VP Marketing at SparkToro | Can keep hydrangeas alive in a vase for 10 days

I'm currently VP Marketing for audience research startup, SparkToro. I also send a personal newsletter on Substack, and I'm working on a book due out this summer! (More to come on that.)

I've spoken at conferences like AdWorld, MozCon, and SaaStock. I've guest lectured at Columbia Business School, Cornell University, Stanford University, and University of Washington. In my spare time, I do marketing/content consulting, and I teach Content Marketing 201 on Maven. I'm also a Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef, and a former journalist.

Be sure to scroll down to the bottom of my profile to see the top 100 lists that I am not in.

Amanda Natividad

Ramli John

Author of Product-Led Onboarding (+30K copies sold) | First Round Fast Track Mentor | Content Director at Appcues.

⭐️ Follow me for helpful tips to onboard, delight, and keep your customers coming back to your product.
📔 Author of Amazon #1 bestselling book "Product-Led Onboarding." 👉 𝙎𝙀𝘼𝙉 𝙀𝙇𝙇𝙄𝙎, Founder of GrowthHackers.com: "Product-Led Onboarding is 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭-𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 embarking on the critical activity of improving their user onboarding." 


⚡️ I use my multi-disciplinary skills in marketing, design, and software development to help product-led SaaS companies analyze their whole customer's journey and funnel to identify growth opportunities to 2-3X their MRR. 

Often, that means designing and implementing experiments to increase activation rate (trial-to-paid or free-to-paid conversions), decrease churn rate, or increase average revenue per user (ARPU)

If you asked my friends and colleagues how they would describe me, they'd say I'm resourceful, proactive, and entrepreneurial

►► CONTACT INFO
▷ Send a connection request
▷ Write me a note at ramli [at] ramlijohn.com

Founder

A weekly show and newsletter for marketers looking to level up their marketing and career. I interview world-class marketers to uncover the secrets, strategies, and frameworks behind their wins. In each episode, guests reveal three things:  (1) a marketing power-up,  (2) a real-world example of that in action, and (3) a power-up that’s helped them take their career to the next level.

Ramli "RJ" John

When your product team skips user research (and just builds fast with AI)... 🤡


AI lets you ship in days, not weeks. But without user research, speed just gets you to the wrong place faster.

A product leader was about to ship a feature last week. AI-assisted code. Cloud deployment ready. Built in 3 days.

Then someone from customer success flagged something: "This solves a problem our users stopped complaining about 6 months ago."

One conversation. Saved weeks of wasted effort.

We can build faster than ever. AI tools, cloud code, vibe coding—the speed is real.

But speed without direction is just efficient wandering.

The real question isn't "Can we ship this?"

It's "Should we?"

That's where user research becomes non-negotiable.

Here are 5 ways to quickly validate ideas before you ship:

1. Run a 5-second test on your concept (does it communicate what you think it does?)
2. Send a quick survey to your target segment (10 questions max)
3. Do 3-5 unmoderated usability tests on a prototype
4. Interview 5 users who match your ICP (even 15-min calls work)
5. Card sort your information architecture before building navigation

None of these take weeks. Most can be done in days.

Tools like Lyssna make this even faster. You can recruit from 690K+ vetted participants, run moderated or unmoderated tests, and get results before your sprint ends.

Speed is a competitive advantage.

But only when you're building the right thing.

What's your go-to method for quick validation?

PS. Save this for the next time you're tempted to ship something fast without validating it first. Future you will thank you.

Join the AI Product Leaders Summit on 3/24 for free at PLSummit.ai. Founder @ Delight Path. 2x best-selling author. New book “Eureka” now available. Author of “Product-Led Onboarding” (+40K copies sold).

Less than 5 days until the AI Product Leaders Summit with 12 speakers from Adobe, Google, and more. Register for free https://lnkd.in/gWfqMNZN

Every speaker is actively building AI products or leading teams through AI transformation right now. No theory. Just what's actually working (and what flopped).

