The Product Experience
Mind the Product
The Product Experience features conversations with the product people of the world, focusing on real insights of how to improve your product practice. Part of the Mind the Product network, hosts Lily Smith (ProductTank organiser and Product Consultant) & Randy Silver (Head of Product and product management trainer) “go deep” with the best speakers from ProductTank meetups all over the globe, Mind the Product conferences, and the wider product community.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 13, 2026 • 44min
What I learned from unbuilding products and systems in the Public Sector - Ayushi Roy (Product Leader)
Ayushi Roy, a product leader and lifelong civil servant who built public-sector systems like IRS Direct File and campus safety tools, discusses designing for the lowest digital denominator. She explains thin-slicing for safe failure, separating design from engineering, and when unbuilding systems is the right choice. Short, pragmatic stories show why public delivery needs a distinct playbook.
10 snips
May 6, 2026 • 41min
Everything you need to know about product messaging— Diane Wiredu (B2B, SaaS, Marketing, leader)
Diane Wiredu, founder of Lion Words and messaging strategist for B2B SaaS, walks through a research-driven, five-step approach to product messaging. She breaks down how messaging differs from copy and positioning. Short, actionable segments cover diagnosing failing messaging, structuring website heroes, creating a messaging hub, and quick testing tactics for faster market resonance.
24 snips
Apr 29, 2026 • 41min
AI ate their search traffic. Here's what Springer Nature built instead — Prathik Roy
Prathik Roy, Product Director for Data and AI Solutions and former quantum chemist, explains how publishers can unlock and monetize the hidden value in scientific content. He discusses AI-driven shifts in content visibility, risks around training on paywalled material, structuring articles for machine consumption, attribution concerns, and new data-as-a-service monetization and rights strategies.
57 snips
Apr 22, 2026 • 45min
How to connect vision, strategy, and execution - Martin Eriksson (Author, The Decision Stack)
Martin Eriksson, product leader and co-founder of Mind the Product, explains The Decision Stack, a model linking vision to everyday choices. He talks about why strategy is often missing, the five key questions that connect layers, using principles to stop recurring debates, and practical techniques for surfacing gaps and making trade-offs visible.
45 snips
Apr 15, 2026 • 42min
The document that can replace PRDs — Rags Vadali (Founder & CEO, floto.ai)
Rags Vadali, Founder and CEO of Floto and former product leader at Google, YouTube and Meta, builds feedback agents for product teams. He talks about engineering-first workflows for agent development. He explains the Product Experience Document, synthetic personas, and how teams balance rapid experiments with product quality. He shares hiring tips for AI-native teams and where this approach fits best.
13 snips
Apr 8, 2026 • 41min
What I learned from an industry pivot - Kate Kempe (Director of Product, International Baccalaureate)
Kate Kempe, Director of Product at the International Baccalaureate with prior product and leadership roles at Amazon and LoveFilm. She recounts her career pivot to mission-driven work. She explains using peer job-search councils, adapting persuasion from docs to conversations, and rebuilding product capability in a less mature org. She contrasts big tech culture with education constraints like academic calendars.
14 snips
Apr 1, 2026 • 57min
How to build EQ as a Product Leader - Pippa Topp (CPO, giffgaff)
Pippa Topp, Chief Product Officer at giffgaff and experienced product coach, explores emotional intelligence in product teams. She explains how low EQ shows up as defensiveness and reactive communication. She covers applying empathy inward to colleagues, the conscious competence model for self-awareness, coaching techniques, building an EQ culture, neurodiversity, and the role of AI in checking tone.
13 snips
Mar 25, 2026 • 44min
The state of product in Europe - Elias Lieberich (Product Strategy Coach)
Elias Lieberich, product strategy coach and founder of Product Matters with past PM roles at Google, YouTube and Google X. He contrasts European and Silicon Valley product culture. He highlights three recurring cultural gaps and explains how to introduce product thinking via small, visible wins. He shares practical steps for working with deep tech startups and getting organisations to adopt new practice.
7 snips
Mar 18, 2026 • 41min
How to fix broken systems - Kate Tarling (CEO, The Service Group)
Kate Tarling, service design consultant, author, and CEO of The Service Group, helps large organisations fix messy service delivery. She explains why services are different from products. She talks about common signs of broken systems, how to pick cross-functional service areas, and practical principles for steering work with clear outcomes and decisions.
39 snips
Mar 11, 2026 • 52min
How to communicate the value of product work - Rich Mironov (CPO Coach)
Rich Mironov, product leader and CPO coach who wrote Money Stories, shows why product teams must speak in revenue, retention, and ROI. He explains order-of-magnitude estimates, tagging roadmaps with revenue ranges, and using money-framed narratives to handle sales pressure. He also walks through upsell and retention archetypes and how AI fits into financial storytelling.
