Growth Collective

Growth Collective is your catalyst for leadership excellence specializing in high-impact immersive learning experiences — from dynamic workshops to tailored executive coaching journeys. We enable organizations, teams, and individuals to unlock their full potential and drive meaningful growth.

Our human-centred approach, paired with a focus on measurable outcomes, ensures that every engagement delivers real, tangible results. With a diverse network of expert coaches, learning architects, and industry specialists, we bring real-world insights and proven strategies that drive sustainable growth.

As we continue to provide exceptional services, we're also evolving—developing innovative solutions like our leadership assessment and gamified development platform to accelerate growth.

At Growth Collective, we don’t just shape leaders—we build ecosystems of growth, performance and long-term success.

Founder & Principal

StealthMode

Learning fuels the journey to our best selves!

Currently crafting the future of leadership through AI-driven gamification experiences blending innovation and engagement to fuel effective learning journeys.

Founder 

Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

Strategic Advisor

Mad Street Den

---  	Owned the product roadmap and work closely with the executive team to create strategy, vision and delivery model. Maintain, monitor and publish progress to leadership on product goals for maintenance (SLA) and milestones (KPI). 
---  	Lead a team of product/program managers with close collaboration with engineering and AI teams by streamlining agile based development practices. Enforced best engineering practices, competitive analysis, and product usage analytics to enable improved metrics.  
---  	Optimized search results and increased product discoverability on customer websites by consistently increasing accuracy (90% +) of AI based product data predictions. Also, reduced time to market employing data segmentation and automation.
---  	Scouted and managed vendor relationships to fuel product implementation processes.

Head of Product

Odessa

--- Spearheaded an agile transformation for a product team of 150+ and successfully setup & led the Devops practice for CICD enablement & implementation of core engineering practices for the product team.
---  Skillfully increased the utilization of the team from 17% to 80% in 4 months to establish a profitable P&L practice. 
---  	Took the product through a full upgrade to adhere to the latest regulatory Financial Accounting Standards as established by the US government and ensured compliance for all customers.
---  	Enabled an enterprise wise test automation program, to maintain a regression suite  to reduce turnaround time, improve quality & enhance code coverage.

AVP - Strategic Product Management/Engineering

OneShield

Senior Product Manager (Core Platform)

Implementation Manager

Technical Team Lead

Senior Java J2EE Developer 

Wells Fargo Bank

Lead Design Analyst

Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC)

Senior Java/J2EE Developer

Harbinger Pvt. Ltd

Java/J2EE Developer

Zensar Technologies

Java/ VB Developer

As larger than life it may seem, I’m often torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. 

Enabling people, products & processes on their growth journey, through my work at Growth Collective, has helped me achieve the strife, to make the world a better place, while enjoying the process of doing it. 

-- I bring an overall industry experience of 24 years, focused on product, technology, coaching & entrepreneurship. Across domains of insurance, BFSI & ecommerce. 

-- My experience & passion lies in working with individuals, academia  & organizations, enabling career growth, process transformations & product innovations to maximize potential.

-- I'm a Harvard Business School, PLD graduate & an Erickson & Gallup coach.

-- I'm passionate about Leadership Development & performance coaching. I use a strengths focused approach to convert ideas into actions. 

-- I have skillfully built cross-functional teams across geographies & coached leaders with a focus on progress & productivity leading to profitability.

-- My extensive global experience enables me to understand various cultural nuances enabling organizational transformations & strategically developing partnerships & business relations. 

-- I leverage my technology & product experience, to enable teams to develop best engineering practices, agile methodologies & human centered design thinking for innovative product building.  

-- My startup experience enables me to bring order to chaos & enable leaders to navigate cross-functional teams through ever changing landscapes

-- I have spearheaded agile transformations for organizations, enhancing predictability, productivity, quality of products/services & agile mindsets with teams. 

-- I am an enthusiastic contributor to various industry and academia events for design thinking, career counselling, women in technology, diversity championing, leadership development etc.

