Untrapping Product Teams Podcast

AI is changing many things, not everything.Yet, many teams are jumping on the curve without knowing why.
I sat down with Alexander Osterwalder, Strategyzer CEO, whom I respect a lot given his great books, especially the Invincible Company. We talked about what’s happening now.
What changes? What doesn’t change?
We went on discussing controversial topics like innovation is not the goal. With AI, many CEOs believe they’re forced to innovate. But that’s not true all the time.
The goal remains the same. Create value for customers while collecting value for the business. To do that, you’ve got to talk to REAL people, and do something they’re ready to pay.
The challenge now is another: Protecting your moats. As everyone can build stuff, copying successful models becomes easier. Companies’ll thrive for long when managing to differentiate from the crowds.
Listen to this episode to gain applicable insights directly from Alex. This is a 45 minutes conversation that’ll inspire you a lot.
Here are some of our key takeaways:
1. Innovation Is Not the Goal
“The goal is not to innovate. The goal is the strategic goal that you define.”
2. AI ≠ Strategy
“AI changes everything and it changes nothing.”
3. Synthetic Users Don’t Replace Reality
“Today it does not replace talking to real customers.”
4. Explore and Exploit Are Different Games
“Explore is about creating the future. Exploit is managing the existing.”
5. Kill Projects, Not Just Ideas
“Killing ideas is easy… You kill projects.”
6. Evidence Beats Forecasts
“That’s much stronger than the spreadsheet.”
7. Scaling Is Earned, Not Switched On
“Scaling is not a light turned on.”
Let’s keep untrapping the product world together.
David PereiraProduct advisor & coach
Do You Want to Become the Achiever PM Impossible to Ignore?
It’s your choice to level up your game and become the Achiever PM who’s unignorable. And I can help you get there with my 100XPM Mastermind.
We will run - most probably the last one for this year - in Summer. You can already apply for it. 3 weeks, 9 sessions, 1 transformation. We will equip you to operate at your next promotion level. You’ll have clarity on how to increase your visibility, gain influence, and ultimately get the deserved rewards.
Apply now.
PS: If you still have any questions, drop me a message and I will reply to you.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dpereira.substack.com/subscribe

Hey, how’s the product world been for you?
Before we jump into this amazing episode. I’ve got an invitation for you. I’m running a free webinar on The Bulletproof PM: How to Get Your Career Unstuck in the AI Era. I decided to do that because there’s too much apocalyptic messages out there, and many are missing on key things that unlock growth.
Join us, 1 hour of insights to grow.
Last year I attended 17 conferences. And the magic doesn’t happen on stage. It happens when you have honest conversations with people.
I got the chance to meet, Bob Moesta, first in Munich. You probably heard about Jobs to be Done, which Bob was behind it. But he’s much more than that. He’s a humble, inspiring, and caring person.
Throughout the whole conference, Bob spend his time talking to people, listening to them, and sharing perspectives. And I’m one of these people. I learned so much from him, that I felt it was unfair to hold it only to myself. I got him to our podcast.
This episode is a mixture of career, Job Moves (his latest book), and life stories. You will enjoy this chat if you want unfiltered coming out through an open and unstructured conversation. This is not marketing, that’s how we recorded this episode.
During our warm up chat, Bob asked me, who will listen to us, what you care about, and what keeps you up at night. And within that, we kicked it off. No scripts, no rehearsed answers, just honest and rough thoughts.
It’s close to an hour of thoughts that can help you reflect about your career, and what matters to you.
Here are some insights you’re going to get from it.
1. Energy is your compass, not your title.
“Where did you get energy? … Those hints of energy are there throughout your entire life.”
2. Switching starts when progress becomes explicit.
“B******g ain’t switching. The question is: what progress are you trying to make?”
3. Questions create room for answers.
“Questions create spaces in the brain for solutions to fall into.”
4. Stuck is the trigger: progress is the fuel.
“The moment they feel stuck…”
5. Before quitting, do the self-diagnosis.
“Before you say I quit… it’s you learning about yourself.”
6. There is no ideal job, only trade-offs.
“Every job has trade-offs.”
7. Most “strategy” complaints hide avoidance.
“Nine times out of 10… excuse, I don’t have a strategy.”
8. Do not ‘fix’ yourself into mediocrity. Protect your superpowers.
“My superpowers went away.”
9. Use process as a crutch for what drains you, not what fuels you.
“When I actually hate to do it… build a process around it.”
10. Sometimes the best move is sideways to recover.
“Find a jobcation… rebalance themselves.”
Let’s keep Untrapping the Product World, Together.
Talk soon,
David Pereira
Do you feel stuck in your product journey?
Here are a few ways I can help you unstuck your career.
* 100X PM Mastermind: If you want to move from PM to Product Leader, this 3-week program will supercharge your growth. People from 15+ countries attended it already, and the feedback is inspiring. Join our upcoming program in January.
* Private Coaching: When you have specific challenges like strategy, career growth, positioning, or simply defeating BS management. I offer 30-min or 60-minsessions. You bring the problem, and we sort it out together.
* Product Leadership Advisory: If you’re looking for more in-depth collaboration, I can be your advisor. I’ve helped 50+ organisations so far, and I’m confident I can help your business grow. Reach out to [email protected]
* Product Workshops: If you want to level-up your teams’ expertise, I offer practicable remote and in-person workshops. Check it out here.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dpereira.substack.com/subscribe

