Evidence, Growth and Innovation: another September conversation
In September 2025, Pinnacle Product Institute welcomed Itamar Gilad, Brian Balfour, Elena Verna and Sachin Rekhi to speak with our audience as part of Product Conversations. This edition brought together expertise in evidence-guided decisions, growth systems, product-led growth and idea validation. It formed a separate September conversation alongside our Leading Through Digital Disruption edition.
Why we brought these perspectives together
An attractive idea still needs evidence. A promising product still needs a way to reach customers. Growth needs to create value that can sustain a business. We selected this line-up to connect these concerns and help frame the choices facing product managers, founders and growth teams.
Itamar Gilad — Evidence-guided decisions and product discovery
We invited Itamar to strengthen the evidence behind product decisions. His approach was relevant to practitioners seeking to distinguish promising ideas from well-supported opportunities and give teams room to learn before scaling investment.
Brian Balfour — Growth systems and customer acquisition
We invited Brian to connect product decisions with a coherent growth strategy. His experience was relevant to an audience assessing which acquisition opportunities fit their business and how growth can become a repeatable system rather than a succession of isolated campaigns.
Elena Verna — Product-led growth, experimentation and monetisation
We invited Elena to examine how product usage connects with sustainable business growth. Her expertise was relevant to teams testing growth opportunities, improving the path to customer value and considering how monetisation choices affect the customer experience.
Sachin Rekhi — Idea validation, innovation and AI-assisted product work
We invited Sachin to connect innovation with disciplined validation and effective use of AI. His perspective was relevant to product managers seeking to explore ideas faster while preserving sound judgment about the problem, customer value and evidence needed to proceed.
Questions to carry into your own practice
What evidence supports your next product investment? Which acquisition approach fits your customers and product? Where does usage translate into commercial value? How could AI help you test assumptions more efficiently? These are Pinnacle’s editorial reflection questions, rather than quotations or a transcript of the speakers’ remarks.
Continuing the September series
This edition continued our series of conversations with complementary product experts. The companion Product Expert Feature introduces the four speakers and explains why each was invited. Read our other September edition, Leading Through Digital Disruption, for the perspectives on AI strategy, team leadership, internal innovation and analytics.
We thank Itamar Gilad, Brian Balfour, Elena Verna and Sachin Rekhi for joining Pinnacle’s audience in September 2025.