers know and what do product managers wish engineers know * How to build deep relationships with customers * How to steer a product org away from doing only what customers want * How to have good skip level 1:1s Connect with Fred on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-koopmans/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar, host of Product Leader's Journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar https://www.productleadersjourney.com

December 13, 2024Episode 145 min

Elizabeth Samara-Rubio, Chief Business Officer, SiMa.ai - Building Business Case for Generative AI

My guest in this episode is Elizabeth Samara-Rubio, Chief Business Officer of SiMa.ai, which offers MLSOC and platform for Edge AI, and one of the ten hottest semiconductor startups of 2024. In our conversation, we dive into how to help customers build business cases for GenAI, use cases and business models. In her previous role, Elizabeth led GTM and business development at Amazon for the worldwide AI specialist organization in AWS. So we talk about how Amazon’s famous Working Backwards methodology applied to go-to-market activities. Elizabeth started her career at HP as a product manager in the Hardware Services and Support Division, and she shares some interesting lessons from this time about aligning with stakeholders. We also talk about market and industry transformation which she drove as Managing Director for Strategy and Consulting at Accenture. This episode is short and packed with insights which I know is what you will love. If you enjoy this podcast don’t forget to subscribe and follow it in your favorite podcast app or YouTube. It’s the best way to not miss future episodes, and it helps the podcast a lot. Chapters: 01:35 Introduction to AI and Generative AI at AWS 04:42 Leading Customer Conversations on Generative AI 07:26 Working Backwards: Amazon's Approach 10:43 Generative AI: Use Cases and Business Models 13:36 Investment Cases for Generative AI 16:28 Clock Speed: Understanding Stakeholder Dynamics 19:46 Transitioning from HP to Accenture: Lessons Learned 22:39 Defining Market Attractiveness and Pockets of Possibility 25:32 Machine Learning at the Edge: Applications and Implications 28:21 Personal Insights: Influences and High Standards

November 18, 2024Episode 738 min

Luke Freiler, CEO Centercode - Creating a market category, value-based pricing, ROI analysis

In this episode, Luke Freiler , CEO of Centercode , which provides user testing solutions to leading tech companies. Luke shares his journey from hardware engineering to founding a company that revolutionizes product testing. He discusses the importance of continuous user testing, the shift from waterfall to agile methodologies, and how Centercode has established itself in a new market category. Luke emphasizes the significance of community building, demonstrating value through metrics, and the evolution of pricing strategies. He also explores the impact of generative AI on product testing and shares valuable leadership lessons learned throughout his entrepreneurial journey. Luke is a tech idealist who wants technology to just work, to be simple, and friendly. He mission is to connect product builders and their audiences to actualize this vision at scale. In this episode, Luke talks about creating a brand new category in the market, and all the fun challenges that go hand in hand with that. How do you get your first customers, how do you price your offering and value-based pricing, convincing customers about the ROI of your offering. He also shares lessons learnt about PLG or product led growth motion. This is an incredibly candid and transparent conversation and I enjoyed it immensely. I hope you do as well. Key takeaways: - The Importance of Continuous Testing in Agile Development - Establishing a Common Vocabulary for Early Customers - Demonstrating the Value Proposition with Key Metrics - Adapting Pricing Strategies in a New Category - The Importance of Value-Based Pricing - The Impact of AI on Product Testing - Treating the Company Like a Product - Building a Great Culture by Designing the Company Connect with Luke Freiler: https://www.linkedin.com/in/freiler/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar, host of Product Leader's Journey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar

October 25, 2024Episode 630 min

Jyotika Athavale, President IEEE Computer Society - Solving future problems, Women in engineering

Jyotika Athavale is the 2024 President of the IEEE Computer Society. In this role she oversees the global roadmap for the organization and plays a leading role in international safety standardization. She was honored with the IEEE Women in Technology and Leadership Award for her contributions towards diversity in engineering and STEM. Jyotika is one of the leading experts in the area of automotive functional safety. In her day job, she is Director of Enterprise Architecture at Synopsys, and has had a successful career as Principal Engineer at Intel, and Lead Technologist at Nvidia. It is quite remarkable having these very strong parallel career tracks. In this episode, Jyotika talks about how the standards bodies ensure standards are relevant in the future, especially considering the pace of innovation we are seeing in many areas such as AI, autonomous vehicles, and so on. Jyotika also shares her advice on becoming a thought leader, and not holding ourselves back from roles we are fully capable of performing. Connect with Jyotika Athavale: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jyotika-athavale-460b383/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar

