What does it take to transition from engineering to product? In this podcast hosted by Nacho Andrade, Bordo AI Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer Krunal Patel will be speaking on his career path from engineering to product. Krunal shares insights on the importance of technical expertise for product managers, the role of AI in augmenting product workflows, and how to build trust in AI-powered decision making.
Subscribe to the Product Talk podcast on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and catch every conversation with leading product executives. Episodes drop on Wednesdays.
Show Notes
- The importance of having a technical background or understanding for product managers to effectively collaborate with engineering teams.
- How product managers with engineering or design experience can bring a richer perspective to the product development process.
- The value of a problem-solving mindset versus just following a set of requirements or user stories.
- Krunal’s journey from an engineer to a product leader and the key realizations he had about the breadth of responsibilities in product management.
- The potential pitfalls of product managers coming from purely business backgrounds without technical expertise.
- Krunal’s approach to building Bordo.ai around the principles of contextual and explainable AI.
- The need for AI-powered tools to not just provide recommendations, but also explain the reasoning behind them.
- How AI can augment product management workflows, from research to ideation to prototyping.
- Krunal’s perspective on the future of product management, where technical and problem-solving skills will be increasingly valuable.
- The importance of understanding the “why” behind product decisions, not just the “what” and “how”.
- Advice for engineers looking to transition into product management, including the need to develop a customer-centric mindset.
- The value of cross-functional skills, where product managers can bridge the gap between engineering and business.
- Krunal’s thoughts on the potential of AI to enable small, highly-skilled teams to build successful products.
- The role of continuous experimentation and validation in effective product management.
- Krunal’s personal passion for using AI-powered tools to streamline his own product development workflow.
- The evolving nature of product management, where technical expertise and problem-solving are becoming increasingly crucial.
- Strategies for product managers to leverage AI and automation to focus on high-value, customer-centric tasks.
- The importance of building trust in AI-powered decision making through transparency and explainability.
- Insights on the friction that can arise between product and engineering teams, and how to address it.
- Krunal’s emphasis on the need for product managers to have a deep understanding of the “why” behind product decisions, not just the “what” and “how”.
About the speaker
Built what matters: 1. Bordo AI: Got $10M to build AI that large enterprises actually use 2. Saama: Took analytics platform from 5 to 1800+ clinical trials 3. Led 75 engineers globally, delivered 50% revenue growth 4. Built OnCamp's AI platform that outperformed industry hire rates by 20x 5. Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Led biomedical knowledge graph development Makes complex tech work in demanding fields: 1. Clinical trials and pharma R&D 2. Financial payments and transactions 3, Healthcare systems 4. Public safety solutions Background: 1. 20 years of building enterprise software 2. Patent holder for data analysis systems 3. HEC Paris MS grad Gets results through: 1. Rapid execution: Ship fast, measure impact, iterate based on data 2. Deep customer focus: Solve real problems that drive revenue 3. Strategic thinking: Build for scale while delivering immediate value 4. Team excellence: Hire top talent, develop leaders, build high-trust culture 5. Resource optimization: Do more with less, maximize ROI 6. Risk management: Navigate uncertainty, turn challenges into opportunities Core skills: 1. Product & Engineering: Full lifecycle from concept to scale 2. AI/ML: Building production systems that drive revenue 3. Leadership: Growing global teams, mentoring leaders 4. Go-to-Market: Product strategy, launch, rapid adoption, Sales 5. Stakeholder Management: C-suite to engineering teams 6. Sales: Solution selling, enterprise deals, sales enablement 7. Marketing: Product positioning, content strategy, demand gen 8. Partner Management: Building strategic alliances, channel growth
About the host
Nacho is an Evangelist for all things product, advocating for innovation, diversity, and building amazing products. Nacho has spent over 10 years in product roles ranging from startups to enterprise in industries like education, healthcare, finance and gaming.