Fail Faster

Guy Assedou is the former Chief Product Officer, at BQE Software and Ex-Meta leader. Guy joins us today to bring to surface the role of a good product manager who can keep his team focused with the right mindset and can add a lot of value to the organization. Guy shares the reasons why projects fail and what approaches can minimize failures from the get-go. Guy also shares great tips for successful product roll-outs with tactical examples of how to target healthy adoption. He emphasizes the importance of a strong partnership between the product and design teams, where clear problems and roles are defined towards successful outcomes.

Samip Mehra, Senior Vice President Of Engineering at Synapse, joins us today for a peek at his world. Synapse is a launchpad for Financial Innovation. They are the only regulated embedded finance platform provider that enables companies across the globe to launch feature complete deposit, payment, and credit products at scale. Samip believes that one of the ways of staying relevant is by sharing your knowledge like an open book. He truly believes that leaders are as good as their teams. Investing in your team's happiness is crucial, creating an environment where they commit towards a collective outcome is a great recipe for impactful results. Samip enjoys creating relationships that last. He extended a warm invite to the host to visit his beautiful town and his home in Phoenix, Arizona.

Paul Ghio, VP Product, Shutterstock Marketplace product leader joins us for a super insightful episode of Fail Faster. Paul shares a very interesting story of a risky bet a company made that touches on the common root problem of why products fail. He shares how sometimes products are built on approximations for personas who don't exist and what could be the expense for such decisions, how businesses might be missing crucial learnings by keeping their focus only on the profits and the responsibility of good designers who check their biases at the door and carry their customers on their shoulders in the conference room.

In this episode of the "Fail Faster Podcast," our guest, Kapil Dhawan, Vice President, Engineering at SymphonyAI Retail CPG, shares his insights and experiences as a leader in the retail and CPG industry, focusing on Symphony AI's endeavors in customer-centric retailing and data-driven decision-making. The discussion covers the integration of AI and generative AI models, customer demands for real-time insights, and the challenges of balancing competing priorities. Kapil also offers valuable tips on staying calm in tricky situations and the importance of perseverance in achieving long-term goals. Join us to gain valuable insights into the world of AI in retail and CPG.

In this episode, we dive into the fascinating journey of Arul Isai Imran, Vice President of Product and UX Design at Premise Data. Premise Data is a technology company that collects, analyzes, and provides real-time global data to empower businesses and organizations with valuable insights. Arul shares insightful stories from his career, including how he learned to fail faster and pivot when needed. From building innovative mobile apps to managing a diverse team, Arul's experiences offer valuable lessons in the ever-changing world of product design. Join us as we explore the importance of embracing failure, developing a learning mindset, and creating a safe and supportive environment for team successes.

Join us for an insightful episode featuring Saifu Muhammad, VP of User Experience and Product at Xometry, as he shares his diverse journey from web development to product management. Discover how Xometry, a leading on-demand manufacturing platform, bridges the gap between product management and design, fostering a collaborative approach. Learn about Saifu's tools and techniques for cultivating critical thinking and driving impactful outcomes. Saifu also shares his experiences with setbacks and successes, and his passion for holistic product development at Xometry. Don't miss this exciting conversation!

Amanda Culver is a Senior Product Designer with 6 years of experience at Frost Bank where she crafts experiences that help Texans improve their financial health and literacy. She’s passionate about giving as much love and attention to her personal life as she does to her work—always keeping the two separate—and mentors young designers on how to stand out in the interview process, how to navigate and build healthy work relationships, and find fulfillment in the day-to-day work.

Prashant Kumar, VP of Products at Bluecore, a retail marketing platform that enables marketers to connect casual shoppers to the products that transform them into lifetime customers, joins us for a highly insightful conversation. He shares how one visit to witness the day in the life of a brand front liner was an awakening that shaped the future of his career. Prashant shares insights about what marketers need for customer retention. He also talks about how data, empathy, intelligence and being flexible can feed the demands of an evolving customer. Identification of the customer demands remains the key to successful outcomes for both the brand and the consumer.

Join us as we demystify Web 3 and blockchain technologies with Sumeet Ahuja, Former Vice President - Product at Circle. Circle is a global financial technology firm that enables businesses of all sizes to harness the power of digital currencies. Let's discover how these innovations impact businesses, customers, and society and learn about the early adopters, the governance failures, and what to expect next. Sumeet is passionate about contributing by giving back, he does that as a mentor by empowering leaders of tomorrow and as an investor advisor to startups. Get a glimpse of the future possibilities of Web 3 and blockchain from Sumeet's perspective.

Join Jeremy Katzeff, Head of Buy Side Solutions at Golden Source, as he shares successes and failures in financial services UX. Golden Source is a leading provider of data management solutions, empowering businesses with accurate and reliable data for enhanced decision-making. Discover how institutions are adapting to data explosion and creating user-centric designs for better decision-making. Get insights on driving transformation in the industry and the future of finance. Tune in for an engaging discussion on the Fail Faster podcast!

In this episode of Fail Faster, we sit down with Daniela Shuffler, VP, Head of Product Design at The Knot Worldwide. Daniela shares her interesting and winding path of navigating the industry as a self-taught designer to leveraging human connection and emotion to drive great user experiences, at a leading global wedding experience provider. She talks about how this flagship brand has stayed relevant for decades. What has driven opportunities for establishing radical relatability with their customers and vendors as they look to the future of their brand and their business.

