How do you move from shipping features to building a product vision that actually drives growth? In this podcast hosted by Huntress Director of Product Nisarg Desai, American Express Vice President of Product Management Jose Quesada shares how he approaches product vision and strategy for building a scalable B2C growth engine. Jose breaks down the difference between vision and strategy, how to ground ambitious north stars in execution, and what it takes to turn product thinking into a durable growth engine.
Show Notes:
- Product vision defines the future state you are aiming for; strategy defines how you move toward it over time.
- Vision and strategy are often confused, but they serve different roles and should never be interchangeable.
- A strong vision acts as a north star that guides decision-making across teams, not a roadmap of features.
- Strategy is iterative and hypothesis-driven, requiring constant testing and refinement.
- Product vision should be ambitious enough to inspire teams while remaining connected to real customer value.
- Grounding vision happens through strategy, not by diluting ambition.
- Product strategy bridges customer needs, business outcomes, and organizational capabilities.
- Understanding internal strengths—your “reasons to win”—is as important as understanding customers.
- Strategy is not reserved for senior leaders; every product manager should practice strategic thinking within their scope.
- Early-career product managers accelerate growth by developing strategy muscles, not just delivery skills.
- Large-scale products reduce risk by shipping value incrementally before major launches.
- Reducing uncertainty is more valuable than trying to “fail fast.”
- Hypothesis-driven testing helps distinguish between execution problems and flawed strategy.
- Vision should remain stable over multiple years, while strategy evolves annually or more often.
- If repeated hypotheses fail, revisit foundational assumptions behind the vision.
- Sustainable growth requires running discovery and delivery in parallel, not sequentially.
- Dual-track thinking allows teams to ship confidently today while preparing for the next 18–24 months.
- Short-term strategy is necessary when fundamentals are broken; long-term strategy matters once stability exists.
- AI is reshaping both product experiences and product management workflows, including strategic thinking.
- The strongest product leaders pair strategic rigor with soft skills like storytelling, influence, and clarity of thought.
About the speaker
Jose Quesada is the Vice President of Product Management (Mobile & Web) at Amex responsible for the digital product strategy and experience frameworks of the Amex app and Amex.com. Jose’s been leading digital product management for the last 12 years at Amex and is based in London (with a 3-year stint in NY), spending the majority of his tenure building the Amex app from the ground up. Jose has helped cultivate a transparent, collaborative work environment within his team to develop solution-oriented products and experiences for customers. Through his visionary leadership, Jose has created an environment that thrives on customer-centricity and solution-oriented thinking, leading to the creation of exceptional products and experiences for customers.
About the host
Nisarg is currently the Director of Product at cloud security unicorn Lacework, and has a decade of experience in Product Management with the entirety of his focus on securing enterprises from cyberattacks. He has built both 0-1 and 1-100 products in cybersecurity. He is passionate about pushing forward the field of product management by helping a diverse field of entrants grow into successful PMs. He lives in Boston, MA.