April 15, 2025 • 21 mins
Zoom’s journey from a popular video conferencing tool to a household name during the COVID-19 pandemic was followed by a wave of competition. But rather than being overwhelmed, Zoom has embraced new opportunities for innovation, especially with the rise of AI. Smita Hashim, Zoom's Chief Product Officer, shares insights into the company's response to the challenges of the pandemic and the rapid shifts in the tech landscape.
Smita discusses her experience leading Zoom through this transformative period, highlighting the role of generative AI in shaping Zoom’s future. With bold strides in AI and an evolving product portfolio, Smita offers a glimpse into what’s next for the company as it adapts to a new era of growth and competition.
Resources from this episode:
- Subscribe to The Product Manager newsletter
- Connect with Smita on LinkedIn
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Hannah Clark (00:01):
There aren't many companies in history
that could compare theirtimelines to that of Zoom.
We all watched as theplatform went from a popular
video conferencing toolto a household verb during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shift to remote workbrought on a massive wave
of growth, followed by atsunami of competition.
But in the wake of the mostturbulent period in Zoom's
history came the swell ofanother big wave—but this
(00:23):
time they brought a surfboard.
My guest today is Smita Hashim,Zoom's Chief Product Officer.
Smita's arrival at Zoomcoincided with the dawn of
the AI boom, which meant newopportunities for innovation,
both within Zoom's companyculture and its portfolio.
Smita told me what it's beenlike taking the reins during a
time of so many possibilities,how Zoom is taking bold
strides with generative AIand what they've got on the
(00:43):
not too distant horizon.
Let's jump in.
Oh, by the way, we holdconversations like this
every week, so if thissounds interesting to
you, why not subscribe?
Okay, now let's jump in.
Welcome back to theProduct Manager podcast.
I'm here todaywith Smita Hashim.
She's the CPO of Zoom.
Smita, thank you so muchfor making time in your busy
(01:03):
schedule to join us today.
Smita Hashim (01:04):
It is my pleasure.
Hannah Clark (01:06):
So we start how we always started off.
Can you tell us a littlebit about your background
and how you arrived atwhere you are today at Zoom?
Smita Hashim (01:11):
Absolutely.
So I worked in techfor a long time.
I love video.
I have a PhD in video fromway back, and I started in
research and strategy, but thenI wanted to build products and
I love working with people.
So that's whatled to my journey.
I've done a lot of differentthings, but I'm a product and
video person and communicationcollaboration person at heart,
(01:33):
so that's been my journey.
I worked at Google, Microsoftvariety of other companies,
and now I feel very privilegedto be in the position
that I am in right now,building communication and
collaboration products at Zoom.
Which has some of themost beautiful video I've
ever seen in the world,
Hannah Clark (01:49):
we're so honored that you've come to join us,
and you also joined Zoom duringa very significant transition
period when they're evolvingfrom a very meetings focused
company post Covid, whenthey became a household name.
And then things havereally evolved since then.
What was that environmentlike when you stepped into the
leadership position at Zoom, andwhat strategic challenges did
(02:10):
you immediately have to tackle?
Smita Hashim (02:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
So as Zoom powered the worldduring Covid days, right?
And Zoom as a company, ofcourse it grew so much and
it went from 2000 to 8,000people during that period.
So that rapid growth hadhappened when I joined Zoom.
But that rapid growthwas one aspect of it.
(02:32):
The other aspect of it was thatour founder CEOs, Eric Yuan,
he had the foresight to alsokeep thinking about how to
expand the product portfolioand how to truly evolve
into an all-up communicationcollaboration platform.
So Zoom had many products.
It was already like theZoom working on the phone
product was very strong.
Contact centerproduct was emerging.
(02:53):
There was in the room's.
Product is very strong.
This chat product.
Whiteboard product.
So when I came, the companyhad gone through this
product expansion and peopleexpansion, and now we were
looking to figure out howdo we scale our teams?
