How do you lead a high-velocity engineering team—when everything about how we build is changing? How do you cultivate more of a product mindset in your engineering teams?

Loïc Houssier (VP Engineering @ Superhuman) shares his evolving playbook for driving velocity in eng orgs today, building product-minded teams, and cultivating product taste. We cover leading culture / mindset transformation, creating exceptional product experiences, operational excellence when product quality is increasingly subjective. Plus the evolution of productivity tools!

Loïc Houssier is an engineering executive with 20 years of leadership experience spanning startups, scale-ups, and global enterprises. He specializes in helping high-growth companies scale with speed and discipline, combining technical depth with a strong operational mindset.

He currently leads engineering at Superhuman, the most productive email app ever made, where he joined at a pivotal moment in the company’s growth. Loïc brought a new level of executional rigor — embedding a culture of speed not just in the product (where every interaction happens in under 100ms), but in how the team ships, scales, and makes decisions.

Previously, he held senior engineering roles at Productboard, Firstbase, and DocuSign, where he led global teams through platform expansion, org design, and M&A. With a background in cryptography and early experience as a security researcher, Loïc is also a frequent mentor and speaker on engineering leadership and building resilient, high-velocity teams.

• How Loïc built a reputation for building high-velocity engineering orgs (2:14)
• The underweighted value of board member continuity (4:58)
• Defining velocity in the AI age (6:23)
• Loïc’s evolving playbook that drives velocity (9:10)
• Implementing the velocity playbook @ Superhuman (11:04)
• An example of incorporating domain focus effectively within an eng team (12:49)
• Strategies for changing core principles / managing culture shock (16:17)
• Knowing when you made the correct change vs. signals it’s not working (19:06)
• Tools & tactics to promote a velocity mindset in engineering orgs (21:10)
• Build credibility with influential eng leaders in your org (23:37)
• Frameworks for cultivating product thinking within an eng org (27:03)
• How to cultivate great product taste inside engineering orgs (30:24)
• The importance of having a strong leader who sets the product taste standard (32:20)
• Key elements of exceptional product experiences @ Superhuman (34:34)
• Loïc’s perspective on navigating product complexity & quality expectations w/ AI (36:28)
• The future of productivity tools: paradigm shifts in AI & productivity (39:29)
• Rapid fire questions (41:20)

• Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - Satoshi Yagisawa’s moving international sensation about new beginnings, human connection, and the joy of reading.
• Zone to Win: Organizing to Compete in an Age of Disruption - Geoffrey A. Moore’s high-powered tool for driving your company above and beyond its limitations, its definitions of success, and ultimately, its competitors.

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

When Nissim Lehyani (VP of Product at Life360) used AI to build a math game for his son, he didn’t just prototype a game, he rewired how he thinks about product development and the relationship between engineering, product, and design. In this episode, Nissim shares how that personal “aha” moment sparked a shift in how his teams build, collaborate, and ship. We dive into how AI is accelerating product iteration from months to hours, why it’s time to drop the “M” from MVP, and how prototypes are replacing PRDs as the central artifact of product work. Plus how product rituals and building cadence are evolving, strategies for scaling a prototype-first workflow, and we deconstruct the “lightning pod” model and how it’s changing the dynamics of product building & EPD collaboration.

Nissim Lehyani is the Vice President of Product at Life360, where he leads product strategy for the family safety platform used by over 60 million users worldwide. With more than two decades of experience across startups, global tech companies, and entrepreneurial ventures, Nissim is known for scaling impactful products that blend technical depth with business strategy.

Prior to Life360, he was Senior Director of Product at Indeed, where he oversaw a portfolio of 13 consumer products reaching 300M+ monthly users, and led a team of 40+ product managers across global markets. Nissim previously held leadership roles at GoDaddy, where he helped 18M+ SMBs grow their businesses through strategic partnerships with Facebook, Yelp, and Google.

As a founder, he built and led two ventures: Shopial (acquired by Magento) and Urban Place, raising millions to support small businesses and entrepreneurs. He also brings deep technical roots from his engineering leadership at Cisco and early career in Israeli Military Intelligence.

Nissim is a 2024 Product Leader Award winner and active mentor in the startup ecosystem through roles at Mixpanel and SV101 by ICON. He’s passionate about user-centric innovation, data-driven growth, and the intersection of AI, engineering, and product management.

• How Nissin & Patrick got connected (2:19)
• Nissin’s light bulb AI moment (4:03)
• Building first & defining later (5:33)
• How AI accelerates product iteration from months to hours & fills skill gaps (6:49)
• Recognizing your AI aha moment (9:44)
• Why it’s time to drop the “M” from MVP (11:21)
• New expectations for the first iteration of a product (13:37)
• Nissim’s #1 product principle (15:56)
• Why prototyping is replacing PRDs (17:57)
• Strategies for socializing a prototype-first workflow in your org (19:54)
• Tactics for inspiring AI adoption: find one annoying thing & show vs. tell (22:22)
• Rethinking product cadence and how product rituals are evolving (24:08)
• Defining the “lightning pod” model (25:29)
• How “lightning pods” change the dynamic between engineering, product & design (27:20)
• A live AI product demo: recreating Nissim’s original aha moment (29:10)
• Iterating product in real-time (31:06)
• How Nissim evaluates code & product outcomes (33:38)
• Rapid fire questions (34:15)

Patrick Gallagher - Producer & Co-Host

Jerry Li - Co-Host

Noah Olberding - Associate Producer, Audio & Video Editor https://www.linkedin.com/in/noah-olberding/

Dan Overheim - Audio Engineer, Dan’s also an avid 3D printer - https://www.bnd3d.com/

Ellie Coggins Angus - Copywriter, Check out her other work at https://elliecoggins.com/about/

We just launched the ELC Forum — a new space for engineering leaders to dive deeper into real challenges and get peer support It’s a discussion board (like Reddit) but focused on eng leadership. We’re sharing takeaways from recent episodes and kicking off new discussions. Plus, AMAs with guests are coming soon. See you in the Forum!

Click here to explore the forum, ask questions, & share insights and takeaways!

https://elc.community/home/forum