Fail Faster
495 episodes - English - Latest episode: 15 days ago - ★★★★★ - 30 ratingsWe take you inside the trenches of enterprise and bring you the stories of the leaders who are creating the next generation of technology and products.
At InfoBeans, we love making things. We are a diverse team of designers, engineers, and product strategists. With different backgrounds and skillsets, we come together to make exceptional technology. This podcast pairs members of our team with leaders from Fortune 500’s to startups in conversations that reveal surprising wins, juicy losses, and innovation techniques you’ll love.
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Episodes
#459 - We only learn from our failures!
April 09, 2024 12:11 - 34 minutes - 15.1 MBWelcome to Fail Faster! In this episode, we are excited to have Brad Power, Senior Director Digital Product & User Experience at Kendra Scott. Brad is an experienced leader responsible for defining global vision and strategy, in support of business and technology goals. He's built high-performing, cross-disciplined teams responsible for supply chain, in store and online experiences, product management, analytics, e-commerce, social and customer care. He is an Internal evangelist for emergin...
#458 - Leadership
April 04, 2024 11:53 - 26 minutes - 11.6 MBWelcome to Fail Faster! Today, we are thrilled to introduce our guest, Syed Bilal Ali, affectionately known as Syed Ali. With a rich background spanning over two decades in the Information Technology field, Syed brings a wealth of experience and insights to our discussion. Born and raised in Karachi, Pakistan, Syed's journey in technology leadership began early, fueled by his passion for innovation and community impact. He has spent significant time in management roles, collaborating with e...
#457 - Managing with care
April 03, 2024 08:34 - 34 minutes - 14.4 MBWelcome to Fail Faster! In today's episode, we are excited to have Stephen Sturdevant as our special guest. With over two decades of experience in the technology sector, Stephen's journey began on an IT help desk and progressed through various roles in IT process management, ServiceNow development, architecture, and leadership. His extensive experience spans across diverse industries such as financial services, building products, packaging, video gaming, consulting, and cybersecurity. A grad...
#456 - The power of compounding returns
March 12, 2024 06:24 - 32 minutes - 13.1 MBIn this episode, we sit down with Alan Snyder, Managing General Partner at Shinnecock Partners and the founder and CEO of aShareX, an alternative investment auction platform. From pioneering the Discover Card to founding an investment boutique, Alan shares invaluable insights into fractionalization in finance and introduces aShareX, an innovative auction exchange platform. We explore the revolutionary concept of fractional bidding for high-end assets and learn more about Alan's investor-cen...
#455 - From vision to execution: Insights from Leepa
March 04, 2024 07:08 - 34 minutes - 14.8 MBLeepa Mohanty serves as the Director of Program Strategy at the Business Transformation Office of Reynolds Consumer Products. Her overarching goal is to steer the organization towards success, leveraging her expertise in leadership, strategy, and program management. Leading a high-performing team, Leepa spearheads crucial transformation initiatives, enhancing revenue streams and optimizing business operations. Driven by a fervor for cultivating inclusive workplaces, Leepa is committed to nu...
#454 - Creating innovation through empathy and diversity of thought
March 01, 2024 13:20 - 32 minutes - 74.6 MBJennifer Rött (pronounced “wrote”) is a strategic Product, User Experience, and Design leader specializing in human-centered products and platforms. Jennifer has 20 years of experience sustainably scaling and growing people, teams, products, cloud, SaaS, and enterprise platforms through empathy and collaboration. Jennifer has pioneered innovations across social, entertainment, and media technology - winning over two dozen awards in the last 2 years for Innovation and Design, including a Red...
#453 - A peek under the hood of healthcare billing experience
January 25, 2024 12:42 - 30 minutes - 9.5 MBIn this episode, our guest is Kinshuk Mishra, a seasoned leader in the tech and healthcare space, who is currently Chief Technology Officer for healthcare financial engagement platform, Cedar. Kinshuk takes us through his career journey, reflecting on pivotal moments, including both successes and failures. From the importance of trusting your instincts to the complexities of behavioral change within organizations, Kinshuk shares valuable insights for technology leaders and aspiring engineeri...
#452 - What they don't teach you in UX school
January 19, 2024 10:19 - 35 minutes - 15 MBRicardo Lattore, VP Group Experience Design Director at Razorfish, born in Colombia, South America in the 80's, somehow survived the Rad BMX era only to find himself pushing the limits of any free generative AI account.
