AI Never Sleeps

Founder and CEO of AI Never Sleeps – leading a 24/7 AI Automation Agency that streamlines operations, automates repetitive tasks, and empowers businesses to focus on innovation and growth.

Chief Experiment Officer

Westpac Group

Leading Westpac’s Personal Loans business.

Executive Director

Fundo Loans

Chief Executive Officer - Australia

Helping Fundo to grow and be more efficient while ensuring compliance with regulatory standards.

Chief Operating Officer

Empowered Leader

Our mission is to empower and grow young leaders by providing cutting-edge online tools combined with self-serve online training courses. 🚀

Founder and Chief Empowerment Officer

MoneyMe Limited

SocietyOne

Ensuring that we are bringing brilliant funding moments to life and delighting our customers.

Overall responsiblity for Credit operations and Customer Service in SocietyOne.

Acquiring customers through any channel and means necessary to grow in a profitable and sustainable way.

Responsible for partnerships and brokers.

Chief Growth Officer

Changing the face of lending in Australia

Chief Product & Strategy Officer

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

Focused on serving clients to help them solve their biggest financial and technology problems in Australia and across South East Asia.

As the lead Principal, helped to co-found BCG's AP Digital Transformation Accelerator (DTA - previously known as DTEC - Digital and Technology Enablement Centre). A BCG internal capability which helps clients train their teams on digital topics (eg. Big Data, Agile, Information Security, etc.)

Other achievements: Co-head of Recruiting (KL) - 2015 - 16, Head of SOCCOM (KL) - 2015, Training Node (KL) - 2014

Principal

Westpac

Responsible for:
1. Strategy for the Retail Bank,
2. Delivery of key projects that create value for the Retail bank,
3. Business management and operational support for the General Manager of the Retail Bank.

Head of Strategy, Retail Banking

1. Group wide strategic planning, identification of strategic options, evaluation & prioritisation of strategy formulation and communication
2. Competitive, industry research and evaluate current and forward looking trends of the financial industry
3. Complex financial modelling and detailed analysis to support decision making on specific group and business unit issues
4. Business unit/divisional strategic reviews together with key business stakeholders

Strategy Manager, Group Strategy

Senior Strategy Analyst, Group Strategy

Strategy Analyst, Group Strategy

Graduate Analyst, Group Strategy and M&A

Trustmarque Solutions

Full stack dev, focussed on ASP.NET, Javascript and Microsoft SQL

Technical Consultant

I help empower young leaders through online tools & leadership training courses

Jonathan is the Chief Experiment Officer of AI Never Sleeps - an AI Automation Agency that helps Small Businesses automate their boring tasks.

Jonathan has a track record of more than 20 years of consulting and project delivery experience in Financial Services and Technology. He loves solving business problems to create value for organisations, has a history of end-to-end project delivery (idea inception to strategy development to execution and change) and loves working with people to ensure that outcomes are delivered.

He spent 8 years in a range of fintech startups to listed companies in various leadership roles from COO to CTO to CMO to CPO to CSO and Chief Growth Officer.

He 5.5 years with the Boston Consulting Group with their Sydney and KL offices where he worked on a diverse range of topics: from creating 5 year visions and strategies to M&A target selection and deal support to Inventory optimisation.

Prior to BCG, he worked for 5 years in Westpac (one of Australia's largest banks) in Group Strategy and Retail Banking. His last role was the Head of Strategy for Westpac Retail and Regional Banking where he was responsible for developing actionable initiatives to create value for the bank's branch network and led and assisted the delivery of both projects and operational issues.

Prior to joining Westpac, Jonathan worked in South East Asia for 4 years and was based in Singapore.  

Jonathan has a Bachelor of Business and Information Technology from the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS), as well as a Masters of Management and a Masters of Business Administration from the Macquarie Graduate School of Management (MGSM).

Jonathan Chan

6 months ago, I left a job paying $420k a year.

Today? I have more money in my bank than when I started.

The crazy part?

I almost didn't do it.

This is my 2nd entrepreneurial journey (the first taught me lessons rather than yielded profits 😅). 

And honestly, the inner voices still deafen:
Can I really make it? Should I just go back to (safe) corporate?

But here's what 6 months of building has actually looked like:
📹 Ran 18 webinars for my paid newsletter community
💻 Built 5 mini SAAS web apps
🏗️ Assisted 5 clients with automating their businesses
 🔧 Built 3 Chrome extensions 
🚧 Completed 2 consulting projects
📱 Built 2 mobile apps 
👨‍👩‍👦 Spent more time with my family than I have in years

That last one? Wouldn't trade it for the world.

