Tolkin: More PMs will start development in prototyping than design tools
Brian Tolkin · Brian Tolkin, Head of Product @Opendoor: How to Hire the Best Product Teams | E1257 · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Feb 7, 2025 · at 7:50
Brian Tolkin is Head of Product at Opendoor and former product lead at Uber. He discusses whether interactive prototyping tools will replace static design software for product managers.
0:00 / 0:11exact quote · 12.0s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“I think maybe, maybe the generalized version of that is do more PM start in prototyping land than they do in strictly design land? And I think the answer to that is yes.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Brian Tolkin
Tolkin: AI will collapse product cycles by skipping documentation for prototyping
“And I think AI completely collapses that cycle and accelerates a lot of the upfront up funnel work where, where again, you can just do, you can build a prototype and you can show that to customers and like the PM and the designer might just work collaborativel…”
Tolkin: Consensus product decision-making is wrong
“So I think consensus product decision making is challenging and wrong.”
Tolkin: Top 5% of tech talent gains value in the AI era
“The top one percent, the top five percent of all of the skill sets get a lot more valuable and the median gets a lot less valuable.”
Tolkin: AI will cause engineering, product, and design roles to converge
“And I think we will see that we'll see a collapsing or converging of the end product design triad. I think they will never be the same, but I think everything will be pulled in tighter. So I think all of that will change.”
Tolkin: Early-stage startups should prioritize growth over technical debt
“Like you have to earn the right to exist in the future and paying down tech debt doesn't pay the bills. And so I think at that stage, it's probably a little bit early to start paying down technical debt.”
Tolkin: Early-stage CEOs must act as Chief Product Officers
“Always no, but in the early stages, yes. So, you know, there are certain scales of companies where that, you know, maybe doesn't make sense anymore. But in the early days, yeah, I do think they should. I think outsourcing your, if you think that the most impor…”