Are you done with the framework madness?
Companes use, misuse, and abuse frameworks. The result is often anything but nice.
A few examples:Discuss how to do discovery with ScrumHow to properly run Scrum EventsHow to deploy the perfect Spotify model
Guess what? None of that really matters.What matters is having clarity on what impact you want to achieve.Then, work towards that.
To spice it up. I got Matt LeMay, author of Impact-First Product Teams, to share his wisdom on how to truly move the needle and ditch what doesn’t really matter.
Matt’s core idea is simple and uncomfortable: product teams can’t hide behind process anymore. If you cannot explain how your work drives business impact, the rest doesn’t matter. And no, nobody keeps paying you because you “did Scrum correctly.”
The key insight is: No matter your situation, you always have a move.
Listen, if you want sharper thinking, fewer excuses, and a practical path to becoming an impact-first team without burning your org chart to the ground.
Here are 7 insights you’re getting from this down-to-earth podcast:
1. Impact is not optional anymore
“It is ultimately essential, and I think unavoidable for product teams to be able to understand and articulate how their work is influencing the business at large.”
2. Most ‘best practices’ come from rare conditions
“These best practices… come from these unique and very rare and irreproducible commercial circumstances.”
3. The real cost is learned helplessness
“There’s this learned helplessness throughout the product world where it’s like we can’t do anything.”
4. If you cannot define success, you are taking unacceptable risk
“People don’t know what success looks like… that feels like such an unacceptable amount of risk to take on both organizationally and personally.”
5. Impact-first teams keep goals alive, not quarterly theatre
“Teams that keep their goals front and center tend to be impact-first teams.”
6. You do not become impact-first by declaring a revolution
“Most of the stories I have to tell are incremental stories… you’re often not going to get there by ripping up organizational processes and starting over again.”
7. There is always a move
“You can always do something. There’s always a move… 90% of product management is just not letting yourself get trapped.”
Let’s keep Untrapping the Product World Together
Talk soon,
David Pereirad-pereira product advisory & coaching
Are you ready to step up your game?
I’ve coached 100+ product folks and can guide you through your transformation. Here are a few ways:
* 100X PM Mastermind: If you want to move from PM to Product Leader, this 3-week program will supercharge your growth. People from 15+ countries attended it already, and the feedback is inspiring. Join our upcoming program in January.
* Private Coaching: When you have specific challenges like strategy, career growth, positioning, or simply defeating BS management. I offer 30-min or 60-minsessions. You bring the problem, and we sort it out together.
* Product Leadership Advisory: If you’re looking for more in-depth collaboration, I can be your advisor. I’ve helped 50+ organisations so far, and I’m confident I can help your business grow. Reach out to [email protected]
* Product Workshops: If you want to level-up your teams’ expertise, I offer practicable remote and in-person workshops. Check it out here.


