Decoding AI
Season
1
/
Episode
10
Building AI-First Products: Lessons from Microsoft on the Next Era of Productivity
AI is transforming how we build products. From engineering and design to UI and workflow, foundation models are forcing every founder to rethink the building blocks of software itself.
In this episode of Decoding AI, Anand Daniel, Partner at Accel, sits down with Aparna Chennapragada, Chief Product Officer for AI Experiences at Microsoft, to decode what it really means to build AI-first products in a world where models evolve every month.
Having led product teams at Google, where she founded Google Lens, and now at Microsoft, Aparna has witnessed AI’s evolution from research to real-world scale. She shares what founders often get wrong about building with AI, why speed and experimentation matter more than structure, why memory and context are becoming the new moats, and how the “model is eating everything” from engineering to product to UI.
The conversation dives deep into how AI is changing product design, team dynamics, and what it takes to build durable value when the frontier is shifting faster than ever.
We’re looking for the next generation of successful Indian marketplaces. If you’re an early-stage marketplace founder, apply now here or learn more about the #DecodingMarketplaces Startup Hunt.
We’d love to hear about your experiences with marketplaces. Let us share our learnings and build a better and stronger ecosystem. Write to us at [email protected] to be a part of the Accel family.
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We’re building Passionfroot 1, an operating system for creators to manage their business.
We’re based in Europe and raised our $ 3.4m pre-seed round from Creandum and US angels such as Vlad (Webflow) and creators like Ali Abdaal.As we’re creating a new category and as the creator economy is global and mostly online, we’re building from Day 1 a global company and product that helps creators monetize around the world.
This brings a lot of complexities especially in terms of payments and taxes as our early users are based both in Europe and the US and deal with cross-border transactions.What are Do’s and Dont’s for European startups who have a global ambition and build products for a global customer base from Day 1. Anything you would do differently?
Thanks @pjbouten! Love how you’ve thought about incrementally shaping a category with a focus on product and service, and only then thinking about getting the message out there vs the other way around.
And totally agree on the distinctions and overlaps both self-serve and enterprise motions share.
Thanks, PJ, for taking the time to address questions from the great vantage of shaping Showpad into a global, enterprise SaaS brand!