#451 - Breaking barriers: Mastering cross-functional communication in healthcare and beyond
January 19, 2024 08:22 - 34 minutes - 16.1 MBNaveen Chadalavada brings his operational mindset and experience leading teams to business problems at hand. While he is currently leading a team at Phreesia who grows and nurtures partnerships, he has had a variety of experience both in and out of the classroom across the provider healthcare space. From his days in consulting to his time in the technology space, Naveen has focused much of his professional career on building a foundational toolkit to help him set up to be a leader in the he...
#450 - Setting up agile product management teams from scratch
January 19, 2024 07:31 - 30 minutes - 13 MBShazil is a seasoned product leader with over 14 years of experience in multiple industries across 14 countries. As a product professional Shazil has worked to launch 0-1 and 0-n products and has created, coached and led teams to offer immense outputs during his career. Currently Shazil lives in Toronto Canada with his wife and works for Scotiabank as a director of product management for the payments team. In his free time Shazil likes to explore hiking trails and Toronto in general and also...
#449 - Curiosity can be the difference between an excellent and a mediocre product
January 16, 2024 12:00 - 33 minutes - 14.1 MBJoin us on the "Fail Faster" podcast as we dive into the fascinating world of product management and innovation with our special guest, Jaxon Merrill, VP, of Digital Product & Digital Product Design at Beautycounter. With a unique background in both audio and product management, Jaxon shares insights from his transformative projects, including a deep dive into the Beachbody streaming service. Discover how he navigated the challenges of shifting from physical DVD sales to a subscription-base...
#448 - Incorporating the HUMAN in every process.
January 04, 2024 12:29 - 28 minutes - 12.2 MBJoin us on the Fail Faster podcast as Kristy Tupper, Vice President of Product Management at RxSense, shares her inspiring journey in and around the healthcare IT industry. From navigating various facets of the business to her impactful role in prescription benefits, Christy discusses leadership principles, overcoming setbacks, and the importance of maintaining a user-centered focus. Tune in for insights into industry trends, the power of networking, and the wisdom gained from turning failur...
#447 - Swift Leadership: Navigating the Path to Innovation
January 04, 2024 10:48 - 47 minutes - 21.5 MBChad Niemuth is the Global Vice President of Marketing and Sales Technology within the IT organization at the Campari Group. For the past 24 years of his career he has led single and multi-brand organizations in developing technology solutions and platforms, grounded in process, data, integration, and tangible KPIs and reporting. This stems from an unrelenting passion for technology, but grounded in the impact it has in connecting people. Building upon a foundation developed in university th...
#446 - Product pioneer, navigating innovation and impact
December 06, 2023 07:00 - 30 minutes - 13.8 MBElio Damaggio is a product leader with over 15 years of experience in cloud computing, IoT, and AI. Currently serving as the Head of Product for AWS in the Next Generation Developer Experience organization, he is building new ways to empower software developer teams with AI. Elio began his tech journey as a product manager at Microsoft, where he worked on Azure Mobile, IoT, and big data services. At Microsoft, he amassed an impressive portfolio of 11 patents, all related to cloud technologie...
#445 - Failing fast, succeeding faster: A product leader's journey
November 30, 2023 12:06 - 26 minutes - 12.3 MBPeter Papaioannou, the inaugural Vice President of Product at Everyware, is a seasoned professional in the fintech and payments sector. With a wealth of experience collaborating with renowned global organizations, Peter has excelled in high-growth environments, showcasing his proficiency in strategic visioning and pioneering product innovation. In his previous role as the Vice President of Global Product at Global Payments, Papaioannou played a pivotal role in shaping the strategic vision an...
#444 - Path to product management
November 30, 2023 09:15 - 38 minutes - 17 MBKevin Washington is the Director of Product Management for Experimentation & Customer Feedback Experiences at Best Buy and has a broad background of experience at omnichannel retailers. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Morehouse College where he teaches Product Management to Business and CS students. Kevin’s passions are deeply rooted in creating equitable opportunities for students and that has led him to sit on the board of two annual hackathons that target historically Black colleges & ...
#443 - Fail Faster with Mandy: Insights from an industry expert
November 29, 2023 10:38 - 31 minutes - 13.8 MBMandy Janicki has spent her career fully in-house for the past 18 years for companies based in Michigan, California and Chicago. In her current role, Mandy founded the Creative Studio in 2015 to serve as UL Solutions' first in-house agency—an innovative solution that greatly reduced UL Solutions' dependence on external agencies and strengthened the quality of marketing collateral and brand messaging. Mandy leads a global team of writers, designers and UX experts spearheading digital content ...
#442 - Who is Maverick?
