The people behind January’s conversation
Our January 2026 Product Conversations webinar brought together Marty Cagan, Melissa Perri, Shreyas Doshi and Teresa Torres. This feature introduces the backgrounds behind their invitations and the complementary perspectives we wanted to bring to Pinnacle’s audience.
We selected this line-up to connect product leadership and strategic choices with customer value and continuous discovery. Together, these perspectives addressed how organisations choose a direction, enable their teams and keep learning whether their products are making a difference.
Marty Cagan
Founder of Silicon Valley Product Group · Author of Inspired
The experience behind the invitation
Marty Cagan founded Silicon Valley Product Group and is the author of Inspired. His work focuses on helping organisations create products customers value and build the teams capable of delivering them. His experience and teaching connect product leadership with the conditions teams need to discover and solve worthwhile problems.
Why we invited Marty
We invited Marty to connect product ambition with effective leadership and team design. His perspective was relevant to our audience’s questions about enabling teams to solve customer problems, strengthening product capabilities and creating an environment where good decisions can take root.
What would your team need to solve a customer problem, rather than simply deliver an assigned feature?
Melissa Perri
Product strategy advisor · Author of Escaping the Build Trap
The experience behind the invitation
Melissa Perri is the author of Escaping the Build Trap and advises organisations on product strategy and product leadership. Her work challenges teams to evaluate progress through the value they create, rather than the volume of features they release. That perspective connects customer needs with meaningful business outcomes.
Why we invited Melissa
We invited Melissa to make the relationship between strategy and value explicit. Her perspective was relevant to practitioners seeking to align priorities, explain the purpose behind product investments and recognise when a busy delivery schedule is masking a lack of progress.
Which customer and business outcome would demonstrate that your product strategy is working?
Shreyas Doshi
Product leader and educator · Experience at Stripe, Twitter and Google
The experience behind the invitation
Shreyas Doshi has held product leadership roles at Stripe, Twitter and Google. His teaching and advisory work explore product strategy and leadership, helping practitioners think carefully about the decisions behind successful products. His perspective brings experienced product judgment to questions of direction, priorities and team effectiveness.
Why we invited Shreyas
We invited Shreyas to connect strategic thinking with the decisions product leaders face in practice. His experience was relevant to an audience weighing competing opportunities, developing stronger judgment and improving the quality of leadership conversations around product work.
What makes one opportunity a better strategic choice than another when both appear attractive?
Teresa Torres
Product discovery educator · Author of Continuous Discovery Habits
The experience behind the invitation
Teresa Torres is the author of Continuous Discovery Habits and teaches product teams how to make customer research a regular part of their work. Her approach connects ongoing learning with product outcomes, helping teams examine opportunities and test assumptions before committing to solutions.
Why we invited Teresa
We invited Teresa to ground product strategy in sustained contact with customers. Her perspective was relevant to teams seeking a practical discovery habit that improves decisions throughout development, rather than treating research as an activity completed only at the beginning.
What could your team learn from customers this week that would change its next product decision?
The line-up connected effective product teams, outcome-focused strategy, experienced judgment and continuous customer learning. We invited these four speakers to help our audience consider those disciplines together.