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The End-to-End Engineer: How Workos Collapsed the Talent Stack for High-Velocity Execution, Ownership & Better Product Decisions

with Michael Grinich


What if your engineering team didn’t just write code, but owned product discovery, wrote the launch messaging, and handled early sales? In this episode, Michael Grinich, CEO and founder of WorkOS, deconstructs their playbook for collapsing the product/engineering stack: no design leads, only one PM, and engineers who own product end-to-end. Michael breaks down how they teach product thinking, build with deep customer insight, and why his most important job is often to "cut scope." You’ll learn how to remove the "lossy translation layers" between teams, build a culture of curiosity and customer obsession, and ship higher-quality products, faster.
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On this show, we uncover stories and examples of great leadership in software engineering, explore the experiences of industry leaders, as well as share actionable insights from leadership and management thought experts artful and skilled in the application of leadership.
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FEATURED STORY
Jul 22, 2025

Influencing without authority: What every engineering leader can learn from security

with Srinath Kuruvadi

Influencing without authority is the hidden superpower of security leadership—and a crucial skill every engineering leader must master. In this episode, Srinath Kuruvadi (Head of Cloud Security @ JPMorgan Chase) breaks down how to influence without formal authority and advocate when ROI isn’t immediately clear. We cover tactics for shaping problems from the POV of other stakeholders, Plus, strategies to establish shared outcomes, insights on optimizing your time, emerging AI x security trends, and how his team is operationalizing curiosity & experimentation through The Innovation Lab.
FEATURED STORY
Jul 08, 2025

Vision-first leadership & reimagining product w/ “Shift Out,” Do-It-as-a-Service & Jobs-to-Be-Done

with John Amaral

John Amaral (CTO and co-founder @ Root.io) joins us to discuss the evolving role of engineering leaders and why vision-first leadership & building your “vision” muscle is more critical than ever. We dive into why “shift left” is dead and why SaaS is being replaced by “do-it” as a service. John also unpacks how to think in outcomes, apply the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework to eliminate toil, and reimagine product experiences. Plus, we look inside Root.io’s approach to building AI-native security products that ship daily. Whether you’re rethinking your org design or exploring the frontier of AI-powered engineering, this episode will reshape how you think about building, leading, and scaling teams.
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A breath of fresh air in a category that can have a lot of BS. Keep up the great work!
- Rudest Buddhist
Sept 1, 2020
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LATEST

Episode 228: The End-to-End Engineer: How Workos Collapsed the Talent Stack for High-Velocity Execution, Ownership & Better Product Decisions

with Michael Grinich

What if your engineering team didn’t just write code, but owned product discovery, wrote the launch messaging, and handled early sales? In this episode, Michael Grinich, CEO and founder of WorkOS, deconstructs their playbook for collapsing the product/engineering stack: no design leads, only one PM, and engineers who own product end-to-end. Michael breaks down how they teach product thinking, build with deep customer insight, and why his most important job is often to "cut scope." You’ll learn how to remove the "lossy translation layers" between teams, build a culture of curiosity and customer obsession, and ship higher-quality products, faster.
Aug 05, 2025

Episode 227: Influencing without authority: What every engineering leader can learn from security

with Srinath Kuruvadi

Influencing without authority is the hidden superpower of security leadership—and a crucial skill every engineering leader must master. In this episode, Srinath Kuruvadi (Head of Cloud Security @ JPMorgan Chase) breaks down how to influence without formal authority and advocate when ROI isn’t immediately clear. We cover tactics for shaping problems from the POV of other stakeholders, Plus, strategies to establish shared outcomes, insights on optimizing your time, emerging AI x security trends, and how his team is operationalizing curiosity & experimentation through The Innovation Lab.
Jul 22, 2025

Episode 226: Vision-first leadership & reimagining product w/ “Shift Out,” Do-It-as-a-Service & Jobs-to-Be-Done

with John Amaral

John Amaral (CTO and co-founder @ Root.io) joins us to discuss the evolving role of engineering leaders and why vision-first leadership & building your “vision” muscle is more critical than ever. We dive into why “shift left” is dead and why SaaS is being replaced by “do-it” as a service. John also unpacks how to think in outcomes, apply the Jobs-To-Be-Done framework to eliminate toil, and reimagine product experiences. Plus, we look inside Root.io’s approach to building AI-native security products that ship daily. Whether you’re rethinking your org design or exploring the frontier of AI-powered engineering, this episode will reshape how you think about building, leading, and scaling teams.
Jul 08, 2025

Episode 225: Scaling decision-making, designing eng orgs for speed & scope as underrated leverage

with Dhruv Parthasarathy

What does it take to operate with startup-level speed… in one of the most complex, high-stakes industries on the planet? In this episode, we go inside Commure’s engineering org w/ Dhruv Parthasarathy (CTO @ Commure & Athelas). We cover how to push decision-making down to move faster and reduce risk, structure teams for rapid iteration, and turn customers into product co-creators. Dhruv also shares how they cultivate polymath capabilities across EPD to accelerate velocity, why scope is one of the most underrated sources of leverage in engineering, and the frameworks they use to identify compound wins. If you’re scaling an eng org, leading in a complex domain, or designing your team for speed—this episode is packed with tactical frameworks you can apply immediately.
Jun 25, 2025