The lineup:

→ Deepti Pradeep  and her team (Adobe) on how Photoshop got 100k+ of users in 30 days by launching inside ChatGPT

→ Jacob Bank (Relay.app, ex-Google Gmail/Calendar) on the 3 AI agents every product leader should "hire"

→ Mickey Alon (Foldspace AI) on Agent-Led Growth—when your product does the work for users

→ Christine Itwaru & Katy Nardozzi (Userflow) on dogfooding their way to better product decisions

→ Joe Formica (Lyssna) on where AI misleads product decisions (and how to avoid it)

Plus two expert panels:

→ Angela Sze (Sr. Director of Product at Fullstory), Shannon Vettes (CEO/CPO at Usersnap), Lauren Schuman (VP of Product Growth at Close) on shipping AI features without losing customer trust

→ Betsy Shaak (VP Product Voxpopme), Greg Leach (Sr. Director at 7shifts), and Partho Ghosh (VP Product @ Uberall) on how product teams are using AI to cut the busywork

Here's what you'll walk away with:

1. How Adobe turned ChatGPT into a growth channel (and whether you should too)
2. Which AI agents actually save PMs time vs. pure hype
3. How to ship AI features without confusing users or breaking trust
4. Where AI creates blind spots in product decisions

March 24th. 10 AM - 3:30 PM ET. Virtual. Free.

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/gWfqMNZN

What's the biggest challenge you're facing with AI products right now?

PS. Tag a product leader who needs to see this. They'll thank you for it. 😊

It's been 2 years since I've had a podcast show. Tomorrow, that changes! Product Leaders Lab by Delight Path drops at 8 am ET. 🎉


I waited because I didn't want another show. I wanted something that actually aligned with what I'm building—a media and community brand for product leaders.

The first episode is "The AI Adoption Pressure."

Your team is scrolling LinkedIn, seeing posts about AI replacing jobs. Leadership is pushing hard on adoption. Everyone's overwhelmed. No one knows where to start.

Two product leaders faced this exact moment. Same pressure. Completely different approaches.

Greg Leach (Sr. Director/GM of Expansion Revenue at 7shifts) built a cross-functional AI committee. Volunteers from every department. Monthly demos drawing 100+ people. Department budgets for experimentation. Bottom-up learning across the entire company.

Joseph King (Sr. Director of Product at Crucial Learning) took a different path. His team invested in sending four leaders to Kellogg for AI certification. Frameworks first. Leadership alignment before company-wide rollout. Top-down, methodical approach.

Both worked. But for very different reasons.

This episode breaks down what each leader did, why they chose their approach, and what you can learn from both paths.

No generic advice. Just real decisions, real trade-offs, and real outcomes.

🎧 Search "Product Leaders Lab" on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

Tomorrow. 8 am ET. See you there!

Most product onboarding fails because of "click tax." More clicks = higher drop-off. AI can fix this. Here's how...


First, here's what the traditional flow could look like:
→ Click on Document Templates
→ Pick a template
→ Update the template
→ Save and send

4 steps. Each one adds cognitive load. In B2B, it's worse. You've got multiple personas with different expertise, different outcomes they're chasing.

One-size-fits-all education doesn't work.

AI can fix this. The shift: Don't educate → generate.

Instead of teaching users how to navigate your platform, help them generate the outcome directly.

Anvil did this. Now users just describe what they need: "Create a template for a B2B SaaS purchase agreement."

Then they watch it get built. Custom-made for them.

From 4 steps to 2. From education to generation.

Tools like Foldspace AI are making this possible without custom code. Your team doesn't have to build an agentic experience from scratch.

This is where activation is headed. Less hand-holding. More instant value.

How are you using AI to reduce click tax in your product?

ChatGPT isn't just a tool anymore; it's a growth channel. It's how Adobe got 100K+ new users in 30 days. They're sharing exactly how they did it...


Most product leaders are asking: "How do we add AI to our product?"

Adobe asked a different question: "How do we get our product INTO AI platforms?"

That reframe led to one of their boldest growth bets.

They launched Photoshop inside ChatGPT. Six weeks. Ungated. No login required.

Here's the shift that matters:

Instead of treating AI as a feature to bolt on, Adobe treated AI platforms as the new top of funnel.

Think about it:

→ Millions of people already inside ChatGPT daily
→ Zero friction to try Photoshop (no login, no paywall)
→ Users discover Adobe where they already are

This isn't about adding AI to your product anymore.

It's about getting your product in front of AI users.

Want to hear the full story?

Deepti Pradeep (Sr. Director of Product Management, Growth at Adobe) is sharing the decision, the trade-offs, and what they learned—along with her team members Anthony Lewis (Principal PM) and Shalini Ahuja (Senior PM, Photoshop).