The numbers (because I'm building in public):

MRR is at $10k/month:
AI Automation Agency = $8k
Newsletter = $1k
Mini-SAAS web apps = $1k

Still a long way from my $30k MRR target. But growing steadily.

Consulting is what has brought in most of my (one-off) revenue, but I hope to change that.

My approach? I'm making the decision to continue 3 months at a time.

We've extended to March 2025 now.

I don't have all the answers. Some days I wonder if I'm crazy. But I'm learning more about building businesses than I ever did in corporate and working for big companies.

And I'm loving every moment.

If you're standing at the edge wondering whether to leap - maybe start smaller. Build something on the side. Stack those steps.

Because right now, I'm thanking past Jonathan for taking the jump and starting early and small.

What would you build if you had the time?

I write about AI experiments that automate my life and business

I saw this story and it hit different.

A broke Indian kid is sitting on a German metro.

Tired. Worn out. Worried about whether he'll make it through the day.

Sitting next to him? Maisie Williams. The actress from Game of Thrones. Millions of fans would lose their minds just to get a selfie with her.

He doesn't even notice.

The photo goes viral. A German magazine (Der Spiegel) tracks him down. Turns out he's been living illegally in Munich, broke, riding trains without a ticket.

The journalist asks: "Why didn't you react? Don't you know who she was?"

His answer:

"When you don't have a residence permit, not a single euro in your pocket, and you travel illegally every day… it really doesn't matter who sits next to you."

The magazine was so moved they offered him a job. 800 euros a month as a postman. That job got him a legal residence permit.

One random photo. One moment he didn't even notice. Changed everything.

Here's why this resonates with me.

When I left Westpac, people thought I had a master plan.

I didn't.

I was just trying to figure out what was next. Some days I questioned everything. Some days I still do.

But looking back, every "random" moment connected to something bigger.

The newsletter(s) I failed at for 25 years? Suddenly worked when I stopped writing about AI news and started showing people HOW to use it.

The LinkedIn post I almost didn't publish? Led to being featured in LinkedIn News Australia (twice).

The client I met by accident? Became my first $5k/month retainer.

You can't connect the dots looking forward.

You just have to trust that the metro you're on is taking you somewhere.

Even when you're too tired to notice who's sitting next to you.

Is there a random moment changed your trajectory?

Coming home to heartbreak

Landed back in Sydney from holidays yesterday.

My eldest son checked his phone and said "there's been a mass shooting at Bondi". My stomach dropped.

Bondi Beach. A place synonymous with joy, summer, families. A place I've walked a thousand times.

Now a crime scene.

16 people went to celebrate Hanukkah with their families. They lit candles. They ate. Kids played at the playground.

They never came home.

I don't have profound words. I don't think anyone does right now.

But I keep thinking about the fruit shop owner who ran toward gunfire. Who tackled an armed shooter with his bare hands. Who took two bullets protecting strangers.

In the darkest moment, a stranger chose courage over self-preservation.

That's who we are at our best.

Sydney is grieving today. Australia is grieving.

Hold your loved ones a little tighter tonight.

Why are you doomscrolling??

Stop.

Seriously.

You could literally build a mobile app right now.
Or a web app. Or a Chrome extension.

Zero programming knowledge required.

Just ChatGPT. Maybe Cursor. Maybe Claude.

That's it.

I'm not being theoretical here.

Since "retiring" 6 months ago, I've built:
📱 A mobile iOS app (5 days to TestFlight, 12 days to live on the App Store)
🤖 An AI phone agent named Steve that answers calls 24/7 (2 hours)
🌐 www.Bank-statements.co - turns messy PDFs into clean spreadsheets (now makes $350/month)
📧 A Gmail cleanup tool that categorizes and deletes spam
🔌 Chrome extensions that can grab the content from a webpage or youtube video for my own '2nd brain'
💬 An AI chatbot for coaching
...and a bunch more that I use daily.

None of this required me to "learn to code."

I just described what I wanted - in english.

AI wrote it.

I clicked buttons until it worked.

The tools are absurdly good now.

A 60-year-old Senior Director built his own AI agent using my guide.
A non-techie named Olivia pushed through and shipped her first app.

The barrier isn't skill anymore.

It's just... starting.

So here's my question:
If you had nothing to lose and all the time in the world, what would you build?

Drop it in the comments.

You might just talk yourself into actually doing it.

No alternative text description for this image

I shouldn't be sharing this, but here goes...

A Chrome extension that gives you a second brain you can actually talk to.

Last weekend I locked myself in with Cursor and AI (Opus 4.5 mostly).

The problem I was solving:

I consume too much content.
YouTube videos. Articles. Podcasts. Research.
But when I need that ONE insight from 3 months ago? Gone.

So I built something.