November 29, 2023 10:26 - 25 minutes - 11 MBPreetha Sekharan, VP, Digital Incubator, Applied AI & Transformation joins us as we delve into the challenges and successes of establishing a digital strategy practice in a well-established company, along with insights on AI implementation in the insurance industry. In this episode you will learn how strategies are tailored, technology readiness is assessed, and what kind of leadership mindset goes into successful digital transformations. We also dipped into the gap between strategy and exec...
#441 - Role of the project management office in technological innovation
November 22, 2023 08:24 - 25 minutes - 11.7 MBNicolas Hien serves as Chief Information Officer at Dollarama where he has the supervisory responsibility over the IT function and the Project Management Office.
#440 - Designing the leading collaboration platform
November 21, 2023 10:47 - 35 minutes - 16.5 MBMeet Stan Rapp, a name in the design world who transitioned from being a self-taught designer to leading Enterprise Design at Asana. Before his current role, Stan shaped product design at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. On top of his design expertise, he's a certified coach and a recent graduate of UPenn's Executive Design Leadership program. Specializing in design strategy and co-creation, he's particularly interested in designing for emotions and behavior change. A native of Ukraine, now r...
#439 - In the world of AI, Are you team Accelerate or Decelerate
November 08, 2023 10:31 - 37 minutes - 85.2 MBBryan Lane is a writer, speaker, and technology advisor focused on using data and AI for the public good. He is currently serving as the chief of business intelligence at the FDIC. Prior to that, he co-founded the government-wide AI Center of Excellence at GSA, where he supported organizations like the DoD Joint AI Center. While in government service, he has developed nearly $1B in AI and data-related contracts and deployed enterprise-wide capabilities to hybrid cloud platforms. Prior to jo...
#438 - Navigating Innovation in Highly Governed Ecosystems
November 01, 2023 06:51 - 20 minutes - 47.3 MBAshley Nelson, VP Innovation - Mastercard Foundry, joins us as we delve into the professional journey of an innovation and new product development expert. From experiences at Citi and MasterCard to driving innovation in various global landscapes, the discussion unfolds the challenges and triumphs faced in a regulated industry. The conversation covers topics such as successful product stories, meeting market demands, gaining stakeholder trust, decision points for product decommissioning, and ...
#437 - Navigating Healthcare Design and AI
October 31, 2023 09:01 - 31 minutes - 72.4 MBIn this episode, we sit down with Regis Becarte, Head of UX Design and Research at Natera, a biotech company specializing in non-invasive prenatal testing and women's health. Join us as we delve into the fascinating world of healthcare design and explore the challenges and successes of building a design team in a clinical tech company. Let's learn how the intersection of physical and digital experiences can transform patient care and how AI-powered chatbots are enhancing patient support. Le...
#436 - Navigating E-Commerce success in travel and beyond
October 20, 2023 07:27 - 19 minutes - 44.7 MBJoin us on the Fail Faster podcast as we delve into the world of high-impact, high-visibility e-commerce strategies with Hailong Shen, Director of eCommerce Technology at Royal Caribbean. He shares insights from his extensive career in the travel industry, touching on his experiences at American Airlines and Royal Caribbean Group. Discover how Heilong's fail-fast mentality and focus on customer-centric innovation have contributed to the success of these industry giants. From streamlining pay...
#435 - Behind reporting dashboards
October 06, 2023 07:31 - 25 minutes - 11.8 MBJoin us on the "Fail Faster" podcast as we sit down with Jag Bedi, Vice President - Data Science and Analytics at Purchasing Power. In this insightful episode, we delve into the fascinating world of e-tail and how Purchasing Power empowers customers to improve their quality of life through affordable access to products and services. Jag shares the challenges and successes of implementing a data warehouse and the impact it has had on decision-making and customer engagement. Discover how data-...
#434 - How can I help you?
October 03, 2023 13:03 - 41 minutes - 14.9 MBJoin us for a special episode of the Fail Faster podcast as we explore the world of customer support with Matthew Caron, VP of Customer Experience and Onboarding at OpenTable. Matthew shares his personal journey from holding a CSR job nobody desires to uncovering beauty within the chaos and becoming a successful leader in customer support. He candidly discusses the challenges he faced and how he not only overcame but also eliminated the victim mindset that he repeatedly came across in this i...
#433 - Integrated Security
September 25, 2023 10:06 - 28 minutes - 9.19 MBWelcome to the "Fail Faster" podcast, where we dive deep into the world of cybersecurity with a well known industry expert Mark Ashworth, Chief Information Security Officer at First Bank. In this episode, Mark shares his journey from a fascination with technology sparked by a movie to becoming the CISO at First Bank. We get into the weeds of a secure software development lifecycle (SSDLC) and the challenges of integrating security seamlessly. Mark also delves into the ever-evolving threat l...