Episode 224: The evolving velocity playbook, building product taste & exceptional product experiences in the AI era

with Loïc Houssier

How do you lead a high-velocity engineering team—when everything about how we build is changing? How do you cultivate more of a product mindset in your engineering teams? Loïc Houssier (VP Engineering @ Superhuman) shares his evolving playbook for driving velocity in eng orgs today, building product-minded teams, and cultivating product taste. We cover leading culture / mindset transformation, creating exceptional product experiences, operational excellence when product quality is increasingly subjective. Plus the evolution of productivity tools!
Jun 17, 2025

Episode 223: Rapid Prototyping, Lightning Pods & the End of PRDs: Redefining product development & EPD in the age of AI

with Nissim Lehyani

When Nissim Lehyani (VP of Product at Life360) used AI to build a math game for his son, he didn’t just prototype a game, he rewired how he thinks about product development and the relationship between engineering, product, and design. In this episode, Nissim shares how that personal “aha” moment sparked a shift in how his teams build, collaborate, and ship. We dive into how AI is accelerating product iteration from months to hours, why it’s time to drop the “M” from MVP, and how prototypes are replacing PRDs as the central artifact of product work. Plus how product rituals and building cadence are evolving, strategies for scaling a prototype-first workflow, and we deconstruct the “lightning pod” model and how it’s changing the dynamics of product building & EPD collaboration.
Jun 10, 2025

Episode 222: From architect to AI exec: Scaling leadership, maintaining credibility & effective communication to non-technical execs

with Prashant Ramarao

How do you go from deeply technical IC to leading 100+ engineers - and still stay close to the tech? Prashant Ramarao, SVP of Engineering & Head of AI @ Yahoo shares lessons from his unconventional leadership journey, exploring the mindset shift from expert IC to executive! We cover how to scale your leadership while maintaining technical credibility and how to effectively communicate with GMs & other non-technical stakeholders. Plus, Prashant shares personal AI projects that enhanced his technical credibility, leadership skills & understanding of how to integrate AI into products If you’re navigating the leap from technical to strategic, or scaling your leadership, this one’s for you.
May 27, 2025

Episode 221: The Startup Epoch: Rethinking Company Building & Defensibility in an AI World w/ Craig McLuckie

with Craig McLuckie

AI is reshaping the fundamental economics of startups—lowering product development costs, compressing GTM cycles, and rewriting the rules of competition. In this episode, Craig McLuckie (Co-Founder & CEO @ Stacklok, co-creator of Kubernetes) unpacks “the epoch of the startup,” a moment of massive disruption where fast-moving founders have a unique edge over incumbents. We explore how Craig is navigating this new era from rethinking cost structure, value capture, and defensibility to leveraging open-source, community, and asymmetric advantages as core pillars of Stacklok’s strategy. Craig shares lessons from pivotal product shifts, frameworks for identifying moats, and the broader societal implications of AI-driven disruption. Whether you’re leading a startup, pivoting in the face of AI, or thinking about your next big move, this conversation offers a strategic playbook for thriving in today’s shifting landscape.
May 20, 2025

Episode 220: AMD’s unified hardware + software strategy & building an open-source AI ecosystem

w/ Anush Elangovan

Anush Elangovan (VP of AI Software @ AMD) is helping lead a strategic evolution at AMD, from silicon/components provider to a systems and solutions company built for the AI era. In this episode, we explore the first principles behind AMD’s unified AI hardware and software strategy and how the company is building a fully open-source AI ecosystem. Anush shares how his team creates a tight feedback loop between core engineering and customer deployment, and the daily rituals they use to operate at the speed of AI. We also unpack the leadership mindset required to navigate the tension between fast-moving AI software & slower hardware development cycles. Plus: building in public, integrating community feedback, and favorite examples of AI’s impact on everyday human experiences.
May 13, 2025

Episode 219: Lessons Leading EPD: Mindset, decision-making, 80/20 product strategy & pivoting for leverage/speed

with Farnaz Azmoodeh

When Farnaz Azmoodeh (CTO @ Linktree) stepped into her new role, she unexpectedly took on product & design just three months in—owning all of engineering, product, and design during a critical period of change. In this episode, Farnaz shares hard-won lessons from that transition, including the mindset shift from delivery to discovery, balancing data vs. intuition in decision-making, knowing when to pivot your product strategy, and building small / fast-moving cross-functional teams. We also cover applying the 80/20 rule to simplify complex product surfaces, her favorite frameworks for pattern recognition, and how to reset assumptions when pattern-matching can backfire. If you’re navigating ambiguity, expanding your scope, or evolving how your org builds product, this episode will help you lead with more clarity, speed, and strategic focus.
May 06, 2025
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