Here's what it does:

→ Creates a second brain using Gemini's File Search API (fancy term for RAG, which is a fancy term for "a place to store stuff so AI can find it later")

→ Works with ANY LLM — Claude, OpenAI, Gemini, even Grok

→ Bring your own API key via OpenRouter (your key, your data, your costs)

→ One click to save any webpage or extract any YouTube transcript straight into your brain

→ Chat with everything you've saved using a custom prompt

The result?

I asked it: "What did that Dan Koe podcast say about content repurposing?"

It pulled the exact quote from a video I watched 2 weeks ago.

No more "I know I saved this somewhere."

No more 47 open tabs.

Just your brain, searchable.

I'm giving away:
- The full Chrome extension
- Step-by-step guide to set it up
- Access to Friday's webinar (19th Dec, 12pm AEST) where I'll show you how to build it live

Comment "second brain" below and I'll send you everything.

LinkedIn Post - Sora 2 n8n Workflow

People are paying $25 for Sora 2 invite codes on eBay.

I bypassed the waitlist entirely using n8n.

The crazy part?

It took me 30 minutes to set up.

Here's why this matters for small businesses:
Video converts better than static images. We all know this.
But traditional video production?
Expensive (thousands for basic stuff)
Slow (weeks of back-and-forth)
Inflexible (want to change one thing? Another invoice)

Now I can turn any static image into video for 10 cents per second.

A 30-second ad costs $3.

A video editor would charge you hundreds for the same thing.

What I built in n8n:
→ Basic workflow: prompt in, AI video out 
→ Advanced workflow: feed it a reference image, get animated video 
→ Scene control: different shots within a single clip 
→ No Sora app watermark

The best part?
You can batch process 20+ videos overnight using a Google Sheet.
Set it. Walk away. Come back to finished videos.

Real use cases I'm seeing:
→ E-commerce product videos from catalog images 
→ A/B testing ad variations at scale 
→ Turning legacy brochures into social content 
→ Creating moving images from static photos

Small businesses sitting on years of product photos now have a way to turn them into video content for almost nothing.

I wrote a full step-by-step breakdown on my Substack.

The workflow JSON is available for paid subscribers.

Link in comments 👇

What would you create if video production cost $3 instead of $3,000?

Product Academy - Learn, Build, Grow!

Teaching is my way of giving back to the community that helped me grow my career. I created this practical and unbiased course covering every aspect of tech Product Manager. Upon completion, this course offers lifetime access to future updates and free scholarships for students from developing countries.

My vision for Product Academy is to help people change their lives through the gift of knowledge. 

Some key achievements so far: 
- Built a 6 figure content business from scratch with a 4.8 Trust Pilot review 
- Taught over 4,000+ students across Harvard University, General Assembly, Melbourne Business School (#1 MBA School in Australia) and EntryLevel.
- Personally coached over 200+ students to find a fulfilling career in Product Management
- Reached over 1M+ people from the blogs, tools and videos I created I built Product Academy to coach and mentor people who wants to break into Product Managmeent.

Course Instructor

Linktree

Reporting to the CPO, I lead a team of amazing Product Managers, I was responsible for various Creator Commerce and Core Platform services at Linktree. These products includes: 
- Creator Commerce
- Appearances and Customisation
- Link-apps
- Mobile App
- Content Moderation / Trust & Safety
- Developer Platforms
- Identity and Authentication

Group Product Manager

SocietyOne is Australia's first P2P Leading platform that has $1 billion+ in lending
and was acquired for $132M in 2021.

My role at SocietyOne was to bring a customer-focused culture, create a PM framework to assess opportunities and build new experiences for borrowers and investors.
 
- Led a talented team of 3 PMs and 15 developers and designers 
- Launched a number of products & enhancements to double loan originations 
- Created a customer-centred design framework to validate, build, and iterate product ides
- Provided coaching to the business on how to use data, customer insights, and agile principles to make better decisions

SocietyOne is an award-winning fintech that is changing the landscape of financial services in Australia. Since the foundation in 2011, they have gone from a standing start to providing more than $600 million in loans to customers.

Head of Product

Scentre Group (Owner and Operator of Westfield in Aus and NZ)

Westfield Australia operates 42 Westfields across the country and has empowered businesses to sell online and offline for over 60 years.

Responsible for the digital experience of Westfield Shopping Centres in Australia. Managed the Westfield Online Marketplace, Digital Payment Experience and Customer Identity products.

