Products That Count

What 1,500 CPOs say about their future

Wed, 27 May 2026 15:51:02 GMT

Five years ago, we started surveying CPOs to define what it takes to lead product. Today, the answer keeps getting more interesting.

I’m thrilled to share the 2026 CPO Insights Report: From Builder to Investor: The New Product Mandate. It’s the biggest study we’ve ever done, with insights from 1,500+ Chief Product Officers across twelve industries and three continents. And for the first time, we expanded the dataset to include private companies with $1B–$10B in revenue. Because 96% of AI companies are private, and that’s where product innovation is happening right now.

The headline finding is that in 2026, the CPO is going on offense. AI has compressed product cycles from months to days, with traditional PMs down 30% (70% in SaaS) as the Product Builder takes over. The bottleneck has moved downstream to GTM and adoption, and 1 in 3 CPOs now own the M&A agenda, marking the rise of the Chief Product Investor.

This is the most consequential shift in product leadership in a decade. The leaders who understand it will run the next generation of companies, and the ones who don't will get left behind.

Download the 2026 CPO Insights Report

We are currently accepting applications for our Q2 Advisory Councils. If you're a senior product leader and you'd like to get involved, click the banner above.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

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Why your best PMs are burning out

Wed, 20 May 2026 18:23:22 GMT

I’ve been noticing signs of exhaustion in my recent conversations with product leaders. They’re moving faster than ever, but feeling worn down in a way the pace doesn't quite account for.

Exhaustion usually comes from increased productivity that doesn’t translate into net positive gain. You’re doing more, but that extra output isn’t leading to results. AI is accelerating this for product teams. The cost and time required to produce anything has dropped, and the instinct is to convert that capacity straight into greater output.

The product leaders I’m seeing get this right are leveraging AI more intentionally. They're putting weight behind a smaller set of bets, and you can feel the difference when you talk to their teams. There's more clarity about what actually matters and less low-grade churn.

So here’s my question for you: is doing more actually moving the needle for your product, or is it just creating more noise? I'd love to hear your take. Join the conversation on my LinkedIn.

We are currently accepting applications for our Q2 Advisory Councils. If you're a senior product leader and you'd like to get involved, click the banner above.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

Are You Actually Getting Better at AI? Talent.com CPTO Built a System That Tells You the Truth

SC Moatti — Wed, 20 May 2026 13:35:50 GMT

Everyone is using AI, but almost no one can tell you if they are actually getting better at it. In this episode of Product Talk hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and Board Member of Products That Count, Talent.com CPTO Navya Rehani Gupta speaks on the self learning system she built to make AI capability development measurable and self improving at the executive level. Navya walks through exactly how she went from using AI as a learning tool to building a full operating system called Synergy that scores her weekly across five dimensions, catches mistake patterns before they compound, and delivers the signal she needs every morning to lead product, engineering, and go to market teams without becoming the bottleneck.

Speed Without Breaking Trust: AI Transformation at Scale

SC Moatti — Mon, 18 May 2026 10:50:21 GMT

What happens when speed and trust collide in fintech? In this episode of Product Talk, hosted by CentralSquare Technologies CPO Denise Hemke, Intuit Director of Product Rosa Gonzalez Welton speaks on how AI is transforming product development inside one of the most high stakes software environments in the world. When you are shipping into payroll, tax, and workforce management, moving fast is only half the equation. Rosa breaks down how Intuit is putting rapid prototyping tools in everyone's hands, raising decision velocity, and still protecting reliability through risk rubrics and controlled rollouts.

How AI Super Analysts Are Changing the Way Product Leaders Think

SC Moatti — Fri, 15 May 2026 19:12:10 GMT

Are your dashboards giving you visibility or understanding? In this episode of Product Talk hosted by Digitalzone CPO Sonjoy Ganguly, AskEnola CEO Piyanka Jain speaks on how AI is transforming the way product leaders interpret data, make decisions, and ultimately build products. This conversation goes beyond tools and demos to focus on something more fundamental: judgment, interpretation, and what it really means to lead with data in an era where insights can be instant but wisdom still has to be earned.

Who's defining product this quarter?