September 26, 2024Episode 528 min

Purvi Shah, VP Enterprise Data Platforms, American Express - Newton's laws and data platforms

Purvi Shah is Vice President of Product Development for Enterprise Data Platforms at American Express. Prior to that she led a team of consultants at Deloitte in the public sector working with many state governments to build solutions for citizens to avail services for food stamps, child care and other interventions. Purvi was recently recognized on the 2024 Global Data Power Women List by CDO Magazine. In this episode Purvi talks about: (1:05) Product development in the public sector (2:23) Looking at the end-to-end journey beyond the user's problem (4:36) Three important things about empathy in understanding users (6:21) Data challenges of a 170 year old company like American Express (7:43) Three success criteria for Customer-360 programs that strive to build a singular view of a customer (11:27) Applying Newton's first law of motion to data platforms (13:30) Applying Newton's second law of motion to data platforms (14:23) Example of customer delight that comes from having a good data ecosystem (16:43) Key lessons learnt from decommissioning legacy data platforms (22:05) Applying Newton's third law of motion to data platforms (25:26) Metrics to track for enterprise data platforms Connect with Purvi Shah: https://www.linkedin.com/in/purvi-shah-8298451/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar Product Leader's Journey: https://www.productleadersjourney.com

September 12, 2024Episode 441 min

Jeff Lash, SVP Global Product Management, Forrester - Benchmarking Product Management

Jeff Lash is SVP of Global Product Management at Forrester. Jeff has been a long time thought leader on all things product. He led the product management practice at SiriusDecisions (acquired by Forrester) where he worked with many companies on assessing and benchmarking their product function competency and maturity. Jeff started his career as an information architect and usability at Elsevier and Mastercard, and then pivoted into product management, so he has some good insights to share from both sides. At Forrester, Jeff leads the core portfolio that generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue, with responsibility for product discovery, new product innovation, portfolio management, and pricing/packaging. In this episode we talk about: * How UX and PM work best with each other * Good PMs create opportunities for other team members * PM tools cannot address fundamental problems * Assessing PM function and competency in a company * Organizing and orienting what PMs are responsible for * Measuring success in the PM role* Applying PM principles to pickleball! Connect with Jeff Lash at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jefflash/ Connect with Rahul Abhyankar at: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rahulabhyankar

August 26, 2024Episode 336 min

Lara Shackelford, xCMO Datastax, Looker - B2B Product Marketing, Sales Enablement, AI

Lara Shackelford is a veteran Chief Marketing Officer many times over, and has led marketing teams to create impact at companies such as Oracle, Intel, Datastax, Looker (both before and after the acquisition by Google), and has also led global demand generation at Microsoft. She is currently senior vice president of marketing at iCapital. In this episode, Lara talks about how the B2B buying experience has changed, what is a good blueprint for sales training, coming up with a good ROI analysis, how to assess the ROI of AI, and what does a good partnership between product marketing, product and sales teams looks like, and much more. David Packard, the cofounder of HP, is believed to have said, “Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing department,” so I wanted to see what Lara had to say about that. Enjoy listening!

August 7, 2024Episode 240 min

Nathan Gold, Demo Coach - Memorable Product Demos & High-stakes Presentations

Nathan Gold is highly sought after as a coach for presentations at the TED conference, keynote speeches, entrepreneurs pitching on Shark Tank and startups raising funding from investors. He has delivered thousands of hours of professional coaching while working with companies such as Netflix, SanDisk, Kaiser Permanente and IBM. In this episode Nathan shares some very useful tips on how to do a persuasive and memorable product demo, combined with stories. He shares a simple template for communicating your product’s value proposition. He also talks about the secrets of designing, scripting and delivering high stakes presentations, including how to harness your speaking anxiety. Nathan has graciously offered his book "Harnessing Your Speaking Anxiety" as a free download at: https://www.democoach.com/freebook. You don't need to enter your name or email. He only asks that if you like it, that you share it with two more people.