- Launched an affiliate marketplace for Westfield retailers (Westfield Products)
- Implemented Westfield's digital payments platform that handles millions in daily transactions for various shopper services.
- Launched the digital experience for Ticketless Parking Payments in Westfield Centres. Ticketless Parking uses licence plate capture technology to replace physical tickets to provide a seamless payment experience for car parks.
- Integrated google maps and real-time parking data on the new Westfield.com.au website - helping customers find out when is the best time to drive to the centre.
- Managed the Identity service for customers using digital services in Westfield Shopping Centres

Senior Product Manager - Westfield Online & Shopper Experiences

Airtasker

Airtasker is Australia's #1 local services marketplace with over 2M+ members. Airtasker IPO'ed
in 2021 at a market cap of $550M.

- Managed the products for web, mobile and B2B
- Launched Airtasker Pay - the payment system facilitating payment between the Airtasker community
- Delivered a B2B platform for The Good Guys to offer installation services across Australia.

Product Manager - Jobs Marketplace, Mobile App and B2B

Commonwealth Bank

Responsible for the product direction of the new CommBank App on Tablet. Delivered an 18 months roadmap that secured development budget from the CBA Group. 

- Launched the Commbank App for Tablet
- Played the product owner role and managed 2 scrum teams of 30 people
- Managed a digital customer feedback forum to quickly iterate on product ideas
- Defined the accessibility standards for the tablet app

Senior Product Manager - Mobile & Tablet (Contract)

Expedia Group

Responsible for feature roadmap planning and prioritisation for HotelClub.com and RatesToGo.com. Cross-functional product planning across Australia, UK, China and US. 

- Launched the HotelClub and RatesToGo mobile app for Android and iOS across EU, APAC and US markets.
- Product strategy development and functionality planning for the HotelClub and RatesToGo (web & mobile)
- Project management across international teams in the US, Asia, and the UK for fortnightly feature launches
- Resource planning for the product development team with direct reports and agencies. 
- Launched many product enhancements like IP specific pricing, search enhancements, urgency messaging, etc to maximise online conversion, funnel progression, and customer satisfaction

Product Manager - E-Commerce (HotelClub & RatesToGo)

Vodafone Australia

- Played various Product Management roles mainly around Prepaid data and e-Commerce
- Responsible for creating a mobile internet product line of services to increase ARPU and recharge frequency of prepaid customers
- Managed the product strategy for online handset upgrade feature (ability to re-contract customers online)
- Responsible for revenue results and usage volumes for data services

Achievements:
- Launched the handset upgrade feature on the Vodafone e-store
- Designed and implemented the prepaid mobile internet strategy with key internal stakeholders to deliver a new revenue stream of over $3M and increased mobile internet penetration by 25%.
- Standardised data rates in Prepaid offers which made data easier to understand on Prepaid and increased data usage and revenue.

Product Manager - E-Commerce

- Seconded to Vodafone China to manage a strategic project for Vodafone Group targeting Chinese Students travelling out of china. 
- End to end business establishment in China - Including logistics, legal, IT systems, business process, marketing, partnerships, business case, sourcing, vendor negotiations, and more.
- Utilised my understanding of Chinese and Western culture to develop business plans, marketing strategy while managing internal and trans-national stakeholders.
- Felicitate communication and strategic planning translating Chinese and Western culture between China, UK, and Australia.

Achievements: 

- Established a Prepaid online business for students travelling to AU, UK and Germany
- Produced technical requirements, project managed and launched of an e-commerce platform for Vodafone China. Launched Vodafone China homepage
- Developed and launched the marketing campaign for the project.

Product Manager (China Secondment) 

- Responsible for driving content and data usage to increase ARPU of customers 
- Business development and strategic partnerships with key internet brands like Facebook, Foursquare, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Skype, Google, Path, and many other brands.  
- Proven track work in new product propositions utilising emerging trends that brings positive business results

Key Achievements:

- Launch of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, MySpace, LinkedIn, RSVP and may other social networking services on Vodafone with a combined users of more than 50% base. 
- Implemented a number of innovative “free trial” campaign for social networking products which increased mobile internet revenue by 36%. 
- Finalist in 2009 AMIA awards for the success of the Free Facebook campaign. The strategy was also used as key case study for other Vodafone Op-co’s, Hutchison Global & Facebook
- First in market to launched the inclusion of social networking products Post-paid and Prepaid offers. Creating a new competitive layer of proposition in the market and increased sales by 15% in the first month.
- Grew Facebook users by 159% in 12 months with continual growth of 10% month on month.
- Launched of foursquare specials in all Vodafone stores nationwide achieving the largest retail footprint on foursquare. Generated more than $40K of sales with $0 investment.