How do we really go from thisgangly adolescent kind of age
to a company where we wantto keep our mojo, we want to
(03:15):
be really innovative and fastmoving and move at Zoom speed.
But then how do we bring.
Some more maturity, some morerobustness to how we execute
strategically and as a team,how do we get to the next level?
Hannah Clark (03:27):
And scaling, no matter what position you're
in, scaling is just thisperennial challenge that all
of us see in different waysin shapes and forms, and
yours was a very specificallydramatic scaling process.
So what approaches did youfind the most effective
in scaling the productteams while maintaining the
strategic focus and robustness?
Smita Hashim (03:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you have to look atit from different angles.
So first of all, I think youalways have to keep the end
user and customer in mind.
Zoom has very closerelationship with customers.
I have never seen thekind of customer love.
I see from customers forZoom because we love engaging
with customers, talking tothem, getting their feedback.
So I think really that customerpoint of view and really ing
(04:07):
that and understanding that.
The other part, which youhave to look at, it also is
from the team point of view.
If you have a wide productportfolio, you have to set
yourself up strategicallyto align to that portfolio.
You want people on the teamto be obsessing about specific
parts of the portfolio whilethinking broader platform.
So that required some shifting,some realignment and thinking
(04:30):
about how we map the team tosome of those so that we can be
more strategic as we go forward.
Then you also haveto be data driven.
You have to be platform driven.
So you have to thinkabout what are my
metrics, what are my KPIs?
And then when I say platformdriven, you have to think
about what does it looklike across the platform.
So it's a new product, butyou also have to think about
the platform experiences suchas across Zoom Workplace,
(04:53):
which are as a communicationcollaboration platform.
So you bring all of thesetogether and then you
understand the culture ofthe company, the speed,
the quality of engineeringtalent, which is incredible
and how fast it can move.
And then from, that'show you do the evolution.
I believe in evolution ratherthan revolution, which is
the team had already so muchgreat stuff, so how can I
(05:13):
come and really bring outsome of that and help shape
it so that we can go faster,better, and and hopefully
do a great job for everyone.
Hannah Clark (05:22):
Absolutely.
And speaking of better,faster, and stronger,
let's talk about AI.
So AI, as we know, has beenthe disruptor of the decade,
if not much larger, and it wasa huge game changer for Zoom.
It's been a huge boonfor the business.
Can you walk us through your,or at least the AI revolution
from your perspective andyour position and how you've
(05:42):
approached implementing AIin ways that deliver value
while staying true to thatcore identity that Zoom has?
Smita Hashim (05:48):
Absolutely.
So I do feel like we are veryblessed, Hannah these are such
di amazingly dynamic times andthere's so much that's going on.
In technology space, and I feellike flexible work, AI, all of
that coming together createsunprecedented opportunities.
But of course it alsocreates that moment where
you have to really riseup and be very focused.
(06:09):
So I think for us, Zoom hasalways been big in AI, whether
it's virtual backgrounds,noise, cancellations, we don't
even think of them as AI.
But this AI, which enhances our.
Our work day to day, butwith generative AI, it was
a whole different ball game.
So we approach generativeAI in a very thoughtful
and a very considered way.
So we saw that it was avery dynamic landscape.
(06:30):
So we said we'll go with afederated approach where we can
work across a variety of models.
So we went with that.
We have been on this journeyfor more than two years now.
We also said that webelieve every user
should benefit from thesegenerative AI capabilities.
They should just be a partof any SaaS application.
So we made the decision, thehard decision to say we will
(06:52):
include Zoom AI companionat no additional cost.
So customers don't have topick and choose that you
get it and you don't get it.
Because we want everyoneto have that benefit.
We were very careful about.
Zoom is, people havemulti-party conversations.
The world connects on Zoom.
We said we will not use customerdata for training period,
for our models or any thirdparty models we work with.
(07:13):
And then we give customersa control and choices so
they always feel they knowwhat's happening to them.
So I think with all of thistogether, we actually started
a Zoom AI companion journey.
