Ally Mexicotte

Chief Product Officers have the shortest tenure of any C-Suite member: 2.5 years. In my recent interviews with Product Leaders, a common theme emerged - navigating a role under a non-technical Founder/CEO can be extremely challenging…but not impossible: CPOs that focused on educating their org about how product works, shared their vision and strategy constantly, and showcased how product metrics tied to clear ROI and customer value had longer tenures and better, more collaborative relationships with the rest of the organization > those who didn’t.

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For NY Tech Week we'll be demo-ing Substrate at the South Park Commons Science Faire on Thursday: https://lnkd.in/e5JwDKKX There are so many incubator-shaped things out there these days, but there's nothing quite like SPC. It's like a chill, small-batch, locally-sourced alternative to YC, where you can either hang out as a member forever - or choose the VC-funded adventure. The -1 to 0 phase [0] they talk about at SPC is real, and it made a real difference for us to have a home at SPC. It takes a lot to quit your job and do something new, especially when it isn't entirely clear what you're doing. (1) Do it – take the leap! and (2) consider joining SPC. Though the core vision has remained the same, many of the important turns in our squiggle at Substrate (including the graph framework) came from those early days at SPC. If you're here for tech week and can't catch us at SPC on Thursday, DM me if you want to meet up! [0] https://lnkd.in/e6KEMr9V

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Do you think AI will replace insurance brokers? 🏴‍☠️ A producer recently asked me that question. My take: no Derek Sivers famously said, “if more information was the answer, then we’d all be billionaires with perfect abs”. We can already Google our way to most employee benefit answers. AI can now help us synthesize information faster, with more accuracy and less training data. Output is becoming indiscernible from a human. So why not replace the broker? There are slices of every professional services industry that will be replaced, or supplemented, and in truth this applies to the benefits broker too. Repeatable tasks like spreadsheeting proposals, merging claim files, financial reporting, billing audits, and commission statement reconciliation ought to be run through an AI workflow first. Tolerance for errors is low — trained benefit professionals should keep their hand on the wheel, but these execution-oriented tasks are not what employers are paying a brokerage $200-$300 per hour for. They’re paying for 𝚊̲𝚍̲𝚟̲𝚒̲𝚌̲𝚎̲. A small employer spends a small fortune on their health plan (hundreds of thousands), and a mid-to-large sized employer spends even more (millions). These decisions have a real impact on employees, drive the overall budget, and can have a long tail — taking calendar years to shift strategies. Maybe this bias will evolve over time, but our perception of advice from a human versus a computer is not the same. We trust algorithms to make reversible decisions like selecting the next TV show or song, but when making important, long-lasting business decisions we want guidance from other humans — rooted in their judgment, creativity, and hard-won knowledge. A benefits advisor embodies this. As a business owner with a benefits background myself, I can’t help but feel that while I have access to all the information in the world I still want guidance when making big ticket benefit decisions. Am I asking the right questions? Am I applying the answers to my specific situation in the optimal way? How does this decision fit into a multi-year strategy? Presumably others ask themselves the same. Whether that credibility is real or perceived, we feel better about the decision – it’s hard to replicate that feeling with a computer. AI is poised to make the industry smarter and more efficient, but I don’t believe it will replace the bespoke advisory services that brokers provide. Those who blend cutting-edge tech with human insight (and a personal touch) will continue to deliver the best outcomes for their clients. Hat tip to Jake Saper and Jessica Cohen of Emergence Capital for helping me see some of these ideas through the lens of their ‘Death of the Big 4’ post. Link in the comments.

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I've returned to writing and sharing my insights, now on Substack! 📚✨ If you're interested in product development and compelling startup stories, be sure to check out my new Substack. The upside? It's going to be very opinionated and inspiring. The downside? It might push your thinking. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dZnUgJj5 Stay tuned and feel free to subscribe. #Tech #ProductDevelopment #TechTrends #StartupStories #Substack

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Looking for a Product Leadership role? Explore these top opportunities to drive innovation, lead teams, and shape strategy at these companies: 1. SVP, Product Management – MasterControl, Salt Lake City, UT (Remote) Lead product strategy and development for MasterControl's quality and compliance software portfolio while managing the product management team. MasterControl provides cloud-based quality and compliance software to over 1,000 companies in life sciences and regulated industries. 2. Group Product Manager - Microsoft Security Service Edge – Microsoft, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Microsoft's Security Service Edge (SSE) offering, driving product strategy and development for Microsoft Entra Internet Access and Private Access solutions. Microsoft is a global technology leader with 228,000 employees across 190 countries, focused on empowering every person and organization to achieve more through technology. 3. VP of Product Management – Benevity, Seattle, WA Lead product strategy and development for Benevity's Finance Platform, managing a product team while driving vision, roadmap execution, and platform operations. Benevity is a B Corporation that provides social impact technology to Fortune 100 companies, enabling corporate giving, volunteering, and other social action initiatives. 4. VP of Product – Banyan Software, Chicago, IL Serve as a key executive leader at SoftSmiths (a Banyan Software portfolio company) responsible for driving product strategy, innovation, and execution in the energy sector, initially working independently with potential to build a product team. Reports to the CEO of SoftSmiths, working closely with VP Technology. Banyan Software is one of fastest-growing private software companies in the US that acquires and grows enterprise software businesses with dominant positions in niche vertical markets, operating with a permanent "buy and hold for life" strategy. 5. Director of Product Management – Mark43, New York, NY (Remote) Lead the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) product line and Mobile applications, managing a team of 2-3 Product Managers while driving product strategy and development. Mark43 is a technology company that develops cloud-native software solutions for law enforcement and public safety agencies to improve community safety and quality of life. 6. Head of Product – 0x, San Francisco, CA (Remote) Lead Product team overseeing consumer and developer platforms while driving product strategy and fostering team growth. Reports directly to the CEO. 0x is a Web3 company providing developer APIs for token access and liquidity, having processed over $130B in trading volume through major platforms like Coinbase and MetaMask. Want more Product Leadership roles? Access the weekly updated database: https://lnkd.in/gq9qY6s4