Product Manager - Mobile Internet and Emerging Products

- Assisting senior product managers to manage Email, Blackberry, IM, and Communities product on Hutchison 3G Australia. 
- Development of product, pricing, and value propositions for content products 
- Review of design, customer experience, and create customer centric tutorials
- Evaluate Customer needs and market competition
- Provide regular reports to the management term on market/customer/sales movement

Achievements:

- Launched of the "Email On 3" application product. Which successfully delivered an integrated, mass email offering meeting the company’s key objective of delivering a “sticky” 3G service solution, driving mobile internet usage and churn reduction.
- Grew the email user base by 215% in 4 months, and provided Hutchison 3 Mobiles with a new revenue stream and increased the email portfolio by more than $1 million in revenue.
- Identified an opportunity with Twitter, and launched portal promotional activities which drove Twitter users from 4,000 to 20,000 in one month.
- Assisted in the launch of MySpace via the mobile web resulted in a cost savings in revenue share by more than $40K/month
- Assisted in the launch of Unlimited Skype to Skype calls which strengthened the Internet Communications portfolio, reinforced 3’s position in the market as an innovative provider and enhanced the value proposition communicated to our customers.
- Assisted in the launch of the new Windows Live Messenger (IM) application, successfully transforming a declining offering to a growth product which has contributed to significant growth in the WLM customer base
- Lead and developed marketing communication and product information for various functional teams across 3 for the iNQ mobile (world's first Facebook mobile)

Product Specialist - Email, IM, Communities

Strategic Product Leader with 18+ years of success in creating customer-obsessed products that deliver commercial results.

In my recent role at Lintkree, my team and I doubled the company's revenue and users in 24 months; helping it achieve a $1.3BN valuation. Prior to Linktree, I've built products for companies of all sizes, from global corporates like Vodafone and Expedia to startups like Airtasker and SocietyOne. 

In my spare time, I give back to the product community by coaching product management at universities, speaking at product conferences, and writing on various product blogs.

My passion is to work with a technology-powered company that democratises economic opportunities for its customers.

My Skills
Business ​Strategy, Coaching, Communication, Cross-​functional ​collaboration, Cross-​team ​influence, Data ​driven ​decisions, Executive ​Communication, Executive ​Management, Leadership, Product ​Vision, Team ​Management

Hard skills: Data, Data ​Analysis, Experimentation, Market ​Research, Product ​Growth, Product ​
Management, Product ​Marketing, Product ​Roadmap, Product ​Strategy, Product ​Vision, Project ​Management, User ​Research, User ​Testing, UX ​Design

David Wang

👏 Wohoo! We’ve just wrapped up the latest Master the Product Craft in 6 Weeks - Designed for Unofficial PM's  — and this group delivered!

Twelve students showed up every week and put in the work. The results:

🎉 One student landed three PM offers
🎉 One has a pending offer
🎉 Two landed new roles mid-cohort
🎉 One is now building an AI side project

🫶  Their success is theirs — I’m not taking credit for that. 

🫡  What I provided was the structure, the tools, and weekly one-on-one coaching that helped them apply the craft with confidence.

What students walk away with in this cohort is very practical and built for real-world PM work:

✅ A side project they can use as a networking tool to open doors
✅  AI prompts to  help them operate at a level senior PMs expect - speeding up market research, write PRDs, and build AI-powered prototypes
✅  A full Miro board of tools they can use across the product lifecycle: segmentation, personas, feature maps, prioritisation, roadmapping and more
✅ Access to a custom GPT I’ve personally trained — built to help you break down product ideas, handle leadership situations, and answer PM questions even after the course ends

💪 My goal as a teacher is to: Build a system that works if you do the work — and surround you with a community of people who are moving in the same direction.

No status signalling, no certifications, no empty promises, just passing on skills that you can take on for the rest of your product career. 

The next cohort starts early next year.

If you want to master the craft and accelerate your PM career...

Comment "PM Career" in the comment below and send me a DM with all the details for the next cohort! 

Congrats again: 
- Golbou Rahbari 
- Jennifer (Xinyu) Long 
- Abhilasha (Abby) Gnawali
- Rita Aoki
- C.W. Yong
- Manasvi Sharma Bawa 
- Sanket Shah

And special thanks to Brandon Wan and Teresa Huang, who have been instrumental in helping with participation and leading the discussions. I can't think you both enough!

You are all AMAZING!!

You don’t need the PM title to do PM work anymore — but you do need the skills. AI has removed most of the technical barriers. 

- You can write a PRD in minutes.
- You can run research with a prompt.
- You can prototype without design tools.

But none of that matters if you don’t know how to think like a PM.

That’s the part AI can’t fake — judgement, structure, clarity, customer understanding, and tying ideas back to business goals.

So I built a new 4-week course for people who want real product skills without chasing titles or certificates:

Anyone Can Be a PM (With AI). It’s for:
• Engineers, designers, BAs, sales and support teams doing product work already
• Aspiring PMs who want practical skills
• PMs who want to stay relevant as AI shifts the role

You’ll learn how to use AI the right way, break down ideas, shape value props, write simple PRDs, and launch a small product end-to-end.