Wed, 13 May 2026 17:31:57 GMT

For eight years, the Product Awards have been built on the same conviction that runs through everything we do at Products That Count. Product people see breakout work before anyone else does, and a community of product people sees it even earlier.

We’re now accepting Q2 nominations in three categories: Fintech, Healthcare, and Cybersecurity. Each of these spaces is shifting fast right now. AI is rewiring credit, compliance, and underwriting in fintech. Product is finally getting traction in healthcare systems that have resisted it for decades. And the cybersecurity threat surface is widening faster than most organizations can model.

We’ve already received over 12,000 nominations this year. That tells you how fast the product function is growing, and how much this community wants to recognize the work being done inside it.

Who in fintech, healthcare, or cybersecurity is doing work that belongs on the Q2 shortlist? Nominate them, and tell us why.

Nominate an outstanding product

A quick note for our New York City community: join us in person next week for a fireside chat on the human side of product leadership. Request your free ticket here.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

EP 673 - From Game Dev to Google: Agentic AI, Zero to One, and the Future of Product Management

SC Moatti — Wed, 13 May 2026 11:37:57 GMT

What does it actually take to build a product when no one believes it's possible? In this episode of Product Talk, hosted by Thomson Reuters Director of Product Vinay Aradhya, Google Group Product Lead Pawel Siarkiewicz speaks on what zero to one product building really looks like, how agentic AI is rewriting the rules of software development, and what separates great product managers from the rest. Drawing from his journey as a game developer, FinTech CTO, and the lead PM who helped build Google Stadia from scratch, Pawel brings rare perspective on the craft of building and leading in an era where everything is changing fast.

A win for the product community

Wed, 06 May 2026 15:59:24 GMT

Last week, the case for product showed up in the Wall Street Journal. Mighty Capital closed an oversubscribed $91M Fund III, three times the size of our last. Behind it are 6 IPOs and over $1 billion of value created.

These outcomes are the result of a thesis this community has lived for years, which we call the Product Alpha Effect. Early product signals are leading indicators of category-defining companies, and product leaders are uniquely positioned to read them.

I'm proud of what this means for the product community. We have been the ones seeing the future first for a long time. The numbers say we were right, and the WSJ coverage says the rest of the world is catching up.

What does this mean for the future of product? The conversation is already underway on my LinkedIn post. I'd love to hear your perspective.

A quick note for our New York City community: join us in person next week for a fireside chat on the human side of product leadership. Request your free ticket here.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

Deploying Nuclear at Software Speed to Achieve Energy Abundance

SC Moatti — Wed, 06 May 2026 10:51:38 GMT

How can nuclear energy be deployed at software speed to meet the urgency of climate change? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, host Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing Everstar Founder & CEO Kevin Kong to discuss leveraging AI and software to deploy nuclear power, building the right product with the right people, and the importance of grit and empathy in product development.

The 2026 CPO Awards Winners are here

Wed, 29 Apr 2026 18:55:07 GMT

Every year, the CPO Awards are one of my favorite moments in our community, because they remind me just how much the role of the Chief Product Officer has evolved, and how much further it’s going.

When I started Products That Count, “product” meant owning the roadmap and shipping on time. Today, the CPOs I talk to are leading AI strategy, reshaping org charts, and making judgment calls on questions the industry has never had to answer before. The scope of the job has expanded in ways few other C-suite roles have, and the leaders stepping up are rewriting the playbook in real time.

The 2026 CPO Awards winners are exactly those leaders. They’re building the products we use every day, and they’re showing all of us what great looks like in this new era. I am so proud to celebrate them.

Meet the 2026 CPO Awards Winners

Today in San Francisco, winners are gathering for the CPO Awards celebration, where they get an exclusive first look at insights from our highly anticipated annual CPO Insights Report. Huge congratulations to every winner, and thank you to this community for making work like this possible.

Elevate your craft with our free in-person and online events designed to keep you connected and ahead of the curve.

On April 29 in San Francisco: 5th Annual Products That Count CPO Awards for Leadership Excellence. Apply for an invitation.

On April 30 in San Francisco: What It Takes to Build Product at the World’s Largest Companies. RSVP here.

