CPO Rising Series: Wind River CPO on Navigating Product Leadership in a Changing Landscape

Show Notes

1. Avijit Sinha is the Chief Product Officer at Wind River.
2. Avijit Sinha is a finalist for the top 20 CPOs in 2023.
3. Wind River transformed from private equity to a public subsidiary.
4. Wind River shifted its focus to provide embedded and cloud software for critical systems.
5. VX Works powers the Mars Rover and telescope.
6. Wind River has expertise in distributed computing and software-defined technologies.
7. Mega trends driving the need for distributed computing and software-defined solutions include digital transformation, cloud-native technologies, 5G, IoT, and AI.
8. Wind River has positioned itself to provide software solutions in these industries.
9. Wind River doubled its engineering team during the pandemic due to high demand.
10. The company is hiring talent globally from companies experiencing layoffs.
11. Wind River is navigating product leadership in a changing landscape by investing in product and engineering, focusing on 5G, AI, and cloud-native technologies.
12. As product leadership in a changing landscape evolves, product is central to Wind River’s growth strategy, driven by market and customer needs.
13. R&D investments are calibrated to industry cadence for optimal ROI.
14. The company balances investment across industries and customers for long-term growth.
15. Wind River prioritizes balanced revenue distribution to maximize returns on R&D investment.
16. The company invests in areas with high ROI and margin return, using a mix of make, buy, and partner strategies.
17. Wind River uses a North Star document to guide product investments, inorganic moves, and partnerships.
18. Avijit Sinha plays a role in authoring the North Star document and making inorganic moves.
19. The North Star document guides product development and growth, updated every 2-3 years.
20. Wind River’s culture is built on customer obsession, growth mindset, diversity, and product’s role in supporting these values.