We started withmeeting summaries.
Got them to great quality.
We expanded acrosschat, whiteboard, phone
docs, like we across avariety of our products.
Our contact center hasall of that built in.
(07:35):
And then we went for what wecall a single brain solution.
It connects all of the platformtogether into one brain, which
has view across all of theservices that I'm working on.
So we had launched thatlast year, and from there we
have been now progressivelymoving into an agent era
where we are helping peopleactually get things done.
(07:55):
So it's been quite a journey,but what I want to call out,
it's been a very considered andthoughtful journey, which is
grounded in the ethos of likecustomer value making something
which is simple and easy touse and taking it from there.
Hannah Clark (08:07):
Yeah.
And on the topicof customer value.
So you mentioned that you'vegot some serious customer love,
and I think that one thing thatyou see across a lot of Zoom
users who are real evangelistsabout the product is that
they just feel like this senseof it just works simplicity.
So how do you maintain thatcommitment to keeping the
product simple to use, keepingit very user friendly in an
environment that's constantlychanging, where there's a lot of
(08:29):
pressure to release new featuresand there's always this new
technologies to jump on top of?
Smita Hashim (08:34):
Absolutely.
And it is not easy, right?
It's not easy, especiallyas you expand the platform
and you add more featuresand more capabilities.
So it's something which wetry to do a really good job
with, but I also feel like,there are opportunities for
us to improve and then wego back and we revisit it.
But the way we do it isthere are design elements
(08:54):
which we really adhere to.
We try to have as few UXelements as possible, as few
clicks and we spend a lot oftime reviewing the product.
So we spend time inproduct and UX reviews.
We actually say, bringthe power of Zoomie.
So we try to havereviews as a group.
So we try to bring allof that culturally as
(09:15):
part of how we operate.
And then we also talk alot to our customers and we
love feedback, positive ornegative, and we really try
to engage with all of thatfeedback to see that how we can
continually improve our product.
We also try to bring constructs,like I talked about the single
brain for Zoom, AI companion.
So we try to bring thoseconstructs in as well, because
(09:37):
if your backend is simple,if it has a holistic view,
then we can make the enduser experiences also more
connected and more simple.
Hannah Clark (09:45):
I do wanna talk about user experience
shortly, but let's talk alittle bit first about just
leadership and some of themore internal workings at Zoom.
As CPO, how do you helpyour team develop conviction
around product decisions?
Like you mentioned right nowthat you really galvanize
the culture around simplicityand reviewing calls together.
What are some other kindsof tactics that you that
you've taken to justfoster some of those really
(10:07):
trustworthy, empatheticrelationships between teams?
Smita Hashim (10:10):
Those empathetic relationships
are trustworthy as you putit, and you put it so well.
I feel like those are reallyinherent to the success of
a company as we go forward,and if we have those, then
one of the books we loveis The Speed of Trust.
You speed, if we have trust,then we can move at the speed
of trust with each other.
There's some things which wetry to really put in practice.
(10:30):
First of all, we reallylike to hear from people.
While we make decisions,it's a very open culture.
We invite feedback.
We have asked channels onvarious products our Zoom
contact center, and there arethousands of Zoomies on it,
and the conversations are veryvibrant, so we invite a lot
of feedback and discussion.
The other part for me, thisis something which I've
practiced for a long time,when I talk to the team.
(10:53):
I want to hear what theycan, what we or they can
do better rather than whatanother team can do better
than their opportunities foranother team to do better.
Then I would like to havethose conversations jointly.
So we really encourage thepractice of self-reflection
and daily self-reflectionand thinking about
what we can do better.
I think if we do that andif we need more help from
(11:15):
someone, I want people toreally figure out their
world and offer to help them.
So I think as leaders, if wecan put those kind of practices
in place, then the cultureor the environment, I feel
like it becomes more helpful.
But it also sets up thosepractices where we are really
being curious and understandingeach other and showing up
from a place where we can beempathetic and we can trust each
(11:35):
other and move forward as well.