On May 14 in New York City: The Human Side of Product Leadership. Get your ticket.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

The PM's Second Brain: How AI Becomes Your Personal Chief of Staff

SC Moatti — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 11:07:54 GMT

What if your AI knew your meetings, your goals, and your patterns, and had everything ready before you even opened your laptop? In this episode of Product Talk hosted by Denise Hemke, Rise2.AI Founder Vikash Rungta will be speaking on how product managers can build a "second brain", an AI-powered knowledge system that acts as a personal chief of staff. Vikash shares the exact framework for getting started, the most common mistakes PMs make, and why ingestion matters far more than generation.

What AI Still Can’t Do

SC Moatti — Fri, 24 Apr 2026 11:06:54 GMT

Can AI truly be your co-founder, or is that a role only a human can fill? In this podcast hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and a Board Member at Products That Count, KC Advisors Executive Leadership Coach Keith Cowing will be speaking on what AI still can't do when it comes to building companies and teams. Drawing on his experience as a former CPO at LinkedIn, Twitter, and Flatiron Health, Keith shares a framework for what makes a great co-founder and whether AI, or an alternative profile, could ever step into that role.

Who's leveling up the PM community?

Wed, 22 Apr 2026 16:45:38 GMT

The strength of any community comes down to the people in it, and Q1 reminded me just how exceptional ours is. I’m proud to recognize our Q1 2026 MVPs and AMA Speakers. These are product leaders who showed up and made our programs better for everyone in them.

Our AMA speakers brought real-world insights directly to participants in our PM Certification Courses, programs designed to up-skill and up-level product teams. Our MVPs represent the best of our chapter and council programs, the members who lead with a genuine commitment to the community. This quarter included Senior Director Product Leaders and VPs from companies like Netflix, Capital One, and Oracle.

These are the people investing in the future of product management, and they’re part of your network. Thank you to all of our Q1 honorees, we’re grateful to have you. And if you're a senior level product leader and you'd like to get involved, apply to join us below.

Apply to join the Advisory Council

Elevate your craft with our free in-person and online events designed to keep you connected and ahead of the curve.

On April 29 in San Francisco: 5th Annual Products That Count CPO Awards for Leadership Excellence. Apply for an invitation.

On April 30 in San Francisco: What It Takes to Build Product at the World’s Largest Companies. RSVP here.

On May 14 in New York City: The Human Side of Product Leadership. Get your ticket.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

How To Measure Productivity Gain From AI

SC Moatti — Wed, 22 Apr 2026 10:12:51 GMT

How can product and engineering leaders actually prove the ROI of AI adoption when everyone is being asked to justify the investment but few teams have a clear measurement playbook? In this podcast hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and a Board Member at Products That Count, Pensero AI Co-Founder Bernardo Hernandez will be speaking on how to measure productivity gains from AI in a way that is rigorous, practical, and useful for annual planning cycles. As tools like Cursor and Claude Code promise 3 to 10× productivity gains in engineering, leadership teams are moving quickly to allocate budgets and set expectations, while product leaders are being asked to benchmark progress and quantify impact without clear precedents. This conversation explores how experienced operators are approaching that challenge and what it takes to turn AI productivity claims into measurable results that teams can confidently use for planning and decision-making.

The AI-Native Product Team: How CPOs Are Rebuilding Their Org Charts

SC Moatti — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 08:11:51 GMT

How are Chief Product Officers redesigning their org charts and ways of working to build truly AI-native product teams? In this podcast hosted by Hoda Mehr, Co-founder and CEO of Up My Mojo and a Board Member at Products That Count, Monumental Chief Product Officer Pawan Gaargi will be speaking on how product leaders are transforming their teams to operate in the AI era. As organizations move beyond using AI as a feature-level tool and begin rethinking how products are built, shipped, and managed, product leaders are being asked to reshape processes, decision-making, and collaboration across their teams. Drawing from his experience scaling teams and rebuilding workflows through acquisitions at Monumental and from his early product leadership roots at Zynga, Pawan shares how experimentation, hypothesis-driven thinking, and hands-on leadership are helping teams become AI-native while keeping core product fundamentals like retention, player motivation, and growth metrics firmly in focus.