#432 - Designing Success Globally
September 20, 2023 11:28 - 23 minutes - 7.69 MBOleg Slyusarchuk serves as the global head of Product Design at Eleks. As part of his role, Oleg has been managing a design team consisting of 60 designers in various countries, including the UK, US, Germany, Canada, Estonia, Croatia, Poland, and Portugal, for the past 7 years. With 20 years of experience in the field of design and a certification in Design Management from Nielsen Norman Group, Oleg is particularly passionate about business and service design. He excels in crafting customi...
#431 - Crafting palatable experiences with Daniel Meretsky
September 20, 2023 06:30 - 16 minutes - 8.01 MBJoin us in this episode as we chat with Daniel Meretsky, a tech and restaurant industry expert. With over 15 years of experience, Daniel shares his insights into pioneering smart card technology, optimizing McDonald's operations, and adapting to changing customer preferences. Discover how data and AI are shaping the restaurant industry and the importance of leadership in fostering a collaborative team. Explore Daniel's involvement with innovative brands like Fresh Kitchen, Callie, and Camp, ...
#430 - Crafting thriving organizations through human-centric excellence
September 18, 2023 12:23 - 37 minutes - 15 MBRyan Spanswick is a relentless servant leader that has spent the last 18 years leading and designing in enterprise organizations like SiriusXM, Starbucks, and IBM. He truly believes that investing in the health and success of people creates the highest quality work and builds design organizations that thrive and endure. He enjoys the challenge of creating impactful and intuitive user experiences that drive significant value for the business.
#429 - Are you hiring more of YOU?
September 15, 2023 09:45 - 31 minutes - 13.7 MBIn this episode, we sit down with Soumam Debgupta, SVP of Product, JLL Technologies. He is a seasoned product leader who shares his remarkable journey from humble beginnings in India to becoming a product management guru. Discover how he navigated the ever-changing real estate industry, learned from both successes and failures and leveraged his craft-based approach to continuously refine his skills. Get inspired to embrace the unconventional and chart your own path in the world of product ma...
#428 - Your thoughts, ideas and aspirations have value, irrespective of your role
September 14, 2023 07:02 - 26 minutes - 10.4 MBJoin us as we chat with Andrew Moore, VP of Software Engineering at Nations Lending. In this engaging conversation, we explore Andrew's diverse background in the tech industry, from networking and IT support to data engineering and software development. He shares how he overcame misconceptions about software engineering and found joy in solving problems and helping people. Andrew shares the importance of understanding the root causes of problems before crafting technical solutions. He also e...
#427 - Career development and the impact of AI
September 13, 2023 13:14 - 26 minutes - 11.7 MBMeet Sabrina Wong, the Head of UX at Tapestry and a dedicated university instructor. With a wide-ranging expertise that encompasses product design, research, and digital strategy, Sabrina has collaborated with a diverse array of organizations, from startups to Fortune 500 companies, to elevate their products and services to new heights. Beyond her professional pursuits, Sabrina also imparts her knowledge as a UX/UI design instructor at the prestigious University of Miami and several other es...
#426 - Delivering compassionate digital healthcare experiences
September 13, 2023 12:32 - 26 minutes - 11.7 MBIn this episode, we sit down with Chris Neuharth, the Vice President of Experience and Digital Innovation at Children's Wisconsin, to explore the journey from his background in software development to his current role at the forefront of healthcare technology. We discuss the evolution of user experience, the power of co-designing solutions with families and care teams, and the role of empathy in shaping impactful healthcare solutions. Join us as we uncover how technology is not only mitigati...
#425 - Are you thinking about switching to a Subscription Model?
September 13, 2023 10:06 - 22 minutes - 10.2 MBThis is a super interesting episode with Stacey Maresco, Chief Product Officer at Empowered Education, where we get a glimpse into her remarkable career journey, including her role as an early employee at a startup that achieved explosive growth and her experience with integrating companies after acquisition. Stacey shares how in her role she is helping individuals become health and wellness coaches and functional nutrition counselors. She highlights the power of rapid testing in product dev...
#424 - Going beyond the skillset mold
September 11, 2023 06:28 - 30 minutes - 11.8 MBJoin us in this insightful and inspiring podcast as we dive into the world of product and software design with Jonathan Madera, the VP of Product Design for Data Accent. Jonathan shares his journey from childhood dreams of being a computer animator to becoming a successful designer and entrepreneur. As we delve into the world of data design, Jonathan reveals the challenges of simplifying data access for small business owners and the role of AI in making the user experience delightful. Get mo...