Hannah Clark (11:37):
I really like this approach because we've
talked in the past with otherproduct leaders about how
there's this consistent gripethat a lot of leaders run
into where they've got teammembers who come to them with
complaints but not solutions.
So I feel like this kind ofa behavior kind of ingraining
it at a cultural level andmaking self-reflection and
seeing yourself as a partof the solution, as a good
practice to combat some of that.
(11:59):
So that's very interesting.
Talking a little bit moreabout cross-functional
relationships, do you haveany other kinds of tips or
tactics as a CPO to fostersome stronger cross-functional
collaboration between teamsbeyond just not accusing
people of other things, butcollaborating better to build?
Smita Hashim (12:15):
As a product manager, it's actually
a very privileged role.
I feel like it's a service rolebecause as a product manager,
you're really sitting in themiddle of so much on one side,
you're sitting with engineers,you're sitting with designers,
you're building the product,you're creating the product.
On the other side, you areworking with sales, you
are talking to customers,and you are having those
(12:35):
conversations and you'rebringing them together.
So in a way, you are a hub.
You are an access.
Of course you have somuch help and they have
leaders on both sides.
But as product managers, Iencourage product managers to
wear both of those hats, right?
To think about, build as wellas the kind of get the feedback
requirement, but also help yoursales partners be successful.
(12:56):
So I think when we think aboutrelationships, if we span
those relationships in waysthat is effective and there
are times you work more witha lot more with engineering
design, but then your prioritiesgetting to launch, and then
you have to work very closelywith sales, understanding
that your sales counterpart.
Be good to them people.
It's not easy to sell, givegood products to sell which
are with clear use cases.
(13:17):
So I think those are the thingsif you keep in mind, then you
have to nurture relationshipson both of those sides in order
to be effective and really getthe kind of ROI your colleagues
deserve from their work.
Hannah Clark (13:28):
Okay, so we can move back into
our other most importantstakeholder are customers.
So Zoom is very muchin the public eye.
It has been for anumber of years now.
Hopefully it always will be.
So when you received negativefeedback on social media,
you mentioned that youengaged directly with users,
which is not an approachthat every company takes.
So how has this approachshaped your product
(13:49):
development process and alsowhat's the origin of it?
Why did you start to do that?
Smita Hashim (13:52):
Our CEO, Eric Yuan, he's very
customer oriented.
He loves talking to customers.
He engages with customers.
So I think it's part ofthe culture is customer
care and customer care isat the forefront of it.
So that is something which hasbeen engaging with customers
is a practice at Zoom andlistening to customers
is a practice at Zoom.
Honestly, Anna, we are blessed.
(14:13):
We have such great customers.
I have customers who willtalk to me from the couch on a
Friday evening giving me ideason a product, and that is so
incredibly valuable that they'regiving us that kind of time.
It's amazing.
But coming back tosocial media, of course
in social media, socialmedia has its own culture.
If there's a negative comment,it can feel very intimidating
and you can start seeinga lot of people get on it.
(14:36):
But having said that, if wereach out to the person who
posted it and really digin, first of all, it feels
uncomfortable, but it alsois very educational because
when we talk to the posterswho are customers, right?
They are users, they're usingthe product in some way.
Almost always,they're very gracious.
They're willing to spend a lotof time with us discussing the
(14:58):
issue that they are facing.
And we have such awide service area.
We have so many platforms,APIs, integrations.
We find issues that wecan fix and then we, our
engineers are fantastic.
They can fix issues so fastand customers love that.
So it ends up creating, I think,positivity for the product.
But customers also feel likethey have been listened to
(15:21):
when they have expressedtheir frustration, which is,
almost always it is validwhen they express that.
So I think it's a good practiceand the more we do it, the more
product managers get comfortabledoing it and doing that outreach
and then it builds on itself.
There was a customer I'vetalked to recently, I just
want to say Sunday morning,and he must have talked to me
like six different times tohelp me debug the issue because
(15:43):
we were working the issue.
