Product Rebels

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Nat Kunes , Chief Product Officer at Ontra. He shares his insights on redefining pricing strategies, replacing assumptions with validated hypotheses, and the impactful strategy he uses to empower his team to balance goals with true user value.  Nat digs into financial fluency for PMs, market validation practices, and shifting org culture to view pro...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Priyankka Mani , Global Head of Product at Intuit Mailchimp, for a masterclass on leading with customer obsession, product intuition, and courageous decision-making.  Priyankka shares stories from Amazon, insights on building empathy into teams, and how to stay close to users even under pressure. 

What does it take to be a truly bold product leader in complex, high-stakes industries like finance? Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin find out as they sit down with J. Womack , CPO at SEI.  He shares how he balances strategy, risk, and customer obsession to drive innovation—whether in scrappy startups or global enterprises.  J. further talks about co-creation, prioritization, stakeholder influen...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Verizon Business' Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Iris Meijer, as she shares her bold approach to organizational transformation — merging product and marketing to champion customer experience and commercial impact.  Iris unpacks what it really means for product leaders to act as CEOs of their product, why shared KPIs are non-negotiable, an...

How is AI reshaping product management?  Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Kene Anoliefo, Co-founder of HEARD by Elis, to explore how AI is accelerating product development, streamlining research, and transforming how teams build and iterate.  Kene shares insights on leveraging AI for rapid experimentation, the risks of low-quality product output, and why AI-driven tools are redefin...

To celebrate this coming International Women’s Day , we’re bringing you a special episode featuring the voices of awe-inspiring women in product. These female trailblazers share their game-changing insights—mastering the strategic “no,” driving AI-powered innovation, and putting customer needs at the forefront. From breaking industry norms to redefining collaboration, their lessons will inspire an...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Kareem Mayan , Founder of Savio, to explore how product teams can effectively leverage customer feedback for smarter decision-making.  Kareem shares insights from his journey building, scaling, and selling multiple SaaS businesses, including his time at ESPN and MySpace. He also discusses practical strategies for gathering, prioritizing, and acting...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Vineet Thuvara , Chief Product Officer at Fluke Corporation. Vineet shares his experiences leading high-impact product teams at Amazon, Microsoft, and beyond. He discusses the art of balancing innovation and risk, how to create trust-driven teams, and why curiosity is a product leader’s superpower. From scrappy experimentation to high-stakes decisio...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin dive into the world of customer-driven innovation with Omada Health's CPO, Randhir Vieira .  Randhir shares how scrappy research methods, empathy-led design, and outcome-focused metrics shape better products. He also discusses his insights on aligning teams, navigating rapid prototyping, and balancing speed with meaningful results. 

In this special Mailbag episode, hosts Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin step out of their usual interview format to address the most pressing questions from their product community. From navigating agile challenges to improving team performance, they share actionable advice, personal insights, and lessons learned over years of product leadership. They also delve into the origins of Product Rebel...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Felipe Castillo , Chief Product Officer of US Information Solutions at Equifax, as he shares his inspiring journey from engineering to product leadership.  Felipe dives into the importance of customer empathy, ownership, and thought leadership in driving transformation.  Learn how storytelling builds trust, why bold decisions shape success, and how...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Archie Mayani, Chief Product Officer at GHX, as she shares her journey transforming healthcare tech during Covid, building the first cloud-native imaging platform, and leveraging design thinking to revolutionize product delivery.  Archie reveals how AI is reshaping healthcare supply chains and offers actionable insights on customer-centric leadershi...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Kimberly Bloomston , Chief Product Officer at LiveRamp.  Kimberly shares her journey from retail operations to leading product strategy at top companies, now driving innovation in data collaboration at LiveRamp. She discusses her "Customer-first" approach to product leadership, emphasizing empathy, listening, and creating solutions that de...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Moliehi "Mo" Weitnauer , Chief Product Officer at MRO.  Mo shares her dynamic journey from finance to healthcare technology, highlighting her experiences at McKinsey, Cotiviti, and Thrive. Now at MRO, she is revolutionizing healthcare records management with a customer-centric focus.  Mo discusses her approach to balancing Agile principles...

In this episode, Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin welcome Marianne McPeak-Johnson , EVP & Chief Product Officer at Cox Automotive. Marianne shares her inspiring journey from tech operations to product leadership, emphasizing the power of design thinking, human-centered design, and the jobs-to-be-done framework. She discusses how she integrates these methodologies to drive innovation at scale...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin chat with Ryan Johnson , Chief Product Officer at CallRail, a leader in AI-powered conversation intelligence. Ryan shares his journey from engineering to product leadership, driving CallRail’s growth to over 200,000 customers and $100 million in recurring revenue. He offers insights into navigating diverse customer needs across multiple industries and building ho...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani chat with Lauren Chan Lee , Chief Product Officer at Leap Event Technology.  Lauren shares her journey from StubHub to advising startups like Rebel Girls, and emphasizing the importance of standing up for user needs, even with it means going against the grain.  She discusses strategies for shifting from feature-based to problem-oriented thinking, the power of col...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Rupali Jain, Chief Product Officer at Optimizely, to explore the intricacies of product leadership. With a storied career spanning Microsoft, Qualtrics, Box, and Tableau, Rupali shares her rebellious approach to driving successful outcomes over rigid processes.   She discusses her strategies for balancing customer demands with product roadmaps, navi...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani meet to chat with Boston Nyer , COO and CPO at Momentum as well as Co-founder of Burn.  Boston discusses saving users a trillion dollars in fuel costs, the environmental impact of saving 100 million trees, and the challenges of creating physical products. He shares his journey from developing cookstoves in Kenya to scaling operations, emphasizing customer empathy...

Join Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani as they dive into a compelling conversation with Julia Stefani , CPO at Treasure Financial.   Discover how Julia navigates the unique challenges of B2B research, building trust within her organization through hypothesis-driven insights and agile testing.    Learn about her journey from hypothesis to market success, the pivotal decision to pivot towards API p...

Join Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin as they dive into an inspiring conversation with Zac Hays , Chief Product Officer at Luxury Presence. With nearly two decades of experience, Zac has mastered simplifying product strategy and fostering product-led growth.  In this episode, he shares his journey from leading teams at Autodesk and Microsoft to innovating in luxury real estate tech. Zac discusse...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Nupur Srivastava , COO of Included Health.  From her beginnings at Alivecor to her decade-long tenure at Grand Rounds Health, Nupur has been a trailblazer in leveraging technology and empathy to revolutionize healthcare.  Nupur dicsusses her innovative approach to enhancing patient outcomes, the importance of a user-centered business model, and the...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin engage in compelling conversation with Lexy Franklin , Founder and CEO of Sidebar.  Lexy illuminates his insightful journey from Facebook to establishing Sidebar - a distinctive community uniting the world's most dynamic leaders in small peer groups to expedite goal achievement.  He also delves into the influential potential of "Scrappy Research",...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani chat with Herman Man , Chief Product Officer at Bluevine.  He shares insights on hiring passionate product managers, leveraging data for customer insights, and leading by example.  Tune in to learn about Herman's strategies for creating delightful user experiences and scaling product teams, and hear his advice for aspiring product leaders on building grit an...

Join Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin on the latest episode of the Product Rebels Podcast featuring Michael Cerda , CPO of TelevisaUnivision. Michael talks empowering teams and driving innovation, drawing from his experience at companies like Disney and Live Nation. Learn how he navigates corporate dynamics while advocating for customer-centric strategies. Michael also discusses his innovative p...