Maven is also running a 25% Fast-Track enrolment promo at the moment! Take advantage of the discount: 

If you want details, here’s the page:
👉 https://lnkd.in/g3tHGHmb

AI won’t replace you, nor the people “using AI” either. It’s the people who think sharper, ask better questions, and win in the land of ideas.

This is why I teach Product Thinking that apply to anyone involved in product work — PMs, POs, engineers, designers, analysts, support teams.

You’ll learn how to think:

1. Business first.
Why does a product exist? What value does it create for the business and the customer?

I built an innovative banking app for tablets for a large bank. And it failed…

because we had no idea why this product exist in the first place. 

2. Market-driven.
Markets pull products out of you. One product does not fit all markets. 

I saw this first-hand at Linktree. 

We had to ignore million-dollar ideas to chase billion-dollar ones because the market demanded it.

3. AI-powered.
AI gives you intelligence on tap. The limit is no longer the answers you can get — it’s the questions you know how to ask. 

Good prompts come from solid product thinking, not templates.

Unfortunately, most Product Education push frameworks, processes and tools that doesn’t have your best interest at heart. 

Once you rely on them, you’re stuck. They limit your thinking. 

When the tool or process is taken away, you lose clarity, creativity, and judgement. 

Then you come back to them. 

So don’t just learn the frameworks or the tools, but learn the mindsets and the right questions to ask an AI. 🤖 

“What is the question” is the ultimate question.

😣 A lot of people are scared that AI will take their jobs — engineers, designers, product managers. And for some roles, it will. But not for the reason you think.

🫣 The real threat isn’t AI.

The real threat is losing sight of the purpose of your role.

Look at radiology.

AI can scan images for tumours with incredible accuracy. People thought radiologists would vanish. Instead, hospitals hired more of them. 

Because the job was never “spot the pattern”. The job was diagnosis. AI just removed the low-level work.

This same shift is hitting every knowledge job.

If you’re in software, product, or design, AI now handles the pattern-recognition work for you.

Your purpose is what keeps you relevant.

If you’re an engineer and you see your job as “writing code”, you’re exposed.

AI writes code.

Your real job is helping the business achieve goals through systems, architecture, scalability, and trade-offs.

👉That’s product thinking.

If you’re a designer and your job is “creating screens”, AI can already do that.
Your real value is understanding users, shaping behaviour, making choices that move the product forward.

👉That’s product thinking.

If you’re a product owner and your job is “managing a backlog”, AI can already do that.

Your purpose is understanding why the work matters, what drives value, and what the business needs next.

👉That’s product thinking.

Now here’s the uncomfortable part.

If your day is mostly updating trackers, running ceremonies, assigning tickets, or enforcing frameworks, AI will take that work.

Not because the role is useless, but because the purpose has been lost.

Coordination is easy for AI.

🫶 Purpose is not.

But you can shift at any time.

If you move towards program management — owning outcomes, driving alignment, managing cross-team complexity, shaping the P&L — you’re back where AI amplifies you instead of replacing you.

👉 And this is why product thinking matters for everyone.

Engineers, designers, product owners — the moment you understand how products create value and how your work ties into business outcomes, you move into a category AI can’t touch.

AI replaces tasks.

AI accelerates purpose.
Your job is to decide which one you stand for.

If you want to stay relevant, earn more, and build a career that compounds, you need product thinking. 

Follow me, I can teach you that.

Struggling to break into Product Management? Here's a 𝐅𝐑𝐄𝐄 10 𝐌𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐋𝐄 𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐈-𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 that teaches the real strategy to break into Product Management. No email, no paywall, just a link: 

Now… why did I bother doing this?

Because for years I’ve watched aspiring PMs do the same thing:

Apply to 200 jobs. -> Get rejected -> Assume they’re the problem -> GIVE UP 

And if everybody is giving up, how do “I” have a job in the future in the industry??? 

So this sucks, let’s fix this. 

What I noticed is that a lot of the time, it's not the candidate's fault; they don't have the strategy. 

From the hiring manager’s side, the reality looks more like this:
• ~700 apply
• ~480 rejected instantly
• 223 “qualified”
• 17 get a call
• 5 get interviewed
• 1 gets hired 

You need to make yourself stand out, not just from a skill set perspective, but from a strategy perspective. 

So It’s not you. It’s your strategy. 

