UX Stories Podcast

What separates great product leaders from the rest? According to Rana Mumtaz — veteran CPO who led product at GoDaddy and Spin, and now advises next-gen AI startups — it all comes down to one word: users. Not customers. Users. In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Rana to unpack how a "user-first" mindset drives real growth, why freemium models win, and what most AI-era founders are getting dangerously wrong. 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with product and growth leaders building the future. ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro: Meet Rana Mumtaz 0:35 – Why Rana calls herself "user-first," not product-led 1:35 – The difference between users vs. customers (especially in B2B) 2:05 – The craft of listening to users is being forgotten 2:47 – GoDaddy's freemium experiment: why 30-day trials failed small businesses 7:13 – How they tested the freemium model (user testing + A/B testing) 8:00 – The right A/B test sample size — and how Bayesian stats changed the game 10:30 – AI usability testing: can you do 100 tests in a day? 11:07 – The importance of real human panels vs. synthetic audiences 11:25 – Lihong's story: using user testing to de-risk a career move 15:55 – Using customer words to build your website copy 17:44 – Why entrepreneurs skip user research and go straight to building 18:45 – The danger of putting 60% of your team on AI features nobody uses 22:10 – The real cost of "feature-first" (aka feature effing 😅) 24:35 – Tools Rana recommends: UserTesting, Gong, Zendesk, Magic Patterns, Figma 25:30 – Zero-to-one advice: talk to your first 1,000 users in person 26:44 – The future of feedback: a copilot that connects all your data channels 28:08 – Closing: growth is about understanding the human on the other side of the screen 🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned: TheySaid.io (AI-powered usability testing): https://theysaid.io #ProductManagement #ProductLedGrowth #UserResearch #StartupGrowth #GoDaddy #AIProduct #UXResearch #UserTesting #ProductStrategy #Freemium

What is UX Stories Podcast?

If you want to understand your customers more deeply and unlock growth that doesn't rely on guesswork, this series is for you. Founders, operators, and product leaders tune in to learn how real conversations shape better products, better decisions, and better outcomes.

In each episode of UX Stories Podcast, you'll explore how fast-growing teams uncover meaningful insights using smarter feedback loops and authentic user conversations. Inspired by the approach behind TheySaid, this show digs into why traditional surveys fall short and how modern teams gather richer, more actionable signals that drive real business impact.