How 80,000 companies build with AI: products as organisms, the death of org charts, and why agents will outnumber employees by 2026 | Asha Sharma (CVP of AI Platform at Microsoft)

Aug 28, 2025 57m 11s 11 insights Episode Page ↗
Asha Sharma, Microsoft's Chief VP of Product for AI Platform, discusses the shift to "product as organism," the rise of an "agentic society," and how companies and builders must adapt to the AI era. She shares insights on planning with "seasons," the importance of post-training, and leadership lessons from Satya Nadella.
Actionable Insights

1. Embrace Product as Organism

Shift your product mindset from static artifacts to living organisms that continuously improve through data ingestion, reward models, and user interactions. This approach, where products “think, live, and learn,” is the new IP for companies.

2. Prioritize Post-Training & RL

Focus investment on post-training, fine-tuning, and reinforcement learning (RL) rather than solely pre-training large models. This offers greater economic leverage and allows you to tailor models to specific outcomes like price, performance, or quality using your own, synthetic, or purchased data.

3. Cultivate Full-Stack Builders

Develop “polymath” or “full-stack” builders who are obsessed with the entire product loop, from efficiency and system design to UI/UX, rather than narrow functional lanes. This increases velocity and throughput, enabling faster iteration and adaptation in the AI era.

4. Become AI Fluent & Apply AI

Ensure everyone in your organization embraces AI and becomes “AI fluent” by using copilots and AI in daily workflows to raise skill ceilings and lower floors. Then, identify existing processes (e.g., customer support, fraud detection) and apply AI to them to achieve measurable impact and P&L benefits.

5. Build for the Slope

Recognize that technology is constantly changing, so bet on flexible platforms or app server layers that allow you to swap technologies in and out. This approach helps you adapt to continuous disruption rather than being beholden to any single tool.

6. Shift Mindset to Composability

Rewire your product-making mindset to prioritize composability over graphical user interfaces (GUIs), understanding how agents will read and interact with components. Focus on how products compose, scale infinitely, and facilitate collaboration, as text streams connect better with LLMs.

7. Plan with Seasons & Slack

Adopt a flexible planning approach by defining “seasons” based on secular industry or customer changes, aligning everyone on the North Star metric for that season. Set loose quarterly OKRs and 4-6 week squad goals, while leaving slack in the system for continuous disruption and new investments.

8. Focus on Invisible Platform Work

Understand that the true value and competitive advantage of platforms and products often lie in “invisible work” like data residency, availability, reliability, privacy, safety, and the right selection of tools, rather than just visible features. Prioritize these foundational elements for durability.

9. Foster Optimism & Clarity

As a leader, cultivate optimism as a renewable resource to generate energy and renew your team’s dedication to the mission. Provide clear direction on goals and leverage optimism to maintain commitment in a competitive environment.

10. Maximize Option Value in Life

Adopt a worldview focused on maximizing “option value” by prioritizing family, health, trust, relationships, and continuous learning. These areas compound over time, leading to more future adventures and a richer life, rather than just minimizing regrets.

11. Develop Mental Fortitude

Engage in practices like Taekwondo (or similar disciplines) to cultivate mental clarity, courage, ambition, and unwavering resolve. This mental training is crucial for navigating challenges in both work and life, alongside learning to meditate and clear your head.