AiThority Interview with Oji Udezue, Chief Product Officer at Typeform

Hi, Oji. Welcome to our Interview Series. Please tell us a little bit about your journey in the industry. How did you arrive at Typeform?

I’m a bit of an odd duck – a nicely rounded tech leader. I’m an engineer turned PM, with tours of duty in marketing, sales enablement and sales; as well as design leadership. In the last few years I’ve focused on B2B SaaS with a small return to consumer software at Twitter. I took some time after Twitter to focus on a few long term personal priorities and interests.

Typeform felt like a perfect opportunity to make a difference in many customer’s lives because we make something that is literally part of the web, beautiful, conversational, human. Since the web touches everything, the potential for growth and impact is tremendous.

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How do you see the global SaaS industry evolving in the post-pandemic era?

That’s a big question. My framework for thinking about it is in identifying supertrends

• Generative AI will transform the written and multimedia web in ways we cannot imagine. It might take some time to arrive at the truly transformational applications of the technology, but I have few doubts.
• We are all now ‘just making coca cola’. Albeint late stage coke company with hundreds of variations and beverage products. IE value is mostly delivered via really paying attention to customers. So customer discovery, synthesis and creativity at the solution layer is what will drive returns/performance. The fundamentals will still matter – speed to deliver, design, reliable and defect free technology; but fitting the customer use case with creative solutions – how it all comes together, will matter more.
• Remote work will define the next generation of startups. But it will be a struggle to figure out how to ameliorate the most obvious cons of this new work regime. New tools will emerge but it won’t be enough especially for people who started their careers differently.
• The web and the art and science of building web apps are still pretty raw. Even mobile, but mostly the web There is way too little reuse going on. Startups have to redo too many things before they can focus on their customers and growing their business. I expect this to change.

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What are the critical benchmarks of a great product innovation company? How do you foresee your role at Typeform in building great customer experience for users?

• Benchmarks that measure the ability to attract great talent and build great culture
• Benchmarks that measure the ability to define a winning strategy that creates differentiation
• Benchmarks that measure the ability to execute quickly when there’s clarity in direction
• Benchmarks that measure speed and accuracy of delivery of customer value
• Benchmarks that measure customer delight /satisfaction e.g. CSAT, Virality
• Benchmarks that show the ability to deliver real value for all sides of your customer base especially if you have a n+1 sided product/market where n >= 1 e.g. network effects.

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Which technologies are you keen to develop at Typeform:

Ha! Whichever gets us closer to our vision for a more beautiful, conversational and human web.

Thank you, Oji ! That was fun and we hope to see you back on AiThority.com soon.