In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia sits down with Ariel Ban, President of Technology at Warner Music Group, live from the ProductCon stage. Warner Music Group, home to some of the world’s most iconic artists, is undergoing a bold transformation under Ariel’s leadership. A former Google and YouTube executive, Ariel brings a startup mindset to a 900-person organization within one of the most tradition-rich industries: music.

In this conversation, Ariel shares his unfiltered approach to digital transformation—from replacing bloated MVP culture with his “Minimum Proud Product” philosophy to building real-time dashboards that empower artists with actionable data. He also dives into the infamous “3-sh***ts” framework he uses to evaluate product managers, and how he’s instilling a culture of trust, ownership, and creativity across a global tech org.

What you’ll learn:
- Ariel’s journey from big tech to the music industry and his unique take on what transformation really looks like.
- Why MVPs are a “disease” and how to build products artists and fans are proud of.
- The strategy behind launching artist-facing tools like real-time revenue dashboards.
- How Warner Music is leveraging AI to unlock value in a highly creative, fast-changing space.

Key Takeaways👇:
- Redefining Digital Transformation: Ariel argues that real change starts with culture, not tech—and shares how to lead with clarity at scale.
- Artist-Centric Product Thinking: Empowering creators through data requires more than just tools; it requires trust, transparency, and a proud product experience.
- From MVP to MPP: His “Minimum Proud Product” philosophy offers a sharp critique of default startup practices and a new way to drive quality and impact.

This episode is brought to you by Persona, the adaptable identity platform that helps businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust. These days, it's easier than ever for fraudsters to steal voices, faces, and identities. That's where Persona comes in; helping leading companies to securely verify individuals and businesses worldwide, providing flexible building blocks to create tailored verification flows that maximize conversion while minimizing risks.
Whether you work at a startup or large enterprise, you can get started for free here: https://withpersona.com/productschool

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- Find out more about Product School here

Credits:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Ariel Bardin

In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Manuel Bronstein, Chief Product Officer at Roblox. Roblox is not just a video game—it's a platform that enables people to play, create, and build businesses in immersive virtual worlds. With over 85 million daily active users growing at 20% year-over-year, Roblox has paid out more than $923 million to its creator community in 2024 alone.

Manuel brings extensive experience from leading roles at major tech platforms including Xbox, Zynga, YouTube, and Google Assistant. As Roblox's CPO, he oversees the platform's product strategy and development, focusing on creating tools and systems that empower creators while maintaining trust and safety at scale.

In this episode, we'll explore:
- The evolution of Roblox from gaming platform to virtual economy
- How Roblox manages its creator marketplace and virtual economy
- Manuel's product leadership principles and frameworks
- Strategies for maintaining startup culture while scaling
- The future of virtual worlds and immersive platforms

Chapters:
(00:00) 🎮 Introduction and Career Journey
(05:25) 🚀 From Gaming to Platforms: Leadership Lessons
(15:30) 💰 Building and Managing Virtual Economies
(25:45) 🛠️ Product Development at Scale
(35:20) 🔮 The Future of Virtual Worlds
(45:10) 💡 Leadership Principles and Team Building

Key Takeaways 👇:
- Virtual Economy Management: Manuel emphasizes the importance of building systems that can scale while maintaining trust and safety, particularly in managing a virtual economy with real monetary value.
- Leadership Principles: Focus on building fast and learning faster, using first principles thinking, and implementing radical simplification to solve complex problems.
- Platform Dynamics: Understanding the unique challenges of managing a platform that serves both creators and users, requiring different approaches to engagement and monetization.
- Scaling Culture: Manuel shares strategies for maintaining startup-like innovation and execution speed while growing into a major platform.
- Systems Thinking: The importance of designing scalable systems from the start, particularly when dealing with user-generated content and virtual economies.

Social Links:
- Follow our Podcast on Tik Tok here
- Follow Product School on LinkedIn here
- Join Product School's free events here
- Find out more about Product School here

Credits:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Manuel Bronstein

In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Kiren Sekar, Chief Product Officer at Samsara, a $20+ billion company revolutionizing physical operations technology. Since its founding about 10 years ago, Samsara has become a leader in IoT and AI solutions for industries like transportation, manufacturing, and construction.

As CPO, Kiren leads Samsara's product strategy and development, overseeing a team of ~700 people in R&D. Under his leadership, Samsara has successfully built an integrated platform that combines hardware sensors and cameras with sophisticated software solutions, collecting over 10 trillion data points annually to help businesses improve safety, efficiency, and sustainability.
we explore how Samsara balances hardware and software development, uses their 70/20/10 framework for product roadmap prioritization, and leverages AI to enhance driver safety and operational efficiency. Kiren also shares insights on building and scaling product teams in a rapidly growing enterprise environment.

What you'll learn:
- How to implement a 70/20/10 framework for product roadmap prioritization
- Strategies for building and scaling R&D teams across hardware and software
- Methods for creating effective customer feedback loops combining data and field visits
- Approaches to balancing customer requests with innovation initiatives

Key Takeaways 👇:
- Product Strategy Framework
- Uses 70/20/10 model to balance core product development, growth initiatives, and innovation
- Focuses on horizontal solutions that work across multiple industries
- Emphasizes three main themes: safety, efficiency, and sustainability

This episode is brought to you by Persona, the adaptable identity platform that helps businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust. These days, it's easier than ever for fraudsters to steal voices, faces, and identities. That's where Persona comes in; helping leading companies to securely verify individuals and businesses worldwide, providing flexible building blocks to create tailored verification flows that maximize conversion while minimizing risks.
Whether you work at a startup or large enterprise, you can get started for free here: https://withpersona.com/productschool

Social Links:
- Follow our Podcast on Tik Tok here
- Follow Product School on LinkedIn here
- Join Product School's free events here
- Find out more about Product School here

Credits:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Kiren Sekar