Amit Popat: a beautiful AI product that nobody bought

Amit Popat built a beautiful AI product that nobody bought. Then he sat in a hotel watching managers use whiteboards to make pricing decisions in 2019. That's when everything changed.

From Cambridge math to building EasyJet's personalization engine to leading AI/ML at Cloudbeds, Amit has learned the hard way that cool technology doesn't win—solving real problems does. We dive into his own Alexa fail, why 1970s Paris Metro machines beat modern UX, and why tinkering and curiosity aren't optional in an AI-accelerated world.

If you're building AI products or wondering how UX translates to this new landscape, this conversation will ground you in what actually matters: proximity to real problems beats assumptions every time.

00:00 Introduction
01:49 Welcome and Amit's Background
02:47 From Pure Math to Product Thinking
03:53 Early iPhone Development and UX Education
04:47 The Paris Metro Lesson: 1970s UX vs Modern Touchscreens
06:22 Removing Friction: Timeless Design Principles
07:00 The Value of Tinkering and Curiosity
08:45 Embedding Yourself in the Problem Space
10:06 The Whiteboard Story: Revenue Management in 2019
13:23 Building AI That Solves Real Problems
18:14 From Engineering to Product Leadership
21:45 The AI Hype vs Reality Gap
26:32 When Technical Excellence Meets User Needs
31:18 Network Intelligence and Pattern Recognition
35:27 Mistakes and Lessons Learned
38:57 The Alexa Catastrophe: Beautiful Product Nobody Bought
41:37 Dampening the Geek: Ego and Humility in Product Design
42:42 Closing Question: Redesigning Apple's iPhone Holder