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.
60 Mins of Brutal Product Truth: 11 Leaders on AI, User Testing & Why NPS Is Killing Your Product
What happens when you stop asking users what they want — and start watching what they actually do?
This supercut brings together 11 of the sharpest product and UX leaders from the UX Stories podcast for 60 minutes of unfiltered takes on building in the age of AI, vibe coding, and a generation of builders who've never done a usability test.
From "NPS is the worst thing to happen to product" to an AWS leader declaring every user deserves a VIP AI experience — this is the product conversation the industry needs.
⏱️ TIMESTAMPS
0:00 Aaron Montana (LaunchDarkly) — 57 trillion data points & the psychology of building wrong
2:21 Abhishek Vyas (Auditoria) — Is agentic AI enterprise-ready? The rise of AI committees
6:55 Alex Pyatigorskiy (Vama) — The "Torture Room" that C-suite executives fought to get into
9:43 Alina Hernando Paleno (Agile Engine) — Predicting user needs before they arise: the CIFM framework
14:13 Apurva Garware (Invisible Technologies) — Teaching AI like teaching children + the future of hybrid teams
16:60 Arvind Duhan (DispatchTrack) — Are vibe coders treating customers as guinea pigs?
25:10 Dan Breyre (Sofar Ocean) — The 14-pound equipment lesson that changed everything
28:14 Fy Knight (Recidiviz) — "The money always follows when you listen to users"
31:07 Fy Knight (Recidiviz) — Henry Ford's real lesson: skateboard → scooter → car
35:12 Jason Levine (AWS) — The trumpet thrown over a fence & knowing your real user
37:12 Jason Levine (AWS) — AI that adapts to YOU: the end of one-size-fits-all UX
40:46 Jason Levine (AWS) — The trumpet story: your buyer ≠ your user
42:17 Jason Moore (Planful) — The UX myth that's killing designers' careers
44:40 Jason Moore (Planful) — Why the smallest research team is a leadership failure
47:28 Manish Upasani (Utimaco) — Trust as invisible UX: when encryption just works
48:59 Mazen Letayf (Alkami Technology) — "NPS is the worst thing to happen to product in 20 years"
🎙️ ABOUT UX STORIES
Hosted by Lihong Hicken, co-founder of TheySaid (built by the original UserTesting.com team). Every episode explores the gap between how fast we build and how slowly we listen.
👉 Try AI-moderated user testing free: https://theysaid.io
#ProductManagement #UXDesign #UserTesting #AIProduct #VibeCoding #ProductStrategy #UserResearch #SaaS #StartupAdvice #DesignThinking
30 Jun 2026
From $500 Flights to $50K Art: What UX Research Teaches Us About High-Stakes Buying | UX Stories
What does usability testing have to do with booking a cruise, buying fine art, or fixing healthcare? Everything.
In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with a product leader who's worked across travel, e-commerce, and healthcare to unpack how user research actually works in the real world — including a brutal A/B test failure at TripAdvisor and a surprisingly warm (then ice-cold) enterprise rollout at Prudential.
Whether you're a UX designer, PM, or vibe coder shipping fast and skipping feedback — this one's for you.
🕐 Timestamps
0:00 – Intro: Vibe user testing & the speed of building
0:19 – High-stakes buying: $500 flights vs. $50K fine art
1:09 – Trust factors & the psychology of luxury purchases
1:51 – How cruise users behave like art collectors
2:31 – The TripAdvisor filter redesign that crashed and burned
4:27 – Why personalization is the future of e-commerce
6:10 – AI agents, image search, and the new shopping behaviors
7:01 – Healthcare UX: the most broken space in need of fixing
8:00 – How to recruit users when HIPAA ties your hands
8:47 – The power of listening: CX as your research partner
10:27 – Showing users a Figma prototype already in development
11:10 – The vibe coder problem: building fast, skipping research
12:32 – The future: designers absorbing coding AND research
13:29 – A/B testing, wrong turns, and when failing fast works
14:24 – Prudential case study: never assume a warm reception
15:53 – Usability toolkit: Maze, Pendo, Google Forms & more
⏱️ Final thoughts & TheySaid.io
🔗 Try vibe user testing at the speed you code → theysaid.io
📌 Subscribe for more UX research conversations with product leaders shaping the future of user experience.
UXResearch #ProductManagement #UserTesting #VibeUserTesting #UXDesign #DesignThinking #Healthcare #Ecommerce #UXStories
3 Jun 2026
The End of High-Fidelity Design? How AI Is Merging Designer, PM & Dev Into One Role
🎙️ UX Stories | Episode with Mike Mancuso, Head of Product Design at Veoci
Is the traditional design process dead? Mike Mancuso has 20 years of design leadership experience — from building design systems for 10M+ users at Wiley to leading public safety UX at BlueLine GRIT. In this episode, he breaks down how AI tools like Claude Code are completely transforming the way his team designs, and why he hasn't touched a high-fidelity design in 6 months.
💡 What you'll learn:
• Why "seeing is still believing" — and where AI falls short in design
• How Veoci is replacing a $1,000 UI kit with AI-generated design systems
• The Figma + MCP Server + Claude Code workflow replacing traditional handoffs
• Why PM, designer, and developer roles are merging into one "product builder"
• The real ROI of vibe-coding your design system
• How to get faster, unbiased user feedback using AI moderated research
⏱️ Timestamps:
0:00 – Introduction & the "listening gap" in product teams
0:43 – Mike's core design philosophy after 20 years
3:57 – Why design has become the soul of the product
9:23 – The traditional design process: specs → wireframes → handoff
14:08 – How AI is replacing high-fidelity design overnight
18:01 – Claude Code + Figma MCP: generating a full UI kit
20:30 – The ROI of vibe-coding your design system
22:04 – Are PM, designer & dev merging into one role?
27:17 – Usability testing: from protecting engineers to protecting users
29:50 – Why users love constraints (and what software can learn from diners)
31:27 – Vibe Design System + AI moderated feedback = faster iteration
35:12 – How to ask unbiased research questions with AI
37:39 – Mike's #1 indispensable tool right now (hint: it's not Figma)
24:29 – The most fulfilling part of leading a design team
📺 Subscribe for weekly UX Stories episodes
UXDesign #ProductDesign #AIDesign #VibeDesign #ClaudeCode #FigmaMCP #DesignSystems #UXResearch #ProductManagement #AI
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