Then finally, when we figuredit out, I said, okay, now
I'll send you updates, but youdon't have to respond to me
because I don't want to destroyyour Sunday morning anymore.
But he engaged with us tothat level, which is something
to be very grateful for.
Hannah Clark (15:58):
Absolutely.
It reminds me of this old adage,I'm not sure if you've heard it
before, but the opposite of loveisn't hate, it's indifference.
And I think this is a verygood example of if you have
someone who's willing to engagewith you, even in a negative
way, that's engagement, itstill means that they have
some kind of investment.
So it's, I think,good to reframe it.
It's not as an attack, butas an opportunity and an
invitation to collaborate.
(16:20):
Let's talk a little bit aboutculture within the organization.
So you've talked a littlebit about Enculturating
Zoom with a sense ofownership of self-reflection.
That's a really beautiful thing.
How do you build a cultureof belonging and openness
within the team, andhow does that culture
translate to the products?
Smita Hashim (16:37):
Belonging and openness comes from making
sure that people have a voice.
Anyone can give feedbackon the product we do have
or like on the decisions.
But of course then decisionsalso have to be made
that, decisions cannot becompletely consensus driven.
So we do like to move withspeed, but that openness and
trying to really hear fromthe room what different people
(16:59):
are thinking, that is builtin as a practice into Zoom.
I think our productsalso help us.
So one product, which I'mgoing to make a plug for a
Zoom AI companion, but inmeeting questions, so you're
having these heated debatein the meeting because you're
going through some difficultUX experiences or product
discussions or what have you.
You can bring it up and youcan say, what did we agree on?
(17:21):
What have we disagreed on?
And now you have this neutralAI, which is telling you what
is happening or not happening.
So we are bringing that a lotinto a decision making and
discussions, which is helping.
But the culture ofbelonging really comes from
making sure that a voice.
We have the futures, we,you can raise your hand.
The audio quality is great.
You are always heard.
(17:41):
We have sharing multiple peoplecan share at the same time.
So we also continue to, wehave whiteboard built in, so
we have a lot of ways to worktogether collaboratively.
The meeting chats aregreat, but I think it's that
culture which comes together.
And then in terms of how doesit show up in the product
itself, I think it definitely,it makes better products.
(18:02):
As we actually have that voiceand we look at it, and then
we look at it from differentangles, but it's not just the
internal discussions, it's alsothe discussions with customers.
We have many industry councilsand we talk to those customers.
We talk to our customer advisorycouncils, and even on those,
we have great discussions.
Sometimes our customers will.
Start discussing amongstthemselves where one set of
(18:24):
customers may say something,another one, something else.
And it's great to watch thedebate and be part of it.
So I think those are theones which come into play
on how we can do better.
Hannah Clark (18:32):
Absolutely.
Oh, that's very cool to hear.
So looking ahead, let's talka little bit about the future.
Very exciting.
So we are all very familiarwith some of Zoom's past.
It's been quite a journeyand the journey continues.
What excites you mostabout the future of Zoom
and what challenges doare you anticipating in
this current climate?
Smita Hashim (18:50):
So I think from a Zoom point of view,
first of all, we have beenexpanding our product portfolio.
So we have Zoom Workplace,which is for collaboration and
communication and productivity.
So this is really foryour employees and it
expands all personas.
It's open.
Our AI companion actuallyconnects to Microsoft
and Google Mail.
And calendar and drive and thoseproducts, and it includes all
(19:12):
of that at no additional cost.
So we are very much into thisopen collaboration platform.
So that's part of the portfolio.
But if you think about theadjacencies like contact
center, we are talkingto customers or webinars.
Our products for salesto engage with customers.
We also go do build industrieslike healthcare education.
So I think if you think aboutit, like that's the portfolio
(19:33):
which we have and we aremaking great progress on it.
So that's a journeywhich we are on.
I'm super, super excitedto continue to see the
growth on these productsand where they go.