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📈 Curious about the startup scene in Massachusetts? Explore our detailed funding list featuring startup names, HQ locations, and investor info. Perfect for investors and entrepreneurs alike! Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dAp3xj-Q #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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📈 Looking for insights into the #InsurTech sector? Our curated list of funded startups includes essential info like HQ, funding rounds, and LinkedIn profiles. Get the details you need to stay ahead! 🔗💼 Check it out: https://lnkd.in/dHcPpVME #startup #startups #venturecapital #funding #vc #managementconsulting

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Very good podcast with futurist Ray Kurzweil. They discuss life longevity, AI, and singularity. If you thought the last year was unbelievable, the following 10 - 15 years will be mind-blowing. https://lnkd.in/eTMTvz2f

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Another INDUSTRY in the books. Thank you Mike Belsito, Paul McAvinchey, and all of Product Collective for once again putting on a pitch-perfect product conference with real experiences, valuable insights, and above all else, fabulous people (including Tami Reiss, Maggie Crowley, Yana Welinder, Bob Moesta, Quincy Olatunde, John Haggerty, Sean Flaherty, and more). Stay tuned for a recording of my talk along with a copy of my deck. #INDUSTRYConf #productmanagement #strategy

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If you have a YC interview coming up - reach out and our team of YC Alumni can help set up some mock interviews

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Are you in town for Generative AI World 2024 in Boston? Say hi at Woodstock - AI Woodstock, that is. Link below #ai #genai

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Recently, I was asked how I pitch commercial insurance tech to software engineers... People often categorize this as an “unsexy problem,” implying it must be hard to recruit top talent. Here’s my framework in 3 simple parts: • Today Shepherd focuses on the Construction industry: a top 5 economic driver globally. The impact of the built environment is undeniable in our everyday lives. Look out the window wherever you live — you'll see tower cranes everywhere in the sky. The world is building, and to be a small part in making these projects a reality is incredibly fulfilling. • Real problems for real people: AI is a transformative technology that we use in many of our own products at Shepherd. For some, working exclusively on AI problems is THE choice in career, and we respect that. But if you’re drawn to big, hard problems where innovation means measurable impact in dollars, days, and lives saved, then working on solutions for our grittiest and high-hazard industries is for you. • Reinventing Insurance for the Modern Age: The insurance industry, especially in construction, is a complex problem space that has seen very little innovation. It's rare to be on the frontier of change for any industry. We're a team of challengers: pushing on the status quo. Join us and be part of something truly impactful. https://lnkd.in/gERPN92v

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It can be so hard to maintain fresh eyes when looking at the product you’ve been developing for years, and to figure out where to take it next. Here are some things I’ve found to provide helpful perspective shifts: 💡 Hire a very good product mind/consultant to do a one-day tear-down/workshop, digging into some of your biggest problems. 💡 Send out a ‘Pulse Check’ survey to your users. Here’s one we sent a few months back at Sunroom: 1. What parts of Sunroom are you frustrated by (if any)? [start with free form response] 2. Which issues are you affected by when you use Sunroom (if any)? [multi-select from prescribed set of issues we suspected] 3. Anything else you want to tell us? [free response] 💡 Sit down with a friend and watch them interact with your product for the first time. 💡 Get everyone on your team to share their candid thoughts on the product. We did this earlier this year at Sunroom. We posted the below questions in Slack, and gave everyone a day to collect their thoughts. Then we did a round table and gave everyone a chance to share their answers: 1. What parts of the Sunroom product really bother you? 2. What do you suspect our users struggle with most when using Sunroom? 3. What questions about Sunroom's layout or performance have you always wondered/wanted answered? 4. What parts of Sunroom do you really love and think we should double down on? 5. What opportunities do you think we're overlooking in the product? What big bets do you think we should make? 6. For engineers: which parts of our product give you the most grief when developing? 7. For marketers: which parts of our product give you the most grief when nurturing creators? 💡 Go to Burning Man (or a similar escape) for a week and completely lose yourself in art, dancing, new connections, and hands-on building.

