What’s the secret to building products that stand out in a crowded market? In this episode hosted by Daniel Feldman, Raycaster Co-Founder and CEO Levi Lian shares insights on the evolving role of product management and the importance of integrating product marketing and design for rapid execution. Hear how Levi’s background in ethnography and user research shaped his approach, and learn about the unique challenges and opportunities in the enterprise sales space.
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Show Notes
- Raycaster is a deal intelligence product for enterprise sales, helping sellers close more deals and increase revenue.
- Levi intentionally avoids emphasizing AI to avoid the standardization of the term, focusing on the practical application of the technology.
- Levi’s advice that a product manager should act as an unopinionated moderator to gather opinions and present frameworks, rather than being the “CEO of the product.”
- The differences between being a CEO and a product manager, with CEOs requiring faster decision-making.
- The trend towards integrating product marketing and product design to enable quicker building and selling.
- The potential conflict with R&D teams and the shift towards R&D thinking more like product managers.
- Levi’s journey into product management, starting with a class on ethnography and user research.
- Levi’s story of proposing to use Uber Cash as a growth engine, leading to a successful experiment.
- Raycaster’s focus on the enterprise sales motion, using internal data to provide deep customer understanding and personalized recommendations.
- Raycaster’s approach to differentiating itself from large competitors like Microsoft.
- The importance of security and compliance in handling customer data, and Raycaster’s transparency about the data it needs.
- Raycaster’s target market of growth-stage and Fortune 500 companies.
- The importance of rapid iteration and personalization in the AI-driven sales landscape.
- Levi’s invitation for companies interested in Raycaster’s AI go-to-market strategy to reach out.
- The shift towards integrating product marketing and product design to enable quicker building and selling.
- The potential for R&D teams to think more like product managers, focusing on commercializing technology.
- The value of understanding customer needs and translating them into product requirements, even in a rapidly changing market.
- The challenges of handling sensitive customer data and Raycaster’s approach to ensuring security and compliance.
- The importance of transparency and building trust with customers when introducing new technologies.
- Levi’s emphasis on the need for product managers to have the “leadership without authority” mindset.
About the speaker
Levi Lian is the co-founder and CEO of a stealth-mode AI startup, backed by top-tier VCs. With a clear vision to redefine how businesses grow and scale, Levi and his team are transforming how GTM organizations deeply understand customers, driving smarter decisions and accelerating revenue growth. Levi is a proven innovator who has successfully brought multiple high-impact products from zero to one at leading B2B companies like Uber for Business, Intuit, and Solvvy (acquired by Zoom). His innovation on Uber Cash as a key growth engine attracted significant media coverage and industry recognition. A thought leader in the startup world, Levi has been awarded fellowships from Accel, 8VC, and True Ventures. He holds a B.S. in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, blending his expertise in technology, business, and human behavior to fuel innovations. When he’s not building the future of AI, Levi enjoys playing the saxophone and social dancing—both of which, much like startups, require adaptability, collaboration, and the ability to improvise to the rhythm of the market.
About the host
Daniel Feldman is a seasoned technologist, with more than two decades of business and product management expertise. At Siemens eMobility, Feldman leads Product Management, having previously led the AC and North America PM teams. He’s brought astute optimization best practices to generate efficiency and drive cost-effective solutions. Before joining Siemens eMobility, Feldman held leadership roles at Enel X, where he led eMobility Product Management and Microsemi, where he most recently led business development, channel and outbound marketing before its sale to Microchip. Previously, he led management of PoE Switches, injectors and solar bypass devices. In 2004, he began his career in product management for power over ethernet integrated circuits and boards at PowerDsine (PDSN) when it went public and was later acquired by Microsemi. He’s also worked at NICE Systems on integrated circuits, specifically, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGA) and RAFAEL, where he worked on software and chip design. He co-founded IC4IC, where he created system architecture for wireless infrastructure equipment. He holds five patents in remote power transmission and five patents pending in EV charging. Daniel holds a B.Sc. in Computer Engineering from Technion and an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business.