UX Stories Podcast

In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Abhishek Vyas, Director of Product Management at Auditoria.AI, to explore how AI is transforming enterprise product development.

🎯 Key Topics Covered:

• The current state of agentic AI in enterprise environments

• How AI committees are shaping enterprise AI adoption

• Vibe coding vs. traditional product development workflows

• The role of user testing in the age of rapid AI-powered development

• B2B vs. B2C product validation strategies

• Why usability testing still matters (even with AI)

• Finding product-market fit through customer feedback

💡 Key Insights:

Agentic AI is still early stage but evolving rapidly

Enterprises are creating AI compliance committees alongside security reviews

Product teams are using tools like Cursor and Lovable to build prototypes in days instead of months

The fundamental principle hasn't changed: focus on solving real customer problems

User testing remains critical - there are no shortcuts to understanding user behavior

🔧 Abhishek's Background:

15+ years in product management at Meta, Workday, Walmart, and VMware, with 7-8 years focused on ML/AI products. Currently building agentic AI solutions for finance operations at Auditoria.AI.

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction

1:00 - Abhishek's AI journey from NLP to Gen AI

4:30 - Is agentic AI ready for enterprise?

8:20 - AI compliance committees in enterprises

13:30 - How AI is changing product development workflows

20:00 - Customer validation in the vibe coding era

28:00 - The value of usability testing today

🎙️ About UX Stories:

Conversations with product builders navigating the intersection of AI, user research, and rapid product development.

AIAgents #ProductManagement #UserTesting #EnterpriseAI #B2BSaaS #ProductStrategy #VibeCoding #UXResearch #AICompliance

AI has made building products 10x faster—but are we forgetting our customers in the process?

In this episode, I sit down with Alex Pyatigorskiy, Head of Product at Vama and former Chief Digital Business Officer at Disney, to tackle the biggest challenge facing product teams today: how to maintain customer-centricity when vibe coding has replaced traditional product development.

🎯 KEY TOPICS:

• Why founders are abandoning pre-launch user research (and why that's risky)

• The "torture room" that became the most popular space at a major bank

• How to do user testing at the speed of AI development

• Why customers now expect you to use their data to bring them value

• The Henry Ford fallacy: what user research actually reveals

• Building products for introverts vs extroverts

• AI testing tools vs human insights: when to use each

💡 BEST QUOTES:

"The speed of building is 10x faster than the speed of listening"

"Users never can explain what they need—but that doesn't mean you should abandon research"

"Value first, before any cool features or optimizing onboarding"

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Introduction: The AI product development crisis

2:15 - Alex's background: Disney to Vama

5:30 - How customer expectations have evolved

12:45 - The three domains of product management

18:20 - Why some founders abandoned user research

25:10 - The "torture room" story

32:40 - Current user testing stack (including AI tools)

40:15 - The magic wand question: extracting true emotions

🔗 CONNECT WITH ALEX:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexpyatigorskiy/

Vama: https://www.vama.com/

🔗 ABOUT UX STORIES:

I'm Lihong Hicken, and I scaled UserTesting from zero to IPO. Now I'm building TheySaid to bring vibe testing to the speed of vibe coding. Subscribe for weekly conversations with product leaders who are navigating the AI revolution while keeping customers at the center.

Try TheySaid: https://www.theysaid.io/

Follow me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lihonghicken/

#ProductManagement #UserResearch #AI #UXDesign #ProductDevelopment #CustomerCentric #AITools #Disney #Vama #UserTesting

Your product roadmap is moving faster than your customers can keep up.

That gap is silently killing adoption, retention, and expansion revenue.

Watch this episode to learn how to validate what matters before you ship.

Most B2B SaaS teams don’t have a product problem—they have a feedback speed problem.

In this episode of UX Stories, Lihong Hicken sits down with Fy Knight (Head of Product at Recidiviz) to break down what it really means to build products that are personal, empowering, and effortless. Fy shares how high-performing product teams validate risky assumptions fast, avoid expensive experimentation traps, and turn user feedback into real business outcomes. You’ll learn how to create momentum with rapid validation methods that don’t rely on slow cycles or endless internal debate.

If you’re shipping fast but learning slow, this conversation will change how you build.

✅ Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ Why speed is beating listening right now

✅ The “vibe testing” mindset for product teams

✅ How to validate risky assumptions faster

✅ Why A/B tests are the most expensive option

✅ What users say vs what they actually do

✅ How to turn metrics into user outcomes

✅ Resources & Links:

✅ Connect with Fy Knight (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/celesteknight/

✅ Get Fy’s team-level product feedback system & validation playbook: https://www.recidiviz.org/

B2B SaaS teams are shipping faster—but adoption and trust aren’t keeping up.

That gap silently drains pipeline efficiency, retention, and expansion.

Watch this episode to learn the strategic approach UX leaders use to scale with confidence.