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Has your Design System team gotten smaller? You're not alone. This week on The Question, I'm joined by co host Maya Hampton to talk about how to do more with less. It's easy and free to participate—all you have to do is answer The Question and register for the deep dive. >>> https://bit.ly/4e53mvo <<< See you on Thursday at Noon Eastern for Episode 33! #designsystems

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👩‍🔬 Ayble Health is building an end-to-end care platform for digestive health, utilizing technology like predictive AI to help more than 70M Americans who live with gut discomfort. 👨‍🔬 It's W6 / Q2 / 2024 & this week in our MGMT Boston startup series we’ve got Ayble Health, a Seed stage healthtech startup building a platform for digestive health, increasing access to nutrition and behavioral therapy for millions who live with gut discomfort to make care better, faster, and more personalized. Sam Jactel had a problem. He had lived with IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease) for 10 years. It even runs in his family. Lucky enough to have the privilege of incredible access to care, he was treated at Harvard training hospitals like Brigham & Women’s. But Sam never got the help he needed to use nutrition and psychology as tools to tackle his condition. He would go to the doctor, take drugs, and was still sick. In and out of the hospital with flare ups frustrated by this Grand Canyon wide gap in care. Who was treating the whole patient? And where? There are not enough GI dieticians or psychologists to treat patients. Up to 40% of Americans' daily lives are being disrupted by digestive troubles and some 70M Americans suffer from GI diseases. There are 150 licensed GI psychologists nationwide... By comparison, it would be harder to get into ANY Ivy League university than see a GI psychologist. Like, 1000x harder to see a GI psychologist than get into Harvard statistically speaking. Are you starting to see the problem? What started as an Excel spreadsheet has now been transformed into an end-to-end care platform built to scale access to specialized nutrition and psychology therapy and make GI therapy better, faster, and more personalized. Using advanced nutrition techniques, powered by AI, their team helps patients find and remove trigger foods to live better lives. Their core differentiator? This stuff works. After years doing research backed by 14 clinical studies, they’re going commercial. The proof is in the 💩 , I mean pudding. 2023 was a critical year of validation as their first year “out in the wild”. They’re already working with multiple large state based health plans, 75% of the Top 10 academic medical centers in the country, and several F500 type employers. Next year they hope to widen access to 10s of millions. Sam & the team are hiring across the board, investing in core platform differentiators and wanting to be in every conversation related to GI with the patient at the center. Operators to Know: -Susan Aman, Director of Engineering -Lance Laughlin, Senior Software Engineer -Stefania Patinella, M.A., NBC-HWC, Founding Health Coach -Jessica Russo, Director of Customer Success & Partnerships If you're interested in learning more, including the key roles Ayble is hiring for, the full post is linked in the comments! And sign up for the newsletter to see who we bring you next week, will you?? #bostontech #startups #healthtech

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Excited to be part of NY Tech Week! 🎉 Come see me and let's talk tech. Whether you have questions, want to start or scale your business, or are interested in a quick intro to AI as a productivity tool, drop by and say hello! Let's innovate together. 🚀 #NYTechWeek #Innovation #AI #BusinessGrowth

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Data is cool. But data for impact? That's my jam. About 2 years ago we were approached by a large school district in Georgia. "Hey, we've heard Standard Co does some cool data things in global health. Any thoughts on helping a school district do more with data?" "Um, hadn't really thought about it? But sure, let's give it a shot!" [that's how all of my business deals go down by the way] We started to work with this school district to highlight data that was falling through the cracks. Things like: Kids who were *about* to be chronically absent Kids who underperformed on milestone achievement tests Kids who were supposed to graduate but were trending behind in their credits We created a tool that updated these kinds of data points, and many, many, many more on a nightly basis, keeping the school district in tune with what was happening with their students. Things that would take their data team weeks were now done automatically each night. Instead of wrangling data, the team was able to focus on what really mattered: the students. At the beginning of the school year, the district created an initiative to find the kids our data highlighted as unlikely to graduate, get them back into school, get them the credits they needed, and graduate as many as possible. Yesterday the district reached out to me to say the final data was in. Their dropout rate was reduced by 42%. That's about 200 kids who graduated this year that otherwise wouldn't have. TWO. HUNDRED. KIDS. Data people tend to get hung up on the visualizations we build or the APIs we create or the ETLs that are breaking overnight. But what really matters, what's really neat, is seeing an organization determined to USE the data to make a difference. That's super cool. In the fall we're rolling out 2.0 of what we call Standard Education. It'll bring more data, more dashboards, and hopefully more impact. Can't wait!

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Curious about how visual design and UX can drive product success? In the latest episode of Product Led Growth Leaders, host Thomas Watkins sits down with Alexandra Candelas, Co-Founder of Penlo Parc. Alexandra shares her wealth of experience in blending innovative technology with thoughtful design, offering key insights on how differentiation, user experience, and market timing shape successful products. Whether you're a first mover or second mover in the market, Alexandra highlights the importance of intentionality and attention to detail, drawing from her work with Kodak and pioneering online banking technologies. Don't miss this deep dive into the competitive world of product design! Learn more and listen here: https://lnkd.in/grUEreTj #ProductLedGrowthLeaders #UXDesign #Innovation #ProductDesign #UserExperience #TechnologyLeadership #StartupLife

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