Conative AI Founder on Connecting Marketing, Inventory, and Operations with AI Forecasting

SC Moatti — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 10:35:12 GMT

How can companies stop losing revenue because marketing, inventory, and operations are working from disconnected data? In this podcast hosted by EY Chief Platform Officer Justin Leibow, Conative.ai Founder Mike Le discusses how AI-driven demand forecasting helps organizations align teams, improve decision-making, and increase cash-flow efficiency. He also explores why clean, connected data matters more than models alone, and how AI agents are reshaping the way product, marketing, and inventory teams collaborate to act faster and smarter.

The blueprint behind products winning in AI

Wed, 15 Apr 2026 17:30:46 GMT

Over the past year, I’ve been watching a shift across the strongest product teams working with AI. It’s no longer enough to add intelligence to products, what matters now is where that intelligence lives and what it does.

This shows up clearly in the 2026 Q1 AI & Data Product Awards Guide, which brings together insights from the 72 products selected by our Awards Advisory Council. These winners reveal where product strategy is heading next, and three signals stand out.

First, intelligence is moving into infrastructure. Winning AI products are embedded directly into operational workflows and decision environments.

Second, AI outcomes now matter more than AI novelty. Leaders want to see improvements in cycle time, quality, cost, and reach, and the winning products deliver measurable results.

Third, we’re seeing the move from insight to agentic execution. AI is increasingly completing work inside enterprise systems, changing expectations for what software should do.

Taken together, these signals point to something important: AI is becoming operational infrastructure.

That’s exactly what the 2026 Q1 AI & Data Product Awards Guide explores. If you’re building products in the AI era, these are patterns worth studying closely. Download your free copy below.

Explore the Q1 Product Guide

Elevate your craft with our free in-person and online events designed to keep you connected and ahead of the curve.

On April 16 in New York City: High-Stakes Calls, Vertical Intelligence, and the AI Product Frontier. Request your invite.

On April 29 in San Francisco: 5th Annual Products That Count CPO Awards for Leadership Excellence. Apply for an invitation.

On April 30 in San Francisco: What It Takes to Build Product at the World’s Largest Companies. RSVP here.

Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.

Are you enjoying our Product newsletter? We are always striving to elevate our content and provide ample value. Please share your feedback, questions, and comments.

Producing Feedstock Materials for Sustainable Manufacturing

SC Moatti — Wed, 15 Apr 2026 11:11:40 GMT

How can sustainable feedstock materials reshape manufacturing while accelerating climate progress? The scale and urgency of the transformation required to fight climate change has never been more clear. Building hardware and software products, acquiring the funding and creating a diverse community to enhance talent capacity and to drive innovation, is essential to tackling this global environmental crisis. In this podcast, host Silicon Valley Bank (a division of First Citizens Bank) Climate Tech & Sustainability SVP Maggie Wong will be interviewing Mothership Materials CEO & Co-Founder Jo Marini to discuss producing sustainable feedstock materials, the importance of customer discovery and building stakeholder relationships and finding joy in product development.

Polygraf AI Head of Product on Securing Enterprise AI Adoption

SC Moatti — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 23:03:46 GMT

How can enterprises unlock AI adoption while keeping sensitive data secure? In this podcast hosted by Boston New Technology CPO Shweta Agrawal, Polygraf AI Head of Product Anar Bayramov discusses how organizations can manage AI risk, protect data flows, and build governance into their AI strategy from the start. He shares lessons from building in regulated environments, explains why visibility into AI usage is the foundation of trust, and explores how product leaders can shift the conversation from fear-driven security to enabling responsible AI at scale.

Level AI Head of Product on Building Trusted Agentic AI for Customer Experience

SC Moatti — Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:26:38 GMT

How do product leaders decide what AI should automate and what should stay human-in-the-loop? In this podcast hosted by Mphasis VP of Products Chenny Solaiyappan, Level AI Head of Product Sirisha Machiraju will be speaking on how teams move AI from experimentation to strategic priority while balancing trust, adoption, and risk in enterprise environments. She also shares a practical playbook for evaluating assistive vs. agentic workflows and explains how conversation intelligence is reshaping customer experience across industries, including healthcare.