<p>Most of the conversation about rebuilding product management comes from two ends of the spectrum: AI-first startups with 30 people and no real installed base, or big tech with thousands of PMs and decades of process. This episode is about the third category: companies that went public in the last few years, have real customers and revenue to protect, and are now trying to move like startups again. The CPOs of Hims & Hers, Rubrik, and Figma joined me to discuss what that actually looks like. Several of their findings directly contradict the advice you'd get from either end of the spectrum.</p><p>Key topics</p><p>• Why going public doesn't mean replacing your PM team with "business people"</p><p>• Why AI makes PM workload explode, not shrink</p><p>• What happens when engineering is no longer the bottleneck</p><p>• The skill Figma values most at scale (and why speed is the wrong thing to optimize for)</p><p>• Whether the IPO date is a real line in the sand—and why Yuhki and Anneka land in different places</p><p>• Why AI adoption at post-IPO companies requires the CPO to go first</p><p>• How Anneka wrote her team's Claude Code onboarding guide, opened the GitHub repos, and built a triage agent between meetings</p><p>• Why Dheerja joined Hims & Hers as the "AI Queen"</p><p>• Dheerja’s three-part AI framework she’s executing on</p><p>• Why Yuhki hired AI veterans first—then immediately hired people with no AI background at all</p><p>• The case against take-homes (and Anneka's idea for what should replace them)</p><p>• What a blank canvas reveals about a PM candidate that no case study or behavioral question can</p><p>• Why every PM is about to become a manager of agents</p><p>• How to talk to your team when the stock is down and you haven't announced anything new</p><p>• Why Figma deprecated annual planning—and what Yuhki thinks will become core PM work within a year</p><p><strong>Where to find Nikhyl</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://x.com/nikhyl">Twitter/X</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikhyl/">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Where to find Anneka</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/annekagupta/">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Where to find Dheerja</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dheerja/">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Where to find Yuhki</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yuhki/">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Join The Skip</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.coach/">Skip Coach</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://skip.community/">Skip Community</a></p><p><strong>Find The Skip</strong></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.skip.community/">Website</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://theskip.substack.com/">Substack</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/@theskippodcast">YouTube</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/show/4oT2rxMsRP64h9NXuA11DJ">Spotify</a></p><p>• <a target="_blank" href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-skip-podcast/id1663529202">Apple Podcasts</a></p><p><strong>Timestamps</strong></p><p>(00:00) Anneka on leading from the top: visibly & vulnerably</p><p>(00:45) Intro: three CPOs, one inflection point</p><p>(05:53) How PM accountability shifts from startup to post-IPO</p><p>(07:24) The GM model: when PMs own P&L, not just product metrics</p><p>(10:54) Hiring systems thinkers over feature builders</p><p>(15:08) Where AI is actually moving the needle in enterprise B2B</p><p>(20:37) The three components of AI transformation</p><p>(24:13) How going public changes perception management at Figma</p><p>(27:00) Navigating stock drops and keeping teams focused</p><p>(30:30) Creating space for AI learning when the team is already maxed</p><p>(35:12) 3 steps to seeding AI teams</p><p>(40:03) How everyone is becoming a manager of agents</p><p>(44:34) Yuhki on resourcefulness and the blank canvas take-home</p><p>(47:40) Dheerja: go an hour deep on one real decision in the interview</p><p>(50:56) Why live pair Claude Code sessions is the future of PM interviews</p><p>(53:13) Predictions for 2026 and beyond</p><p>(55:34) Why it’s the best time in history to be a PM</p><p>Don't forget to subscribe to The Skip to hear me coach you through timely career lessons. Access exclusive sessions from 100+ top product leaders at <a target="_blank" href="http://skip.coach">skip.coach</a>. If you’re interested in joining me on a future call, send me a note on LinkedIn, Threads, or Twitter. You can also email me at <a target="_blank" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a></p> <br/><br/>This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit <a href="https://theskip.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&#38;utm_campaign=CTA_1">theskip.substack.com</a>