The rise of the Product Builder
Bold predictions from the 2026 CPO Rising Series
Last week we shared the 2026 CPO Insights findings. Now, the CPO Rising podcast series is back for year five, and it kicks off with an exciting prediction about where the best product leaders are headed.
This year, Renee Niemi and I are calling the emergence of the product builder: a new kind of product leader doing the work of twelve, with 20x the business impact. The PM title is evolving into something far more powerful. Renee has already spoken to 1,500 CPOs this year, and the best ones are already making the shift.
This conversation is the first episode of the 2026 CPO Rising Series. From there, you’ll hear directly from this year’s CPO award winners, each one showing what great product leadership actually looks like right now. Tune in to our kickoff episode below, and subscribe to Product Talk on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts so you don’t miss any of the insights to come.
Are you in San Francisco? Click the banner above to request your invite to our exclusive executive roundtable on clean, business-ready data and AI ROI. Off-the-record, invite-only, and hosted at a private speakeasy ten minutes from Moscone.
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