They're speaking at the AI Product Leaders Summit I'm hosting.

📅 Tuesday, March 24 | 10 AM - 3 PM ET
💻 Virtual. Free.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gWfqMNZN

What AI platform could be YOUR distribution channel?

Your biggest product launch just flopped. Do you protect your team or fix the product first? What do you do? Here's what Christine and Matt did...

Christine Itwaru (VP Product and Design at Userflow) knew two hours in. She immediately went into "mama bear" mode—told her PM to shut out Slack, took the heat herself, and shielded her team while they fixed it.

Matt LeMay (Product Advisor and Author) watched their Bitly relaunch get publicly destroyed. Roger Ebert posted about how terrible it was. People threatened to burn down their office! It took months before they could pivot.

One moved in hours. One struggled for months. Both eventually recovered.

This episode breaks down:
→ How to protect your team when everything's on fire
→ Why setting success criteria BEFORE launch saves you from rationalizing failure
→ When to fix fast vs. when a full pivot is the only path forward

🎧 Stream the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 
Search "Product Leaders Lab by Delight Path."

💬 What's the most common reason you've seen product launches fail? 
Drop it in the comments.

🔁 Share this with a product leader who's been through launch hell.

—

Thank you to our partners for supporting the show:

🏆 Userflow: Guide users, answer questions in the moment, and continuously improve product adoption—all without writing code.
🙋‍♀️ Lyssna: Create research studies, recruit the right participants, and gather feedback to shape products users truly love
🤖 Foldspace AI: The AI Operator that turns your SaaS AI-first in days. Their embedded agent understands your users' intent and executes it on their behalf. 

—

My favorite quote from this episode: "Someone's threatening to come to our office and burn it down. Should we delete that or keep it?" — Matt

Episode 1 of Product Leaders Lab is officially LIVE. 🎉 Leadership is pushing AI. Your product team is overwhelmed. They're watching what you do next. What do you do? 

Two product leaders faced this exact moment. Same pressure. Completely different solutions.

Greg Leach (7shifts) built a cross-functional AI committee. Volunteers from every department. Monthly demos drawing 100+ people.

Joseph King (Crucial Learning) was one of four leaders from his company who joined the Kellogg School of Management's AI certification. Frameworks first. Leadership alignment before rollout.

Bottom-up vs. top-down. Both worked. But for very different reasons.

This episode breaks down what they did, why they chose their approach, and what you can learn from both paths.

🎧 Search "Product Leaders Lab by Delight Path" on YouTube, Spotify, or Apple Podcasts.

💬 Drop your biggest takeaway in the comments.
🔁 Share this with a product leader feeling the AI pressure.

PS. Thank you to the founding partners of the Product Leaders Lab: Userflow, Lyssna, and Foldspace AI. They've made this possible and whole 10-episode season possible.

Teams are using AI to build faster. They're not using it to validate faster.

Tools like Cursor, Bolt, and v0 let you go from idea to working prototype in hours. PRDs are getting shorter. Shipping is faster than ever.

But here's the problem:

Speed without validation is just efficient wandering.

AI made it easier to skip research. And many teams do.

The result? Fast, confident, and wrong.

Here are 3 ways research keeps you from building the wrong thing faster:

1. Validate direction before building

AI lets you prototype in a day. But a prototype of the wrong idea is still the wrong idea. A few user interviews before you build can save weeks of wasted effort.

2. De-risk big roadmap bets

Major launches carry uncertainty. Research lets you pressure-test before you scale. The cost of 5 usability tests is nothing compared to a failed launch.

3. Diagnose why metrics are moving

When activation drops or conversions stall, analytics show what's happening. Research shows why. It turns "users aren't converting" into "users don't understand the value on step 2."

Tools like Lyssna make this faster. You can run usability tests, recruit participants, and get real human insight before your sprint ends.

Joe Formica from Lyssna is speaking at the AI Product Leaders Summit on March 24th about exactly this. 

He'll share how to use AI to validate product features more quickly. Real examples of insights that only surfaced through deeper research.

AI made building faster. It didn't make building the right thing easier.

That still takes research.

How has AI changed your team's approach to validation?

"AI is going to kill SaaS." I keep hearing this take. And I think it's wrong. Here's what people forget...

SaaS platforms aren't just "dumb databases" with pretty menus.