Reach out to me for  - 
1-1 or team coaching for
      -- Leadership Development 
      -- Performance Coaching
      -- Personal Branding
Enabling teams for 
       -- Design Thinking
       -- Agile & other team enablement
       -- Growth mindset, socio-emotional skills
       -- Product management
Business Coaching
        -- Enabling Entrepreneurs & their teams make traction on their product journey.

Some of my clients- Microsoft, Cisco, Zetwerk, Target, OneSheild, Odessa, Grundfos, IIM, Indian Oil, Meredith & others.

When not working I can be found exploring -  places, books, cafes, people, technologies & many other interesting things the world offers.

She was made a teenage bride at 14. At 28, she became the role model of every teenage girl by becoming an IPS officer.

Where N Ambika was from, a girl’s only life plan was to get married as soon as she hit adulthood.

But she wasn’t even a proper adult when she was married off. 

However, she never complained of that. 

She was respected. Her husband was a constable. 
She gave birth to two beautiful kids by the time she was 18.

This seemed like an almost ideal situation.

Almost. 

Something was still missing from her life. 

But then something happened. 

At a Republic Day parade, she saw her husband salute to IPS officers.
That was the moment she realised what she wanted to become.

So she started from zero.
Completed her 10th. Then her 12th. Then her graduation.
All while managing a family.

But to prepare for UPSC, she had to move to Chennai leaving her husband and children behind.

This was a big decision.
But her husband didn’t even hesitate for a second. 

He took care of the kids, managed the home, and became her backbone through it all.

Attempt 1: She failed.
Attempt 2: She failed again.
Attempt 3: Failed again.

Her husband requested her. 
“Please come home now”. 

It was not a warning. He just didn’t want her to face back-to-back failures.

She didn’t want to give up. After all, she didn’t want to disappoint after putting so much at stake for the last 3 years.

In 2008, on her fourth attempt, she cleared UPSC.

Today, she serves as the Deputy Commissioner of Police in Mumbai, Maharashtra cadre.

Ambika’s story is proof that dreams don’t belong to the privileged, the lucky, or the perfectly prepared.

They belong to the ones who show up, again and again, even when life keeps telling them they shouldn’t.

Because sometimes, the only thing standing between who you are and who you want to become is the courage to try one more time.

Kudos to Ambika for sharing with the world what’s possible!

#ips #motivation #womenempowerment

Janet Rajan

This small Bengaluru team built something so reliable that Google acquired them.

No ads.
No hype.
No massive engineering budgets.
Just a product that solved one of India’s biggest daily pain points so well, it became unavoidable.

This is the story of 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝘀 𝗠𝘆 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 and I love a good travel tech product. 

Where Is My Train began because the founder missed an important meeting - his train was 3 hours late and he realised something simple:

In a country where the internet drops when you need it the most, the problem wasn’t “𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴.”

The real problem was uncertainty. And this team decided to solve that.

Google noticed.
And “Where is my Train” became their first-ever India product acquisition.

But here’s what most people get wrong:
The success wasn’t because of offline tracking.

The real moat was this:
𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿’𝘀 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁.

Every commuter had one question:
“Just tell me when my train will actually arrive.”

Not live maps.
Not dashboards.
Not 20 shiny features.
Just clarity.

So instead of chasing traditional tech KPIs (speed, load, uptime, GPS integrations), the team aligned around a single north star:

“How fast can we give a passenger a trustworthy answer?”

Everything else was secondary and that’s why the product earned the trust of millions.

And to me, that’s the real power of any well-driven product team.

Products win when 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗲𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝗴𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗲𝘄 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗸.

When you measure what truly matters, your product becomes inevitable.

P.S. We’re breaking down how great teams find the metric that changes everything at 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘: 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 on Dec 13. 

If you build products, you’ll want to attend. Seats are filling fast - Register at -  https://lnkd.in/g6i_28dE

#productmanagement #productdevelopment #successstory #buildbetter

Most people don’t outgrow their careers because of a lack of skill. They get stuck on Child’s Hill 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆’𝘃𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁.

We expect growth to be a 𝗰𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘂𝗽𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗯.
But real learning is more like 𝗳𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗮 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗳𝗳 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝘄𝗻.

