November 03, 2025

How AI is Transforming VEED’s Product Strategy (Samuel Beek, Veed.io) - #140

1 hour 10 minutes

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In this episode, I’m delighted to welcome Samuel Beek, Chief Product Officer at Veed.io. Samuel started out with two entrepreneurial ventures, then moved into software development before joining the Product team at Wetransfer. In 2021, he joined Veed.io as Head of Product and 5 years later, he is now their CPO. Under his leadership, VEED has grown from $2M in annual recurring revenue (ARR) to over $40M ARR.

In our conversation, Samuel and I explore how they integrated AI into their Product strategy. He shares the early mistakes they made, as well as the bold bets that truly accelerated growth once AI became a core part of their product.

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🔨 2 steps to prioritize AI features
🔨 The method to explore AI at scale
🔨 How to innovate without discovery
🔨 How to generate 15% in revenue in 2 days
🔨 The method to build an AI prototype in 3 days
🔨 How to turn a hackathon into a cash machine
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[00:00] Introduction
[01:17] Introducing VEED
[02:14] Competition in the video market
[03:02] VEED before AI
[04:25] First uses of AI in the product
[06:00] The strategic shift toward AI
[07:52] The turning point: a viral Christmas video
[09:06] Users and AI
[10:49] Intuition over data
[12:02] AI integration mistakes
[13:18] The 2 categories of AI features
[14:49] Partnership with Nvidia
[17:02] Perceived vs actual quality
[18:36] VEED’s features in 2025
[20:54] Product development with AI
[23:06] The case of the ChatGPT plugin
[25:06] Organizing hackathons
[28:07] Who takes part in hackathons?
[32:29] 40% of hackathon projects industrialized
[35:41] Connecting hackathons with the roadmap
[36:00] Making ideas go viral internally
[39:00] Why Samuel posts on LinkedIn
[41:24] R&D in experimental mode
[42:42] Changes in product organization
[44:00] No-code/low-code reshaping every role
[47:19] Team reactions to these changes
[50:29] Impact on product/design roles in the future
[53:33] AI features driving revenue
[57:18] Inviting users to all-hands meetings
[59:00] Embedding AI into a product strategy
[1:03:01] The biggest mistakes to avoid
[1:05:10] AI = a culture of virality
[1:06:59] Anecdotes