Episodes

What happens when the thing you worked so hard to build starts quietly working against you? In this episode, Karl talks with Kevin Bailey about the hidden cost of high‑growth success and what burnout really looks like when it sneaks up on you. Kevin shares the story of building a bootstrapped startup with two friends in his twenties, watching it explode from a team of three to over a hundred people, and suddenly feeling the shift from excitement to fear. What once felt creative and energizing t...

What really happens when sales and product have to sit in the same room and agree on what matters? In this episode, Karl talks with Richard Cawkill about the lived reality of working at the messy, often misunderstood intersection of sales and product. Richard shares what it feels like to carry a number, build long‑term relationships with customers, and still genuinely care about protecting the integrity of the product. From two‑year sales cycles to last‑minute deal pressure, he walks through th...

What if the biggest risk to your product isn’t what you build, but how you talk about it? In this episode, Karl sits down with Austin Fuller to unpack the very human tension between product and product marketing, and why getting that relationship wrong often shows up much later, in churn, confusion, or missed expectations. Austin shares what he’s learned from years of listening closely to customers and prospects, including why the most honest feedback often comes from people who haven’t bought ...

Have you ever ended a workday exhausted, knowing you were busy all day, but unsure what actually moved forward? In this episode, Karl sits down with Keith Allen Johns to talk about the invisible weight product managers carry and why the stress of the role so often shows up at work and at home. Keith shares his own journey from climbing to the C‑suite to realizing that something still felt off, and how that search for “what’s missing” led him to work closely with product managers who feel respon...

What happens when two product people stop chasing perfection and start talking honestly about the job? In this episode, Karl is joined by Evie Brockwell and Michael Palmer for a wide-ranging, refreshingly human conversation about what product work really feels like day to day. Michael shares the excitement and pressure of stepping into BBC iPlayer, including the surreal experience of watching real people sit on a couch in a mock living room while testing new ideas for one of the UK’s most iconi...