#423 - From curiosity to leadership: Evolving your career and leading through others
September 07, 2023 09:24 - 29 minutes - 12.7 MBGretchen Nash is a Creative Director at Amazon who leads a team of visual, UX, and motion designers to innovate next in class experiences for Alexa enabled products. She has over 15 years of professional creative experience spanning across graphic design, motion graphics, and leading teams to build multi-sensory experiences for technical innovation. Gretchen began her career as a graphic designer who learned interaction design on the job, eventually growing into a leadership role as a UX Cre...
#422 - The WHY behind a healthy and sustainable online grocer experience?
September 07, 2023 08:31 - 29 minutes - 13.5 MBJoin us on the Fail Faster podcast for an episode with Jonas Klink, VP of Product and UX Design at Thrive Market. Discover how Thrive Market innovates online grocery shopping to make healthy living accessible, affordable, and easy. Jonas shares his passion for curating a sustainable experience that adds value to the everyday lives of Thrive Market’s 1.2M members. He shares the progressive thinking behind the concept of redefining the online shopping experience, the continuous learnings, and ...
#421 - Do you have an interesting relationship with yourself?
September 06, 2023 16:52 - 30 minutes - 10 MBIn this episode, we talk with Meytal Markman, VP of Product Management at Rakuten Advertising, who lives in Vancouver, Washington with her husband and two kids. Meytal shares her journey from '90s tech exposure to navigating her current role. Her insights and approach on personal branding, mentoring, and navigating multicultural dynamics in a multinational company are very practical. I got some great actionable learnings from her views on emotional intelligence, public speaking, and buil...
#420 - Apple Vision Pro and the future of spatial design
September 06, 2023 13:15 - 34 minutes - 16.2 MBAlan is the Senior Director of UX at EAB. His team curates the next generation college search experience for students as well as 2,500 universities. In the last 10 years, Alan improved the digital experiences for Morgan Stanley, Bloomberg, and ESPN; created new interactions in VR for people to shop, travel, and tour high-end real estates from afar. He is passionate in visual storytelling to make design vision tangible and communication memorable. Outside of work, Alan is a top mentor on ADPL...
#419 - Unleashing design leadership chronicle for business growth
September 05, 2023 11:26 - 25 minutes - 11.1 MBJoie Chung is a seasoned product design leader based in Austin, TX. With over 17 years in the design industry, she has gained a deep understanding of what makes great user experiences, and how strategic design can drive business growth. Passionate about cultivating the next generation of design talent, Joie is deeply committed to creating environments that foster growth, mentoring future leaders, and enabling her teams to deliver their best work. She has led top-performing teams in both agen...
#418 - Staying curious!
August 24, 2023 09:33 - 22 minutes - 9.64 MBJarrett Carter, Associate Vice President, Integrative Learning Design at University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) joins us to share his journey into leading and designing integrative learning experiences. He shares the importance of working together as one team towards a shared goal of creating seamless educational platforms catering to a diverse global population at various stages of their careers and personal learning journeys. Jarrett dives into the approach his team takes as they stri...
#417 - Accessibility in design
August 24, 2023 07:25 - 36 minutes - 14.7 MBLuis Bustamante, Associate UX Design Director has over 10 years of design experience. He is currently working at AKQA New York in multiple projects since July, 2022. Luis has worked for tech companies like GLOBANT, start ups & agencies like HUGE with clients like Google, Coldwell banker (US), Zaplabs and Provida AFP (Chile). He really enjoys working on UX writing and A11y and is currently exploring AI technologies.
#416 - What did we deliver to the users?
August 18, 2023 10:28 - 25 minutes - 8.77 MBGuy 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 ...
#415 - Your team is your skill!
August 16, 2023 11:23 - 20 minutes - 8.41 MBSamip 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. Inve...
#414 - Why design function is a MUST for every business
August 16, 2023 08:38 - 35 minutes - 14.7 MBPaul 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 respons...
#413 - The value of taking the time to dig deeper into the problem
August 14, 2023 09:10 - 21 minutes - 9.35 MBIn 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 ...
#412 - Your team is your product
August 11, 2023 13:42 - 28 minutes - 12.1 MBIn 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 val...
#411 - Shared language towards shared goals
August 11, 2023 07:53 - 20 minutes - 8.76 MBJoin 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 a...
#410 - There's life outside of design
August 09, 2023 07:41 - 29 minutes - 12.1 MBAmanda 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.