Having coached some of the brightest leaders, one pattern that stands out:

The ones who move teams, products, and ideas forward aren’t the “smartest” in the room.
They’re the ones with clear conviction - the kind rooted in curiosity, not ego.

They don’t panic when they hit a gap in their knowledge.
They turn it into 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺.

They’re the ones who say:

“I might be wrong.”
“Let me test that.”
“Tell me what I’m missing.”

They don’t fear what they don’t know.
They use it to ask 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗾𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝘁𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴.

They are self-aware enough to see their limits,
Secure enough not to be threatened by them.
Curious enough to unlearn and relearn.
Courageous enough to keep climbing even when the path feels uncomfortable.

That’s how they move from Child’s Hill → through Insecure Canyon → to Grown-Up Mountain.

You don’t win by knowing everything.
You win by 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗶𝗼𝘂𝘀 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴.

#leadershipdevelopment #growthmindset #learning #leadership

𝗜 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗮 𝘀𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲: 
I’ve always admired founders who are shameless.

There is a certain type of founder who can walk into a room and ask for what they need with zero second-guessing.

They’re not aggressive. They’re not loud. They’re just unapologetic.

I’ve spent a large part of my life around entrepreneurs, and having built products myself, the one truth that has become clearer with time:

➝ A founder’s real job is to 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀.
➝ To 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗼𝗼𝗿𝘀 that aren’t obviously open.
➝ To gather the 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘀𝘂𝗽𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺.

It’s less about having answers and more about having the courage to go looking for them.

So if you’re starting out, or have started your entrepreneurship journey, you know what your biggest superpower is going to be?

To be 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀. 

And I don’t mean shameless in the loud, performative way.

I mean in a gentle, hopeful way, the kind that lets you say:

“Hey, I could use your help.” 
“Can we talk?” 
“Would you take a chance on this?”

Because if you never ask, you’ll never find out the kind of opportunities you might get!

#founder #entrepreneurship #entrepreneurs

2025 didn’t just give me milestones, it created 𝗺𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘂𝗺.
Two cities. Two full houses.
 
A fast-growing circle of PMs, tech leaders, designers, and builders committed to 𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀.
And that’s what excites me the most.
 
For 24+ years, I’ve worked at the intersection of tech, product, and leadership growth building products, shaping AI solutions, scaling teams, and coaching leaders.

This year, I brought these worlds together with 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘 under 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲: A space where product leaders grow by thinking, learning, and building together.
 
In Chennai and Bangalore, the rooms were buzzing with energy and insights.

And as we carry this learning journey forward, one pattern across my coaching, advisory, and product work has been impossible to ignore:
 
Teams weren’t struggling with effort. They were struggling with 𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀.
 
Too many dashboards. Too many debates.
Too many numbers… and not enough clarity on what truly moves the product forward.
 
That’s why the next chapter of 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘 is here: 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜.
 
A session that enables product leaders to think clearly, decide confidently, and drive impact with data.
 
We’ll explore questions every product leader should obsess over:

→ Which metrics accelerate your product and which derail it? 
→ How do top teams find the metrics that shift outcomes?
→ How should product leaders rethink metrics in an AI-first world?
 
Because if 2025 taught me anything, it’s this:
𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲. 𝗧𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀.
 
𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟭𝟯, 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟱, | 𝟭𝟬 𝗔𝗠 – 𝟭 𝗣𝗠 𝗜𝗦𝗧 | 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲
 
𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲: https://lnkd.in/g6i_28dE
 
This session is for anyone building products and ready to elevate how they think, decide, and lead in 2026.
 
The Build Collective community is expanding. If you want to grow with us, join in.

#productmanagement #productdevelopment #productgrowth

I recently spoke at the Google DevFest 2025 hosted by Google Developer Group Chennai at the IIT Madras Research Park (IITMRP). and it was a reminder that AI is evolving fast but our understanding of how to use it well must evolve even faster.
 
A huge shoutout to Bhavani Ravi for moderating with so much clarity and warmth. Her questions pulled out a lot of interesting perspectives. 
 