They encode years of business logic, compliance rules, permissions, and audit trails. They reflect the exact processes enterprises rely on to run safely.

You can have the smartest AI in the world. But, without trusted infrastructure, it can't:

❌ Close payroll
❌ Enforce a security policy
❌ Run a complex supply chain workflow

Execution liability has to live somewhere.

But here's where the shift IS happening:

The future isn't AI replacing SaaS.

It's an Agentic Layer sitting on top of SaaS—making it exponentially more productive.

Mickey Alon (CEO of Foldspace AI) breaks this down into three layers (h/t for the image he created)

1. Interactive AI Layer (Synchronous) – Captures real-time intent and orchestrates complex UI instantly. No more "click tax."

2. Asynchronous AI Layer (Proactive) – Continuously processes data, surfaces insights, and triggers actions before you even ask.

3. SaaS Layer (Deterministic) – The system of record. Trusted execution, rigid permissions, business logic.

SaaS isn't dead. It's getting a massive upgrade.

Mickey's going deeper on this at the AI Product Leaders Summit (March 24)—his workshop on "Agent-Led Growth" covers how to implement an agentic roadmap to unlock growth

If you're building AI into your product, this is the session for you.

Register via my profile link → Ramli John

What's your take—will AI replace SaaS or sit on top of it?

🚀 Only 3 days to go! The first episode of Product Leaders Lab drops this Thursday! 🎙️ Don’t miss it, follow us and turn on notifications so you’re ready!

#ProductLeadersLab #Countdown #ProductManagement #LeadershipJourney #TuneInThursday

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Hey!

Thanks for commenting on my post about my User Onboarding audit template. 

You can grab it below for free, which includes a video explaining it.  

There's also the link to join my weekly newsletter there.

Let me know if you have any questions!

https://www.appcues.com/product-adoption-academy/templates/user-onboarding-flow-audit-template





4 product leaders. 4 company sizes. 1 obsession: killing the product team coordination tax with AI.

Product teams are drowning in status meetings, Slack threads, and decision docs. The busywork is eating the actual work.

This panel at the AI Product Leaders Summit breaks down how high-performing teams are fighting back:

→ Greg Leach (Sr. Director, 7shifts) — Chairs a cross-functional AI committee at a 250-employee SaaS. His focus: cutting the red tape that slows teams down.

→ Betsy Shaak (VP Product, Voxpopme) — Using AI prototyping and AI agents to collapse the product development timeline.

→ Partho Ghosh (VP Product, Uberall) — Rethinking the entire product lifecycle as AI-native from day one.

→ Priyanka Sahni (Product Lead, Meta) — How a +75,000-person company is using AI to move faster, not slower.

What they'll cover is how their team is using AI to create:

- Meeting summaries that actually get read
- Async updates that replace status syncs
- Decision documentation that doesn't take hours

Less time coordinating. More time shipping and talking to customers.

March 24th. 10 AM - 3:30 PM ET. Virtual. Free.

Register here: https://lnkd.in/gWfqMNZN

What's the biggest time sink on your product team right now?

AI isn't optional anymore. It's the future of your business. But forcing it with memos and hoping it'll stick? That’s a recipe for failure. 

Building an AI-ready culture starts with genuine support, not just mandates. What’s your biggest challenge with AI adoption? Drop your thoughts below.

🎥🎧 Stream the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts! 

#AITransformation #LeadershipTips #FutureOfWork #BusinessGrowth

People rush to add ChatGPT features or AI tools, expecting instant wins. But without a clear strategy, those features often flop after months of effort.

What's your biggest concern with AI adoption right now?

🎥🎧 Stream the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts!

#AIstrategy #ProductGrowth #BusinessInnovation #TechTips

Two years ago, we thought AI would take our jobs. Turns out, standing still is what actually will.

I talked to Joseph King, Sr. Director of Product at Crucial Learning, about how his team went from fear to treating AI as a collaborator.

But here's the part that stuck with me:

His company had an AI strategy. It just sat in a Slack channel nobody checked.

Teams didn't know the company's actual stance on AI. So they guessed. Or did nothing.

The fix wasn't complicated. Document it. Share it. Make it visible.

Most companies aren't failing because they lack an AI vision.

They're failing because nobody knows it exists.

Does your team actually know your company's AI stance? Or is it buried somewhere?

🎥🎧 Stream the full episode on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. Search "Product Leaders Lab."

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