The people who break in usually:
• Learn the fundamentals
• Build small proof-of-work
• Apply PM thinking without waiting for a title
• Share their work publicly
• Build a small referral circle
• Tighten their story through feedback

So I put all of this into a simple 10 Module Course from: Explorer → Apprentice → Unofficial PM → Candidate → New PM

Plus a tracker so you can see where you are, what’s blocking you, and what to do next.

✅ It’s completely free.
❌ No emails.
❌ No upsell.
❌ No paywall.
❌ No BS.

(My marketer friends think I’ve finally lost it.)

Here’s the link: https://lnkd.in/gX4hXGwc 

If you’re trying to break into PM and feel stuck, this is the most practical place to start.

I'm restarting my newsletter again. This week's edition is based on what I’ve noticed after 150 hours of coaching people trying to break into PM and PMs interviewing for their next role.

I’m sharing a few hidden truths about the product hiring process in 2026: 

1. What interviews actually reward, 
2. Why “qualified” still isn’t enough
3. How team matching and job boards create false momentum
4. What the candidates who land roles do differently

Hope this would be helpful to anyone who's breaking into PM

View newsletter: Break Into Product Management

Last week, I spent over 15 hours coaching people trying to break into product management, mostly engineers making the leap to experienced professional

Open article: 5 Hard Truths from 150 Hours of Coaching Unofficial PMs by David Wang • 5 min read

5 Hard Truths from 150 Hours of Coaching Unofficial PMs

Hey folks, Quick heads-up — our webinar starts in 3 hours! Here’s a sneak peek of one of the slides we’ll go through. You'll walk away with an actual framework that teaches you how to identify toxic managers and HOW you can overcome them! 

Join us at 3PM PST | 6PM EST | 9AM AEST we unpack how to stay steady and grow in your PM career. Link's in the comment!

As much as AI helps us design and ship faster, it still can’t answer the real question designers struggle with every day: Should this even be built?

That’s the part that makes you indispensable.

Not the tools.
Not the workflows.
Not the shiny frameworks.

The designers who stand out today are the ones who think with the commercial reality baked in:

• They pitch with revenue impact in mind
• They design with acquisition cost in mind
• They know exactly which metrics their work needs to move
• They don’t waste cycles perfecting pixels for ideas that will never ship

This Wednesday, Jacalin Ding 丁嘉丽  and I are running a free session pulling back the curtain on:

“How businesses actually decide what gets funded, and why so many design initiatives die before they even start”

We’ll cover:
• How companies evaluate what deserves to exist
• The 3 business factors that kill most design proposals
• How to frame your work so decision-makers listen

If you’re a designer who wants to level up from “craft contributor” to “strategic partner,” this session will help you make that shift.

Join us here (45 mins):

Design Leader | Educator | Coached 10,000+ Designers Worldwide To Be Strategic Business Partners 🚀

𝐄𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫-𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧.

Every meeting about ideas that won't ship.
Every sprint on features that ignore revenue reality.
Every pixel perfected on products that don't align with growth models.

That's time drain from work that actually matters.

The designers becoming indispensable right now?
They pitch WITH the profit considerations baked in.
They present stories that consider customer acquisition costs.
They design knowing exactly which metrics move the business.

The crucial skill for designer in this AI age is: 
They judge what deserves to exist and they put forward the thing to move the right needle.

This Thursday, David Wang and I are going behind the curtains to share how business decide what to do and what not to do:

👉🏽 How to evaluate what gets built  
👉🏽 The 3 business factors that kill most design initiatives before they start
 
Sign up to free 45mins lightening session here:
https://lnkd.in/gUsau7fU

#strategicdesign #productdesign #businessdesign

Open article: Cash Flow Reality: How to Design What Ships by maven.com

Cash Flow Reality: How to Design What Ships

𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐭𝐨 𝐰𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐦𝐲 𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐬. Not because I'm lazy—because 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞. If you're reading this, there's a 90% chance you do this too...

For any important communication, I brainstorm with AI to craft clear, succinct messages that get my point across without wasting your attention. 

Think of it as having R2-D2 as my writing companion.

But here's what most people get wrong about AI writing:
1. The secret isn't to let AI write FOR you—it's to write WITH it. 
2. Don't just copy-paste AI output. 
3. That's how you get soulless AI slop that everyone can spot a mile away.

Instead:
1. Add your thinking to the mix, start with the context of the email 
2. Collaborate with it like a thought partner, ask for 'blindspots' or 'a different POV' 
3. Craft your message with clear intent: To Inform, Requests, Convince, or Ask questions. 
4. Finally - Start with the key points up front, then add supporting points.

You see - it's not just USING AI to write email but collaborating with it. 

-> Plot twist: I often spend MORE time writing with AI than I would typing a regular email. It doesn't save me time—it helps me deliver better quality communication.

The result? 

Messages that respect both your time and mine. Clear communication. No fluff. Just value.