InfoBeans' Fail Faster team welcomes Luis Mata, CTO of Metabolic Living Technology. He shares the secrets of empowering individuals in their health and wellness journey. He highlights his unique approach to recruiting and the keys to building happy, high-performing teams. There are a lot of invaluable lessons and strategies Luis shares in this episode for leaders to thrive in the ever-evolving tech landscape.

Todd Unger is the Chief Experience Officer of the American Medical Association, where he has driven record growth and gained international recognition for their CX program. A transformational marketing and digital executive, Unger’s experience places him at the nexus of e-commerce, content, technology, product development and marketing, the building blocks of today’s customer experience. Unger spent a decade at marketing powerhouses Procter & Gamble and Leo Burnett (where he helped invent GladWare Containers) before he leapt into the exploding digital world as a product manager in the early days of America Online, leading the $100 million AOL Local business and pioneering a predecessor to today’s Yelp. As a Chief Digital Officer and CMO, he’s since led digital and marketing teams across large and small media companies, including Lifetime Television, Time Inc. and the DailyRacing Form.

Jeremy Abrams is a self-taught UX practitioner. His unique blend of formal education and self-led learning led him through the rough-and-tumble world of startups to his current role as UX Director at Prosper Marketplace. Jeremy values leading with empathy, learning through failure, and fostering shared trust to empower his team. Prior to Prosper, Jeremy spearheaded the design of remote healthcare products at Anthem Insurance (now known as Elevance Health). As a staunch advocate of independent learning, Jeremy mentors aspiring UX professionals in his free time.

Elizabeth Benker is a user experience and product design leader. She builds design teams that launch human-centered products. In her 20+ years in the tech industry, she’s helped over 50 companies design flagship products that work better for people. Currently, she is head of user experience and global content at Alteryx, the leading analytics cloud platform.

Dave Clark believes that the right design approach can create amazing experiences, solve practically any problem, and create massive business value. He is the VP of Experience Design at Kin + Carta, a global digital transformation consultancy, and oversees digital product design across a wide range of F1000 clients in Aviation, Healthcare, FinTech, Agtech and Aerospace. Prior to joining Kin + Carta, Dave spent two decades designing digital experiences and leading design and innovation teams at agencies in Chicago, San Francisco, and Southern California. When he isn't thinking about design, Dave is spending as much time as he can with his wife and their three wonderful children.

Michael Hough is a highly skilled designer with over 23 years of experience. He has held various roles, including Flash animator, HTML email designer, web designer, front-end developer, visual designer, and now specializes as a UI/UX designer.

During his 13-year tenure as a freelancer and contractor, Michael became adept at user research, wireframing, basic UX principles, and prototyping. He unknowingly performed UX work before the term gained popularity. Recognizing the value of his skills, he embraced the role of a UX designer, propelling his career forward. 

Today, Michael's holistic approach to design combines aesthetics and functionality, ensuring seamless user experiences. With a track record of successful projects, he continues to evolve and stay ahead of industry trends. Michael Hough's extensive expertise, dedication to self-improvement, and ability to adapt make him a highly sought-after UI/UX designer, shaping the design landscape with his remarkable talent.

Yannis Paniaras is an accomplished Principal Level Director and Designer with extensive experience in leading multidisciplinary product development and design management teams across the United States, Europe, and China. Currently, Yannis is a founding member of Microsoft Digital's AI Center of Excellence, where he spearheads AI investments and experiences for various employee experiences within Microsoft. He has also transformed the creative direction for Microsoft Employee Experiences (EE) through close collaboration with the UX Strategy team in the Employee Experience Studio, setting a new standard for user-centric design and innovation. Yannis holds a Master of Arts degree from Aalto University in Helsinki, Finland, and has received comprehensive education in Italy, the United States, Finland, Sweden, and China.

As Head of Product Design & Research at Oracle, Jod Kaftan leads a design practice that strives to meaningfully impact climate change and provide SaaS solutions that bring critical energy services to populations globally. Jod has more than 20 years of extensive end-to-end expertise in the enterprise and at both agencies and start-ups, driving cross-channel experiences across platforms for blue-chip clients such as Sony, Microsoft, Riot Games, Google and Wells Fargo. Before leading design teams at Oracle and Accenture Song, Jod was an experience designer and strategist at shops such as Razorfish and Possible, where he’s been exposed to a large spectrum of business models and design problems, from CPG, Financial Services and Entertainment to Non-Profits, start-ups and innovation labs. When not at home in Los Angeles, Jod is probably hiking with his wife, 12-year-old son and dog in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Jeremy Smith is an analytical creator who believes that there is an underlying structure to every experience and outcome we have. His efforts to decode solutions have led him down many paths of exploration, ranging from human behavior and psychology, cybernetics and systems thinking. Jeremy's schooling and early career focused on print design and branding, then shifted from experiential moment-making toward user experience, and is now focusing on designing enterprise systems and approaches that enable those moments and experiences. For the past 10 years, Jeremy has been working in the healthcare technology space and is constantly looking for ways to enable evolved experiences for all participants in the healthcare ecosystem. Outside of work, Jeremy enjoys running long distances and testing performance, nutrition, hydration and recovery approaches on himself.