What do product leaders need to consider to build successful AI-powered products? In this episode of Product Talk hosted by Kaboo Founder Neha Shah, Amazon Fmr. Head of Product Sheetal Rajpal shares insights on building successful AI-powered products. Sheetal discusses the importance of treating AI as a “garden” that requires human oversight, the challenges of balancing speed and thoughtfulness in AI development, and best practices for making critical model choices. She also provides examples of how she leveraged AI for personalization, content moderation, and recommendations in Amazon’s Kids Plus subscription product. Sheetal’s advice for aspiring product managers emphasizes honing product intuition, understanding AI’s unique capabilities, and thinking critically about user journeys and success metrics when incorporating AI into products.
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Show Notes
- AI is not a magic wand – it requires human oversight and care to guide the indeterministic outcomes.
- Speed of AI development has increased, but thoughtfulness in design and data quality is still critical.
- Model choices are “one-way doors” that require careful consideration upfront.
- Defining clear goals, experimentation plans, and success metrics are key for AI product development.
- Leveraging AI for content generation, personalization, and predictive insights can enhance user engagement.
- Content moderation is a crucial consideration, especially for products targeting children.
- Curating data sources and working closely with legal teams helps maintain trust in AI-powered products.
- Observing and critiquing existing AI-powered products can help hone product intuition.
- Understanding the unique capabilities of AI, such as summarization, Q&A, and coding, is valuable for product managers.
- Focusing on the user journey and identifying friction points are important when evaluating AI tools.
- Defining relevant KPIs to monitor the performance and impact of AI features is essential.
- Sheetal’s diverse background, including engineering, strategy, and entrepreneurship, contributed to her product expertise.
- Gaining business acumen through an MBA complemented Sheetal’s technical skills in product management.
- Sheetal’s customer empathy, developed through hands-on experience in manufacturing, was a key strength.
- Adapting to new cultures and sports as a child fostered Sheetal’s curiosity and problem-solving mindset.
- Sheetal’s experience at PepsiCo highlighted the need for faster innovation cycles in the tech industry.
- Consulting for startups and building her own e-commerce platform gave Sheetal valuable insights into digital-first product development.
- Infusing AI into lending products at LendingTree prepared Sheetal for her role at Amazon’s Kids Plus subscription.
- Sheetal’s advice emphasizes the importance of honing product intuition and understanding AI’s unique capabilities.
- Critiquing existing AI-powered products and thinking about user journeys and success metrics are recommended practices for aspiring product managers.
About the speaker
I am a Product Leader most recently at Amazon, where I led the Kids+ subscription product (SaaS) with $XXXMM ARR. I have over 15 years of experience (10 in product management and 5 in engineering) in building and growing products using data, AI/ML, research, strategy, and user empathy across various domains, including subscription, marketplace, media-tech, ed-tech, health-tech, real-estate tech, fintech, and e-commerce. I have an MBA from The Wharton School and an undergrad in Computer Science and Mathematics.
About the host
My experience covers the trifecta of B2B Product Management, Sales, and Marketing. I also co-founded a B2C startup focused on family and education technology. I believe technology can be a creative and powerful driving force for change, and am passionate about building products that improve every day experiences.