Speed is not the same as progress.

Jason Moore (Head of User Experience at Planful) breaks down what’s changing in UX leadership as AI accelerates building, design, and decision-making across product orgs. You’ll hear why “tool obsession” is a career trap, how to lead teams through constant change, and why synthetic users can be useful for spotting obvious gaps—but dangerous as a substitute for real customer truth. We also get into the real reason research teams stay understaffed, how to prove UX ROI with outcomes (not outputs), and how to evolve toward a long-term product vision without breaking customer trust.

If you’re a SaaS exec trying to grow efficiently while product velocity explodes, this is your playbook.

✅ Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ Ship fast without losing trust

✅ Why “why” beats opinions

✅ Synthetic users: use wisely

✅ UX ROI = outcomes, not output

✅ Tool skills won’t save careers

✅ Bring users along gradually

✅ Data mistrust is game over

✅ Resources & Links:

✅ Get Jason’s UX leadership framework: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasongmoore/

Your product is shipping faster than your customers can keep up.

That gap is quietly killing adoption, retention, and expansion revenue.

Watch this episode to learn the strategic fix top product leaders use to scale growth.

Building faster isn’t the same as building better.

In this episode of UX Stories, Sam Ho (ex-Head of Product at Tuning, VP Product at Sendoso, Director of Product at Glassdoor) breaks down why “vibe coding” is creating a dangerous illusion of progress for B2B SaaS teams. We unpack how the speed of AI-powered building is outpacing real customer understanding—and why many teams are shipping features that only power users touch. If you want real growth, the goal isn’t less friction everywhere… it’s lower cognitive load, smarter onboarding, and a product experience that meets users where they are.

If you’re a SaaS leader trying to scale efficiently, this conversation will change how you think about product velocity.

✅ Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ Vibe coding is speeding up the wrong part

✅ Feature velocity ≠ user adoption

✅ Why “protect engineering time” changed

✅ Don’t build for the loudest 4%

✅ Reduce cognitive load (not friction)

✅ Onboarding is your growth engine

✅ Vision + iteration wins long-term

✅ Resources & Links:

✅ Get Sam’s product builder playbook: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samho/

Shipping faster shouldn’t mean shipping the wrong roadmap

When product intent is unclear, growth stalls and churn spikes

Watch to learn how top teams align speed with real customer value

AI is accelerating product teams—but it’s also accelerating bad decisions.

In this episode of UX Stories, Lihong Hicken sits down with Jason Kirby (Global Head of Product Engineering at Magic Memories) to unpack why “build fast” isn’t the same as “build right,” how competing stakeholder intent quietly sabotages growth, and where AI is strong vs. dangerously weak.

You’ll walk away with a practical framework for keeping quality, clarity, and customer feedback at the center—without slowing down your team.

If you’re leading growth in B2B SaaS, this conversation will help you tighten strategy, reduce wasted build cycles, and ship with confidence.

✅ Key Insights

✅ Speed ≠ accuracy in AI

✅ Intent beats output

✅ QA still needs humans

✅ Avoid “marketing features”

✅ Watch users, not dashboards

✅ Resources & Links

✅ Jason Kirby: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonkirby/

✅ Magic Memories: https://www.magicmemories.com/

Standing out in an AI-dominated search world is killing your pipeline.

If your message sounds generic or invisible in LLM results, you’re leaving revenue on the table.

Watch this episode to learn how a 3x SaaS CMO uses AI strategically to grow, not water down, your brand.

Most SaaS marketing teams are using AI to move faster—but also to sound the same.

In this episode, three-time SaaS CMO Ashley Deibert breaks down how she used AI to overhaul LLM search performance, re-architect brand positioning around real customer language, and drive pipeline without letting bots write the story. She shares how her team achieved a 1900% boost in LLM search visibility, rebuilt product marketing to sit closer to customers, and tied every function—content, PMM, and competitive intelligence—directly to pipeline. You’ll also hear how she uses AI for research and synthesis, when she refuses to let it touch customer-facing copy, and why giving PMMs a number is the fastest way to change behavior.

If you want to stop being “just another AI-powered vendor” and start owning your category narrative, this episode shows you how a CMO actually does it.

Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ Why “no-AI-written blogs” can still 19x your LLM search

✅ How to rebuild messaging from real customer language

✅ Connecting product marketing and customer marketing for impact

✅ Giving PMMs and content teams a pipeline target

✅ Using competitive intel in outbound and paid campaigns

✅ When AI should support research—not own your brand voice

✅ Simple feedback loops that sharpen positioning over time

Resources & Links Mentioned:

✅ Customer surveys that go beyond NPS

✅ Competitive takeout campaigns tied to clear KPIs

✅ Biannual feedback as a compass for roadmap and messaging

Resources & Links:

🔗 Get Ashley’s B2B SaaS CMO strategy & advisory insights: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyeckeldeibert]

Scaling revenue as a B2B SaaS leader while staying truly trusted is harder than ever.

