The first AI-native role in business
Product's fourth reinvention
Last week, Forbes covered our fifth annual CPO Insights Report, and Larry English caught something most takes on this data miss: product builders are rising as the first AI-native role in business.
We’re seeing the fourth reinvention of the product profession. A decade ago, product people were project managers, borrowing authority they didn’t have to move engineers. Then PLG turned them into general managers with real P&L ownership. Then they became CPOs. Now, they’re becoming product builders.
AI removed the execution constraint, and most companies have been running an efficiency play. They ship faster and burn people out or do the same work with fewer people and call it a 20% gain.
Product builders are using judgment to scale both AI output and decision quality at once. They’re thinking like founders inside the enterprise, and it’s producing outsized growth without adding headcount or cost.
Join the conversation on my Linkedin and read the data behind it, our 2026 CPO Insights Report. And if you know a leader redesigning their org around this shift, forward this their way.
Nominations are still open for the Product Builder Awards, recognizing the PMs, Sr. PMs, and Group PMs setting the pace for what comes next. Click the banner above to nominate a builder who deserves to be seen.
Check out some of our recent content from top voices in the product space.
BetterHelp CPO on Why CPOs Need to Think Like Business Operators
ATOSS CPTO on Why Product Managers Need to Think Like Investors
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