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dpereira.substack.com/subscribe

How many times did you hear about the feature factory?
Maybe you feel that in your bones today - I feel that with the teams I coach.
John Cutler coined this term 9 years ago, when he wrote a blog post, 12 Signs You’re Working on a Feature Factory. But there’s more to it than you imagine.
The popularity of the feature factory term is undeniable, but John had a different goal when he wrote about it. He was talking to a researcher from Medium and wanted to make the point that even when he’d ticked all the engagement boxes, the post wouldn’t fly. The effect was completely different. Millions of reads.
If you don’t know John Cutler, follow his work. Not because he will tell you what you should do differently, but because his ideas will help you broaden your perspectives.
I don’t know anyone who’s written more consistently about product than John. It’s 10 years of sharing insights. And I had the pleasure of recording this amazing podcast with him.
You will gain insights into product operating models, the power of looking from different lenses, overlooked realities of Silicon Valley, and why great leaders act as game designers and storytellers.
Listen to it to amplify your perspectives.
Here are the top 7 insights from our chat.
1. Leaders Are Model Builders (Not Framework Implementers)
You’re a storyteller and game designer. Your job isn’t picking the right framework - it’s building models that stick in your company and trigger better decisions.
2. The Justs, Buts, and Cans
Everyone has their “justs” (you just need A-players) and their “buts” (but you don’t understand our culture). The real question: what CAN we do today without oversimplifying reality or going in circles?
3. Dragonfly Thinking
Move between multiple lenses - behavioral design, anthropology, politics, culture. The ability to shift perspectives is more valuable than having one “correct” view.
4. Frameworks Must Be Accessible AND Powerful
Accessible-only frameworks are shallow. Powerful-only frameworks only nerds understand. You need both: easy entry point, deep layers to peel back when challenged.
5. Internal Product-Market Fit
Your models and frameworks need PMF inside your company. The test: does the CEO ask to see that slide again? If people don’t pull for it, it’s dead.
6. Minimal Viable Consistency
What’s the least amount of consistency you need across the enterprise so teams can make decisions? Every consistency choice has a cost.
7. The Big Bang Refactoring Reality
Successful companies didn’t just adopt best practices. They swung between centralization/decentralization, project/product mode. Getting there requires messy transformation, not copying the end state.
Do you feel you need any help in 2026?
Here are a few ways I can be your guide to help you make the best of 2026.
* 100X PM Mastermind: If you want to move from PM to Product Leader, this 3-week program will supercharge your growth. People from 15+ countries attended it already, and the feedback is inspiring. Join our upcoming program in January.
* Private Coaching: When you have specific challenges like strategy, career growth, positioning, or simply defeating BS management. I offer 30-min or 60-min sessions. You bring the problem, and we sort it out together.
* Product Leadership Advisory: If you’re looking for more in-depth collaboration, I can be your advisor. I’ve helped 50+ organisations so far, and I’m confident I can help your business grow. Reach out to [email protected]
* Product Workshops: If you want to level-up your teams’ expertise, I offer practicable remote and in-person workshops. Check it out here.



