#53 Building AI? You're Doing It Wrong Without This | Ami Vora - CPO at Faire, ex-WhatsApp, FB, IG

Ami Vora, CPO at Faire and former VP of Product & Design at WhatsApp, shares a unique perspective on how fear can be a driving force in decision-making and career growth. Raised in a family where fear played a significant role in shaping decisions, she turned fear into a tool for clarity.Rather than ignoring fear, she acknowledges it, writing down her fears and actively mitigating them when making big decisions, such as accepting a new job. By making the fear explicit, she unravels its power, turning it into actionable insights that help guide her.

Vora's experience reflects the ever-changing landscape of tech, where continuous learning is the only way to remain relevant. She draws on a lesson from a high school teacher, emphasizing the importance of staying on the frontier of knowledge to adapt to the unpredictable nature of the industry. Vora integrates this mindset by constantly challenging herself with low-stakes learning experiences outside of work, like ice skating, to reinforce the mindset of growth and adaptation. She reminds us that, especially in product and AI, there’s a need to embrace curiosity and let go of the pressure to always be right. In a world where everything is evolving rapidly, embracing failure and being comfortable with not knowing is essential for continual progress.Chapters0:00 Technology Won't Save You—Learning Will

2:09 Meet Ami Vora: From WhatsApp to Wild Versatility

4:04 How Jokes Helped Me Lead Through Hard Times

6:18 Turning Liberal Thinking Into a Career Superpower

9:00 What Actually Drives Us? Energy Over Everything

13:00 The Hardest Job I Stayed In—and What It Taught Me

17:00 Fear, Feedback, and Showing Up Anyway

20:00 Context Switching for Humans (Not Just AI)

22:08 The Tools I Trust: Reframing, Fear-Setting, and Closing Loops

36:02 AI, Agency, and Always Being Behind

43:27 Being Right vs Being Curious—The Career Mindset Shift

47:13 Execution > Strategy: Why Doing Beats Planning

51:25 My Career Is a Small Plates Dinner—and That’s a Superpower