And I’m grateful for my fellow panellists Kayalvizhi Karthikeyan and Prashant Srinivasan, two sharp voices bringing in experiences from fintech, engineering and product trenches, the conversation felt refreshingly real.
 
Somewhere in that exchange, a few insights surfaced that stayed with me -

1️⃣ 𝗪𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗻𝗼 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘀; 𝘄𝗲’𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲.
Whether you’re a designer, engineer, PM, or founder, AI changes the mindset from “What should we build?” to “What should this system learn next?”
 
It’s a different mental model and product builders who embrace it will shape the next decade.
 
2️⃣ 𝗔𝗜 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹; 𝗶𝘁’𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗽𝗽.
During the AI boom, I was swiping on every shiny new tool. And just like dating apps, I realised: Most matches are interesting… only few are meaningful.
 
The ones worth keeping help you think clearer, choose better, and become a better version of yourself. Everything else is just another swipe.
 
3️⃣ 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗔𝗜 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗹𝘁, 𝗶𝗻𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗮𝗹.
If you taste the salt, it’s too much. If you don’t feel its presence, it’s too little. Tasteful AI is the same quietly reducing friction, not loudly announcing itself.

4️⃣ 𝗛𝘆𝗽𝗲, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸
We often talk about hallucinations as the big risk, but the real risk is overexpectation. “Just add AI” is not a product strategy. Before adding intelligence, we must ask:
 
What problem are we solving? What data supports it? What value does a user experience?
Clarity is the moat. Not the model.
 
5️⃣ 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘀𝗽𝗲𝗲𝗱
AI will accelerate creation across design, engineering, content, and strategy. But the builders who stay irreplaceable:

✅ what not to automate
✅ when to pause
✅ what still needs human courage

Because your edge isn’t speed. Its intention.
 
Walking out of DevFest, I felt more certain about one thing:
 
𝗔𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗸𝗲𝗲𝗽 𝗲𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗳𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗿.
𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘄𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗜 𝗰𝗮𝗻’𝘁 - 𝗼𝗳 𝗽𝘂𝗿𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲, 𝗲𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆, 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
 
That’s the real human edge going forward.
 
#productdevelopment #ai #googledevfest

I usually don’t indulge in “internet outrage.”
But this one stayed with me longer than I expected.
 
A friend sent me this post yesterday, and I remember thinking:
“Okay, this is extreme. Sad, but rare.”
 
Then I scrolled down to the comments.
Person after person.
The SAME experience.
 
At organizations that proudly call themselves “people-first.”
 
Here’s the truth:

If a leader cannot show empathy during a moment of grief, they’re not a leader.
They’re just a title.
 
And they have no business expecting commitment, loyalty, or “alignment to vision.”
 
Because meetings can be moved.
Targets can be pushed.
Projects can wait.
 
But trust?
Once broken, doesn’t come back easily.
 
We keep calling empathy a “soft skill.”
Honestly - It’s the hardest skill to fake,
And the strongest one to build teams around.
 
It’s not the fluff.
It is a performance multiplier.

It is the difference between:
A team that does the bare minimum…
and a team that goes the extra mile because they feel seen.
 
High-performing teams are not created by KPIs.
They’re created by leaders who show up when it matters the most.
 
Leadership is not tested in your all-hands meetings.
It’s tested in these tiny, human moments that don’t make the dashboards.
 
If you lead people, remember this:
Your behaviour in someone’s worst moment will become your legacy.
 
No metric will ever matter more than that.

#empathy #leadership #toxicworkculture

If you’re someone who builds products and has got a free weekend coming up, trade doomscrolling for a dose of brain fuel.

These 6 books will not only elevate your craft but also sharpen your perspective on how you build, decide, and communicate:

1️⃣ The Lean Product Playbook (Dan Olsen): Step-by-step frameworks to build what customers really want.

2️⃣ Essentialism (Greg McKeown): A masterclass in saying no. Do less but do it better.

3️⃣ Radical Candor (Kim Scott): Care personally. Challenge directly. A mindset that reshaped how I coach my team.

4️⃣ Storyworthy (Matthew Dicks): Turns everyday moments into unforgettable stories. The storytelling book every product builder needs.

