Seshan: In the AI era, shipping urgently beats waiting for polish
Tara Seshan · AI’s third era: the rise of persistent AI coworkers | Tara Seshan (OpenAI’s product lead) · Aug 30, 2026 · at 36:17
Tara Seshan, product lead at OpenAI (and previously PM at Stripe), contrasts pre-AI product management polish with the current need for shipping velocity.
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“At previous companies, like, polish was king. Getting every UI interaction or getting every little thing completely right was way more important than shipping something early, because time didn't make as much of a difference in terms of the outcome. And so, as such, like, if every corner wasn't, like, perfectly polished and everything was, wasn't exactly correct, you might as well not ship it. But I think what's been I mean, what's really compelling and interesting about this era and this product experience has been getting the product in the hands of users when you have so much conviction that, hey, it's transformative, like, is way better than perfect. And that urgency and that introduction of that product is, is so important.”
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