CPO Rising Series: ChatPRD Founder on Redefining Product Leadership in the Age of AI

What does it take to lead product and technology teams through constant transformation? In this episode of the CPO Rising Series hosted by NEOGOV CPO Denise Hemke, ChatPRD Founder and Fmr LaunchDarkly CPTO Claire Vo shares insights on the evolving role of the CPO, why speed beats perfection, and redefining product leadership in the age of AI. Claire discusses her journey from founder to CPO, the rise of hybrid roles that blend engineering and product, and why the next generation of product leaders must think like business owners.

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Show Notes:

1. Claire joined LaunchDarkly to make a significant impact using technology for community and societal benefit.
2. As CPTO, she oversees all technology functions, including product, engineering, design, data, and incubation sellers.
3. Her leadership journey includes CPO roles at Color Health and Optimizely, plus founder/CEO experience.
4. LaunchDarkly specializes in feature management and experimentation platforms for software teams.
5. The COVID-19 pandemic influenced her move into health tech, valuing organizations that could pivot quickly.
6. Color Health’s operational agility enabled large-scale COVID-19 testing during the pandemic.
7. “Fast beats right” is Claire’s core product management philosophy—prioritizing rapid action.
8. C-level leaders must shift from functional to broad business leadership responsibility.
9. Her leadership scope has continually expanded to include new functions and go-to-market initiatives.
10. Aspiring CPOs should cultivate strong business (commercial) or technical skill sets.
11. Building high-performing teams means finding individuals with speed, ownership, curiosity, and technical depth.
12. Rewards and increased responsibilities go to team members displaying initiative and learning agility.
13. LaunchDarkly maintains a product-led, technically focused, and accountable company culture.
14. Empathy and collaboration are encouraged between product, engineering, and sales teams.
15. Product and revenue goals are aligned by cross-functional incubation teams and shared incentives.
16. Employees and leaders “dogfood” their own products and participate in customer support for user empathy.
17. Resource allocation between core stability and innovation is a dynamic, strategic process.
18. AI is considered transformative for speeding up experimentation, lowering costs, and evolving team roles.
19. Product management will change significantly—more automation, hybrid roles, and commercial responsibility.
20. LaunchDarkly is a distributed, hybrid-remote organization with intentional investments in culture and team connection.