When buyers doubt your credibility, deals stall, churn rises, and growth gets capped.

Watch this episode to learn a practical trust-first strategy you can apply across your go-to-market.

Trust is still the most powerful growth asset your company has.

In this episode, Lisa Swanson—CEO and President of the Better Business Bureau of Central New England—shares how a 100+ year-old institution is evolving in 2025 while holding the line on credibility, ethics, and customer protection. She breaks down why human-vetted reviews still matter in an AI-driven world, how businesses can avoid the “grow too fast, break trust” trap, and why following through on simple promises often beats flashy tactics. You’ll also hear her perspective on scams, consumer education, and what it really means to build a marketplace of trust instead of just chasing clicks.

If you’re a B2B SaaS leader trying to turn reputation into a strategic growth advantage, this conversation gives you a timeless blueprint.

Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ Why credibility and follow-through are your real moat

✅ How AI, ethics, and trust collide in 2025

✅ Simple ways to signal reliability in crowded markets

✅ Why relationships beat short-term growth hacks every time

✅ How to think about scams, urgency, and “too good” offers

✅ Back-to-basics advice for sustainable, trust-led growth

Resources & Links Mentioned:

✅ Learn how BBB supports honest, trustworthy businesses

✅ Use education to protect customers from scams year-round

✅ Focus your team on clear goals, standards, and accountability

Resources & Links:

🔗 Build trust and credibility with the Better Business Bureau of Central New England: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-swanson-037a5924]

👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more B2B SaaS growth and trust-building strategies!

Your B2B SaaS forecasts still feel more like a guess than a system.

That uncertainty hides churn risk, weak deals, and stalled revenue growth.

Watch this episode to learn how a CEO uses AI to turn messy ops into predictable revenue.

AI is evolving faster than most SaaS leadership teams can realistically adapt to.

In this episode, Naushad Parpia—CEO and founder of Plative and Earth Side Farms—shares exactly how he’s weaving AI into the fabric of his business, from sentiment-scoring client calls to automated win–loss analysis and forecasting. He breaks down how his team uses AI agents across systems to surface risks early, improve project delivery, and make their forecasts feel less like a guessing game and more like a control panel. You’ll also hear his take on the future of work, why empathy matters more as AI scales, and how sales and customer feedback still sit at the core of every great strategy.

If you’re a B2B SaaS leader trying to move from reactive chaos to proactive, AI-augmented growth, this conversation is a blueprint.

Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ AI sentiment on calls as an early warning system

✅ Using AI agents to run win–loss analysis on demand

✅ Making SaaS forecasting more accurate and less political

✅ Automating reports so managers focus on outcomes, not admin

✅ Balancing AI efficiency with empathy and culture

✅ Why “sales cures all” still matters in an AI era

✅ How feedback loops keep your GTM motion evolving

✅ Why hiring great people is harder—and more important—than ever

Resources & Links:

✅ Unlock AI-driven forecasting and win–loss insights with Naushad’s team at Plative: [https://www.linkedin.com/in/naushadparpia]

👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more B2B SaaS growth and AI strategy insights!

AI is evolving faster than SaaS companies can adapt.

Every missed step compounds into stalled growth and operational waste.

Watch this episode to learn the strategic AI roadmap tech leaders must adopt now.

AI adoption isn’t the challenge—misaligned AI adoption is.

In this episode, Microsoft MVP Chris Hinch explains why most SaaS leaders are deploying AI backwards, how “FOMO-driven adoption” is destroying ROI, and the practical steps executives can take to finally make AI a growth driver instead of a productivity drain.

You’ll learn how to find your “AI aha moment,” deploy AI where it actually moves metrics, and avoid the hallucination, hype, and chaos stalling so many teams today.

Chris breaks down exactly how to think about productivity gains, workflow automation, and tech stack strategy in a world where AI is evolving faster than any technology in the last 25 years.

This episode gives SaaS leaders a clear path forward.

Key Insights from This Episode:

✅ AI FOMO is killing ROI — why leaders must define pain points first

✅ The “aha moment” framework that drives real AI adoption

✅ Why chat-based refinement beats traditional search for knowledge workers

✅ How to reduce busywork & reclaim hours with AI-driven workflows

✅ Handling AI hallucinations intelligently (trust but verify)

✅ When AI should be customer-facing — and when it absolutely shouldn’t

✅ The difference between LLMs vs SLMs when designing internal AI systems

✅ Automating recruiting, support, inbox management & daily workflows

✅ What’s coming next in AI: locally-grounded models & secure data access

Resources & Links:

🔗 Transform your workflows with Chris Hinch’s expertise (https://www.linkedin.com/in/hinch/)

👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more SaaS growth insights!