How to build great product teams — Vrushali Paunikar (CPO, Carta) at INDUSTRY 2025

In this keynote at INDUSTRY 2025, Carta’s Chief Product Officer, Vrushali Paunikar, shares insights into how she’s built product teams capable of reshaping industries. From rethinking hiring practices to embracing constraints as a creative advantage, Vrushali outlines four pillars that have guided Carta’s transformation from a cap table startup to a platform reshaping private capital.

Key Takeaways
— Problem over Job: Orient your organisation around solving real problems, not maintaining roles or tasks.
— Sequencing Over Prioritisation: Focus on solving fewer problems deeply before moving to the next.
— Let Constraints Drive Creativity: Limitations can unlock innovation and resourcefulness.
— Leverage, Not Efficiency: Product leaders should maximise outcomes with fixed effort, not just minimise cost.
— AI as a Force Multiplier: Mastering AI tools allows PMs to expand their impact exponentially.
— Build to Learn: Learning compounds. Teams that iterate faster outpace competitors.
— Principles in Practice: Embedding company values into rituals sustains cultural coherence as teams scale.

Chapters
00:00 – Introduction: The Arc of Product Teams
02:40 – The Four Pillars of Building Great Teams
03:00 – Pillar 1: Build Problem-Oriented Teams
06:00 – Crafting T-Shaped Teams
08:00 – Embedding Principles in Practice
09:00 – Pillar 2: Fewer Arrows, More Wood
12:00 – Pillar 3: Embrace Constraint
15:00 – AI as the Ultimate Leverage
16:15 – Pillar 4: Build to Learn
19:00 – Closing: The Speed of Learning is Survival