Microsoft CPO: If you aren’t prototyping with AI you’re doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada

Aparna Chennapragada is the chief product officer of experiences and devices at Microsoft, where she oversees AI product strategy for their productivity tools and work on agents. Previously, she was the CPO at Robinhood, spent 12 years at Google, and is also on the board of eBay and Capital One.

What you’ll learn:
1. How “prompt sets are the new PRDs” and why prototyping with AI is now essential for effective product development
2. The three key characteristics of AI agents: autonomy (delegation of tasks), complexity (handling multi-step challenges), and natural interaction (conversing beyond simple chat)
3. Why NLX (natural language experience) is the new UX, requiring deliberate design principles for conversational interfaces
4. Why the PM role isn’t dying in the AI era—it’s evolving to emphasize tastemaking and editing
5. How living “one year in the future” can be operationalized with programs like Microsoft’s Frontier
6. How even traditional enterprises can balance cutting-edge AI adoption with appropriate governance through dual-track approaches
7. Insights on leadership differences between Microsoft’s Satya Nadella (known for multi-level thinking and early trendspotting) and Google’s Sundar Pichai (mastery of complex ecosystems)
8. The vision for human and AI collaboration in the workplace, where people and agents achieve outcomes greater than either could alone
9. A practical framework for evaluating zero-to-one product opportunities

Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/mi...

Brought to you by:
Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments: https://explo.co/lenny
Pragmatic Institute—Industry‑recognized product, marketing, and AI training and certifications: https://pragmaticinstitute.com/lenny
Coda—The all-in-one collaborative workspace: https://coda.io/lenny

Where to find Aparna Chennapragada:
• X: https://x.com/aparnacd
• LinkedIn:   / aparnacd  

Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X:   / lennysan  
• LinkedIn:   / lennyrachitsky  

In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Aparna Chennapragada
(04:28) Aparna’s stand-up comedy journey
(07:29) Transition to Microsoft and enterprise insights
(10:00) The Frontier program and AI integration
(13:28) Understanding AI agents
(17:59) NLX is the new UX
(22:28) The future of product development
(31:16) Building a custom Chrome extension
(35:45) Leadership styles of Satya and Sundar
(37:47) Counterintuitive lessons in product building
(41:20) Inflection points for successful products
(45:16) GitHub Copilot and code generation
(48:34) Excel’s enduring success
(50:27) Pivotal career moments
(54:55) The future of human-agent collaboration
(56:25) Lightning round and final thoughts

Referenced:
• Google Lens: https://lens.google/
• Saturday Night Live: https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live
• Reid Hoffman on LinkedIn:   / reidhoffman  
• Robinhood: https://robinhood.com/
• eBay: https://www.ebay.com/
• Capital One: https://www.capitalone.com/
• Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com/
• Aparna’s LinkedIn post about enterprise vs. consumer:   / aparnacd_every-enterprise-user-feature-has...  
• The Epic Split: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epi...
• AI Frontiers: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/resea...
• OpenAI’s CPO on how AI changes must-have skills, moats, coding, startup playbooks, more | Kevin Weil (CPO at OpenAI, ex-Instagram, Twitter): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/ke...
• Deepseek: https://www.deepseek.com/
• Satya Nadella on LinkedIn:   / satyanadella  
• Tobi Lütke’s leadership playbook: Playing infinite games, operating from first principles, and maximizing human potential (founder and CEO of Shopify): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/to...
• Tobi Lütke’s post on X about reflexive AI: https://x.com/tobi/status/19092519462...
• GitHub Copilot: https://github.com/features/copilot
• Sundar Pichai on LinkedIn:   / sundarpichai  
• South Park “Underwear Gnomes” episode: https://southpark.cc.com/episodes/13y...
• Google Home: https://home.google.com/welcome/
• Cursor: https://www.cursor.com/
• v0: https://v0.dev/
• Bolt: https://bolt.new/
• Lovable: https://lovable.dev/
• Replit: https://replit.com/

Recommended book:
• A Brief History of Intelligence: Evolution, AI, and the Five Breakthroughs That Made Our Brains: https://www.amazon.com/Brief-History-...

Production and marketing by https://penname.co/.
For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email [email protected].

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.