Product Rebels

Join Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani for an inspiring conversation with Brian Fugere , Chief Product Officer of Symplr.  Discover Brian's journey of reshaping organization with a customer-centric approach and explore how he rebuilt a company and led a rapid rebranding in just three weeks. 

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Clarissa Riggins , CPO of Experian Health. Discover the importance of empathy in product management, as Clarissa reflects on her experiences observing end users and what she's learned from them.  From formalizing structures to promoting shared accountability, Clarissa provides invaluable insights into building successful product teams.

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin spark an inspiring conversation with Yue Zhao , a seasoned product leader who has left her mark on marketplaces, social media giants, and healthcare tech.  From scaling Thumbtack to leading product teams at Meta and Fuzzy, Yue shares her journey of fostering innovation, empowerment, and customer obsession.  Don't miss Yue's insights on navigating comple...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin are joined by Ha Nguyen , Founder and Managing Partner at NextStep.  With an impressive 22-year career, ha recounts her start-up experiences at eBay, Betfair, and more, along with the valuable lessons she's learned.  Uncover her insights into building and scaling start-ups and fostering a people-first approach. 

This week, Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Karandeep Anand , President at Brex.  He shares his compelling insights on challenging assumptions, transforming company DNA, and the playbook for innovation.  Karandeep's experiences at Meta and Microsoft highlight the importance of data, aligning with company values, finding allies, and setting boundaries.

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Worldly’s SVP for Product, Rupesh Shah .   With product leadership experience gleaned at Simpa, Intuit, and Khan Academy, Rupesh shares his transformative journey as he recounts his early experience at Simpa Energy, a startup with a bold mission to provide accessible renewable energy to millions in India. He shares the challenges of aligning investo...

Vidya Dinamani recently guested on the Product Mastery Now podcast, hosted by Chad McAllister . A fellow rebel and evangelist in the world of Product Management, Chad has also authored the book Turning Ideas into Market-Winning Products.  Listen in as they sit down to discuss what makes a good product team to how to make a good product, and everything in between.

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani interview Sandy Huang , VP of Product for GoodRx. Sandy's incredible journey takes center stage as she shares her transformative work at Amazon, where she led the Alexa team and introduced groundbreaking concepts.   The conversation delves into her strategies for fostering innovation and diversity, offering valuable insights into product leadership and innov...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Dr. Ari Zelmanow , Head of User Experience Research & Communications at Twilio.  With his previous experience as a former metropolitan police officer, Ari discusses how he combines his detective mindset with UX research to uncover valuable insights that drive successful product strategies. 

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin welcome Ravi Mehta , Co-founder & CEO at Outpace.  He shares his experience working with industry giants like TripAdvisor and Tinder, highlighting the universal lessons he's learned in consumer-focused industries.  Ravi also discusses the intriguing similarities between different consumer domains and how the psychology of user-generated content, such as...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with seasoned product and business leader, Jason Randall . Jason takes us through his journey from product development to the role of CEO at AppFolio.  From shifting from premise software to cloud software to radical approaches to customer success, Jason's story is a testament to unshakable customer empathy. He also reveals how firing customers, eve...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin sit down with Finvi's inspiring Chief of Product & Technology Officer, Raj Sethuraman. Raj shares his journey of breaking paradigms in product development, creating a culture of collaboration, and how he aligned teams by leading by example.  He also shares his insights on focusing on business outcomes rather than individual roles and leveraging customer...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani welcome Brent Tworetzky , VP of Product at Peloton.  Brent shares his experience in implementing best practices for product-led growth and user-centric strategies, and shares how he disrupted traditional advertising models to drive product success during his time at The Knot. Most importantly, Brent shares his valuable insights on how to drive change within your...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin are joined by Ellen Chisa , Partner at Boldstart Ventures. Ellen reveals her journey from being a Product Rebel at Kickstarter, challenging growth hacking, to becoming a VC investing in enterprise SaaS and developer-first companies. Ellen shares how she evaluates startups with a rebel perspective, recognizing pain points, and fostering authentic product developme...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin welcome Rachel Obstler, VP ofProduct at Heap. Rachel shares her experiences at PagerDuty and Heap, where she identified broken markets and bridged gaps to improve customer experiences. Today’s conversation emphasizes the need for end-to-end thinking, user feedback, and transparency in product development. Rachel's advice includes conducting primary research,...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin are joined by Phyl Terry , CEO & Founder of Collaborative Gain, to discuss the significance of customer-centricity.  Phyl shares stories from their experience, emphasizing the need to engage leaders and decision-makers and make the customer the center of product conversations.   They also explore the challenges of power plays within companies and the evolving...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani engage in insightful discussion with Christian Nimsky , VP of Product and M&A Integration at Vehlo.  Christian shares his transformative experience with consumer reports, where he shares the power of customer stories in driving change within an established organization.  He also discusses his time at PADI, the importance of iterating communication strategies...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani welcome their friend and fellow Product Coach, James Harker-Syren , Head of Exam.net at Teachiq.  James emphasizes the importance of connecting deeply with customers, aligning internal metrics with customer value, and redefining the marketplace successfully. 

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin dive into the extraordinary journey of Rachel Neasham , a former military leader turned Product Rebel. With a background in the army, Rachel shares how her experiences in combat shaped her approach to product leadership in the world of Tech.   She emphasizes the importance of clear strategy, aligning teams, and engaging in early conversations to drive success. Ra...

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin catch up with Ashish Desai , Product Advisor at Kruze Consulting and former VP of Product at Handshake. Ashish shares his insights on marketplace strategy, the importance of understanding where you are market-constrained, and stresses how creating a north star that's both measurable and aligned with customer value is key.

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Product Leader Coach & former CPO-in-residence at insight partners, Tami Reiss . Tami shares her unconventional career journey and her The Only Three Questions You Ever Need framework for applying a product mindset in decision-making.  Tami advises product managers to have a growth mindset, find their passion and value, and reflect on both their...

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani talk to Board Member & former CEO at Evite, Victor Cho . Victor discusses his experience leading a major turnaround for the iconic brand, what he sees as the nature of the beast when it comes to social systems, and lastly, he shares what he believes is the key to success - what he calls "The Fourth Stakeholder Framework". 

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani sit down with Bold Commerce CEO and former PayPal and Intuit executive, Peter Karpas . He shares his insights into product management, leadership, and personal development - and explains that to lead an organization through change, it is necessary to recognize that everyone's incentives are not the same.

Heather Samarin and Vidya Dinamani talk to Ginny Lee, former President & COO at Khan Academy.  A seasoned industry rebel with extensive experience in product management and infrastructure transformation. Ginny shares her tips for staying focused and saying no in order to achieve a compelling vision. 

Vidya Dinamani and Heather Samarin talk to product maestro, Christian Idiodi , former Global Head of Product at Datasite and current partner at the Silicon Valley Product Group.  Christian shares his unique experience and philosophies about the incalculable importance of onboarding for new product managers, the role of humility and collaboration in building successful product teams, and understand...