This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dpereira.substack.com/subscribe

What does it really take to found a company?
Courage, guts, and a lot of hope. You've got to jump into the unknown and move fast because time is your biggest enemy.
Today, we're learning from someone who lived this reality for five years. No shiny rainbow, just the reality of founders in the trenches.
Former Intercom Product Manager, Enzo Avigo, knew what he wanted. He dreamed of having his own company. He spent over five years building June.so, a B2B SaaS analytics platform that started with 6 AM meetings at Starbucks and ended with joining Amplitude's team.
What sets this conversation apart is Enzo's willingness to share the critical details most founders keep private. His story dismantles many of the polished narratives dominating startup advice today.
Enzo openly shared his experience navigating Y Combinator, raising funding, and ultimately making the difficult choice to sell, which provides rare insight into both the entrepreneurial journey and the acquisition process.
For anyone building a B2B product, struggling with market positioning, or curious about what really happens when startups join larger companies, this episode delivers practical wisdom earned through years of real-world experience.
Here are some nuggets of knowledge you’re going to get from this episode.
7 Key Takeaways from the Episode
1. Find Your Co-Founder Through Direct Outreach
"I remember watching a video from YC at the time that said that the best way to find a co-founder is to go through your network, maybe LinkedIn, and list five people you think you would be interested to work with and message them in the next 24 hours."
Enzo's practical approach to finding a co-founder involved identifying five people from his network and reaching out within 24 hours. Surprisingly, his co-founder turned out to be a colleague at Intercom whom he already worked with daily, proving that sometimes the best partnerships are hiding in plain sight.
2. Most Startups Don't Segment Deeply Enough
"We didn't niche down enough. We always assumed that a segment was a niche, while it wasn't for our product. Initially we're like, okay, let's focus on early stage startups. And then we're like, okay, let's focus on early stage startups that are product driven. And then we're like, startups, product driven, B2B SaaS. And then at the end we were like, B2B SaaS, Vertical SaaS."
Enzo's biggest mistake was thinking basic segmentation was enough. It took years to realize they needed to go from "early stage startups" to "product-driven B2B vertical SaaS companies" to achieve true product-market fit.
3. Your Most Active Users Aren't Always Your Best Customers
"The people that will pay for your product are not necessarily the ones that are the most active in your product. We found out that not all problems were equal."
When June introduced monetization, they discovered that usage intensity didn't correlate with willingness to pay. B2B customers with bigger problems were willing to spend significantly more than highly active users with smaller pain points.
4. Moving Upmarket Requires Intentional Strategy
"Unless you say like, no, this is the amount of work we're willing to put into owning the startup segments, and we're going to go intentionally to seed series A, series B, you're going to end up in some sort of depth loop where you stay in your existing market forever."
Enzo learned that without intentional planning to move upmarket, startups get trapped serving their initial customer base forever. The endless feature requests from existing customers can prevent the focus needed to graduate to higher-value segments.
5. Social Media Trends Stop Working When Everyone Adopts Them
"Now, if you look at videos done by startups, they're recorded by cameras that cost close to 10K. They were great three years ago because it was really uncanny, but now it's standard and everyone is doing it."
Enzo warns against following visible trends on platforms like LinkedIn. By the time high-production videos became standard for startup announcements, they lost their power to capture attention because everyone was doing the same thing.
6. Choose Your Distribution Channel Based on the Message It Sends
"The medium you're using already communicates something about your product. If you see a video of a startup that has raised money on LinkedIn, it's a whole different feeling than when I found out products like Linear on Twitter."
Different platforms convey different messages about your product before users even hear your pitch. Finding Linear on Twitter felt like discovering a secret tool for early adopters, while LinkedIn announcements feel corporate and mature.
7. Acquisition Can Be About Impact, Not Just Exit Strategy
"How many companies are going to be using June next year, in two years, in five years? How much can we change that inflection point? And how much impact would we have if we joined forces with someone who has realistically more impact than us?"
Rather than viewing acquisition as a failure or simple exit, Enzo framed joining Amplitude as a way to increase their impact. Sometimes the most ambitious path forward involves joining forces with a larger player rather than going it alone.
Share your thoughts in the comments.
Let’s keep untrapping the product world together.
Talk soon,
David Pereira
100XPM Mastermind


This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dpereira.substack.com/subscribe