5️⃣ Let My People Go Surfing (Yvon Chouinard): A founder’s guide to building products with soul not just scale.

6️⃣ Think Faster, Talk Smarter (Matt Abrahams): Real tools for real-time speaking next time you’re put on the spot in a meeting, thank this book.

If you could add one must-read for product builders what would it be?

JSESSIONID

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Activity | Janet Rajan | LinkedIn

Zomato just dropped a truth most product teams hate admitting:
The metric you’re proud of might not be the metric your users need.

And that’s the question 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗰 𝟭𝟯, but let me explain.
 
Zomato changed how an entire country eats. It became one of those rare products that you don’t realise you’ve depended on until you try going without it.

But as Deepinder said himself:
“We made eating out and ordering in easier than ever, but we never really helped people truly eat better.”
 
Healthy options existed. Discoverability didn’t.
 
And that’s where most product teams slip:
We measure 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘆, 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹.
 
Zomato’s new Healthy Mode fixes this by reframing the metric itself.
 
Instead of calories → It measures what users really care about:
Protein. Fibre. Complex carbs. Micronutrients.
 
This isn’t just a feature.
It’s a 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻, the kind that shifts from 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 → 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘁.
 
That's real product strategy:
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 → 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗶𝗼𝘂𝗿 → 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲.
 
And this is exactly what we’re unpacking on 𝗗𝗲𝗰 𝟭𝟯 𝗮𝘁 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘: 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿

→ Decode what makes a metric meaningful
→ Spot metrics that silently sabotage your product decisions
→ Identify the 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗹𝗲-𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰 for your team
→ Build your own 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗖𝗮𝗻𝘃𝗮𝘀
→ Integrate 𝗔𝗜-𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 methods to design sharper metrics
→ Learn (and apply) how world-class teams pick the right metrics
 
If you’re a PM, designer, tech leader or anyone building product, remember:
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗱𝗼𝗻’𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀. 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗼𝗿𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱.
 
Save your seat.

𝗦𝗘𝗦𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡: 𝗙𝗹𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗖𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗰𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗠𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗮 𝗱𝗮𝘀𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗜

Date: December 13, 2025 

Time: 10 AM – 1 PM IST 

Where: Online (Zoom link will be shared post-registration) 

Entry: ₹799 for early sign-ups | ₹999 after Nov 30

Registration link: https://lnkd.in/g6i_28dE

#productmanagement #productdevelopment #zomato

The future of product work isn’t about who ships fastest, but who still takes the time to build features that solve actual user problems.

Thanks to AI, every PM today can ship faster and iterate quicker.

But thanks to it, we’re also skipping the hard parts.

This isn’t an AI problem.
It’s a product thinking problem.

The best PMs I know are actually doing something opposite. 

They’re not using AI to build more, but to actually free up their critical thinking time, and not replace it.

They’re reintroducing forgotten rituals: teardown sessions, design reviews, and user story mapping.

That’s the irony of modern product work.
AI doesn’t have to make craftsmanship obsolete. It can actually make it more visible. 

Only if you know how to allocate resources at hand justly. 

What are your thoughts as a PM on this situation?

#productmanagement #productbuilding #productdevelopment

If you are at AnitaB.org India's Grace Hopper Conference in Bengaluru definitely go check this out. Namita and Shreya have put together an excellent model to enable you. Sign up in the post below! 

Congratulations Nams and Shreya.

“I hate to break this to you, but if you call yourself self-aware and are only aware of your faults, not your strengths, you’re not self-aware.

You’ve just repackaged your self-hatred.”

This is what most leaders went through in 2025.

And so, we’ve decided to help you unlearn it.

Every leader carries a signature rhythm. A way of thinking, deciding, dreaming, and connecting. 

It’s a blend of their wiring, strengths, inner drive, and the neural patterns that shape how they move through challenge and change.

At the Grace Hopper Conference on December 2nd–4th, we're discussing something that'll help you see yourself clearly, not critically.

Something super exciting is coming, stay tuned.
And if you want to be part of the launch, sign up below:

https://lnkd.in/g-jb5XEk

See you there! Shreya Krishnan  

#gracehopper #event #women #leadership

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