Now, is this message created by an AI or by me?? :) - What do you think?

I had the privilege of speaking with the MSD community at Microsoft last week about building AI agents in enterprises. Here are 5 things I shared that shifted mindsets: 👇 

Big Idea💡:  If you want adoption, act like an internal agency. Own a problem space and reliably remove work.

1. Demo first, then own the space
>  A demo is the wedge. But the goal isn’t “look what I built”.
>  It’s “this is my problem space”.
>  The best demos: prove workflow understanding, remove one sharp pain fast, and set the next step: “send me the next one”.

2. Start with repetitive work, then chain it
>  One repetitive task gets a win. A chain gets adoption.
>  If you only solve one step, people disappear.
>  If you solve a connected chain, you become part of the workflow.

3. Size value: hours saved × hourly rate × reachable audience
>  Estimate hours saved per person X by the audience's average hourly rate X how many people you can reach = You'll get your TAM 
>  Once you have your TAM, you can compare bets.

4. Ship scrappy with humans in the loop
>  AI does the first pass. Humans approve or correct.
>  Learn the edge cases, then automate the stable parts.
>  Keep inputs/outputs standardised
>  Design clear escalation paths when confidence is low.

5. Build habits with a loop
>  Trigger (work shows up) → Action (small, repeatable) → Reward (accuracy + useful surprises) → Investment (context, preferences, corrections).
>   Make the trigger unavoidable (where the work already happens), and make investment frictionless (one click feedback, quick edits, simple preferences).

A huge thanks to Garima Tiwari and or the invitation and for leading the amazing MSD community at Microsoft; And MAHESH YADAV whom I had a chance to learn. He went extra deep in the AI Agent space, and its wealth of knowledge I'd suggest tapping into as well!

Product Leader @Microsoft | Focusing on Agentic AI | Speaker| Product Management Coach

📸 The pics say it all, what an incredible conversation this week!

2025 saw the world building more AI agents than ever.
 ⚙️ The tech is moving fast.
 📉 But as Product managers we have work to do to make it sticky.

Why? Because shipping agents isn’t the same as supporting "systems of work".

Thanks to MAHESH YADAV and David Wang, my 5 key takeaways:

🔹 1. Platforms need to enable Systems of Work. People adopt AI when it’s embedded in real workflows.
🔹 2. Adoption follows focus
 Sticky agents aren’t generic. They need to be purpose built for a clear role, context, and outcome.
🔹 3. Interoperability is a human problem
 More agents = more fragmentation. One metaphor: a shared “.md-style” context layer carrying user intent across tools.
🔹 4. Trust > Accuracy
 ✅ Helpful 🪞 Honest 🛡️ Harmless
 An amazing framework. When trust is designed not assumed user habit follows.
🔹 5. The PM role is evolving
 From feature shipping → to enabling real work. Persona-first. Co-built with users. Forward-deployed mindset.

🧠 The real blocker? Not weak models but misaligned systems of work.

Big thanks to MAHESH, David, and the amazing MSD community for creating the space. Also grateful to our Microsoft sponsors Sean, Jason, Matt, Vijaya, Kirkland, Miguel, Bill for making this conversation possible and cohost Swapna.

💬 DM me if you are exploring agentic AI, redefining PM in your domain, or just navigating this transformation firsthand. We would love to host you.

#AgenticAI #ProductManagement #AIProductDesign #MicrosoftLife 
#GenAI #TechLeadership #AIFirstPM #Innovation

Hey folks! Final reminder for our webinar tomorrow to help you manage your boss during this stressful times! Link below!

Most people think the solution to a toxic manager is to quit. But in this market, that’s often the worst move you can make. 👇 

Hiring is slow.
Budgets are tight.
Roles are limited.
And you’re competing with thousands of others also looking for work.

If you’re stuck with a difficult manager right now, the answer isn’t to run.
It’s to learn how to manage up — because this is the skill that will carry you through your entire career.

I’ve worked with all five types of toxic managers.
And at one point, I even became one myself.
Stress, pressure, and a lack of self-awareness can push anyone into bad habits.

The truth is:
You can’t control your manager.
You can control how you navigate them.

The carousel below breaks down:

The 5 toxic manager archetypes
How to spot them
What’s actually going on behind the scenes
And how to deal with each type in a healthy, professional way

If this resonates, I’m hosting a free live Q&A next week with my leadership coach, Julie Young:

🗓 18 Nov
🕒 3PM PST | 6PM EST | 9AM AEST
How to manage (and not become) a toxic manager

This session isn’t just for PMs.
It’s for anyone who has felt stuck, blocked, or drained by a manager — and wants to take their power back.

Carousel below 👇

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