The other part, which I'msuper excited about is just
how AI can really transform theexperiences across these in ways
that it actually benefits us.
So one of the things which wetalk a lot about is from an
(19:55):
AI point of view, we wanted tonot just AI for AI's sake, but
we want AI to be able to doreally useful things for you.
And we really believe whatmatters above everything is like
connection and collaboration.
So freeing up the time soyou can have those creative
discussions, you can have thosestrategic discussions and that's
what we have been investing in.
(20:15):
That's a journey we havebeen on and I actually
think for myself, I feel.
I can start to think againbecause I use so much the
AI companion, including themeeting example I told you, or
using it in various productslike catching up on chats or
even like creating documents.
So I think that's the journeywhich we are on, and I could
give you hundreds of examplesof how it's beginning to
(20:36):
help and how it will do more.
But those are the thingswhich we are working on.
And obviously it's a fast movingmarket, so we have to continue
to move with speed while beingreally focused on delivering
value to our customers.
Hannah Clark (20:47):
Speaking of speed, I know that you've
got many things to do,so I won't keep too long.
So thank you first ofall for joining us.
It was such an honor that you'vemade time to be on our show.
Where can listenersconnect with you online?
Smita Hashim (20:57):
I'm active on my LinkedIn so people can
always reach out and I try torespond to as many as I can,
so that's where I would point,your wonderful listeners to.
So yeah, I look forwardto hearing from them.
Hannah Clark (21:11):
Thanks for listening in.
For more great insights,how-to guides and tool reviews,
subscribe to our newsletter attheproductmanager.com/subscribe.
You can hear more conversationslike this by subscribing to
the Product Manager whereveryou get your podcasts.
There aren't many companies in history
that could compare theirtimelines to that of Zoom.
We all watched as theplatform went from a popular
video conferencing toolto a household verb during
the COVID-19 pandemic.
The shift to remote workbrought on a massive wave
of growth, followed by atsunami of competition.
But in the wake of the mostturbulent period in Zoom's
history came the swell ofanother big wave—but this
(00:23):
time they brought a surfboard.
My guest today is Smita Hashim,Zoom's Chief Product Officer.
Smita's arrival at Zoomcoincided with the dawn of
the AI boom, which meant newopportunities for innovation,
both within Zoom's companyculture and its portfolio.
Smita told me what it's beenlike taking the reins during a
time of so many possibilities,how Zoom is taking bold
strides with generative AIand what they've got on the
(00:43):
not too distant horizon.
Let's jump in.
Oh, by the way, we holdconversations like this
every week, so if thissounds interesting to
you, why not subscribe?
Okay, now let's jump in.
Welcome back to theProduct Manager podcast.
I'm here todaywith Smita Hashim.
She's the CPO of Zoom.
Smita, thank you so muchfor making time in your busy
(01:03):
schedule to join us today.
Smita Hashim (01:04):
It is my pleasure.
Hannah Clark (01:06):
So we start how we always started off.
Can you tell us a littlebit about your background
and how you arrived atwhere you are today at Zoom?
Smita Hashim (01:11):
Absolutely.
So I worked in techfor a long time.
I love video.
I have a PhD in video fromway back, and I started in
research and strategy, but thenI wanted to build products and
I love working with people.
So that's whatled to my journey.
I've done a lot of differentthings, but I'm a product and
video person and communicationcollaboration person at heart,
(01:33):
so that's been my journey.
I worked at Google, Microsoftvariety of other companies,
and now I feel very privilegedto be in the position
that I am in right now,building communication and
collaboration products at Zoom.
Which has some of themost beautiful video I've
ever seen in the world,
Hannah Clark (01:49):
we're so honored that you've come to join us,
and you also joined Zoom duringa very significant transition
period when they're evolvingfrom a very meetings focused
company post Covid, whenthey became a household name.
And then things havereally evolved since then.
What was that environmentlike when you stepped into the
leadership position at Zoom, andwhat strategic challenges did
(02:10):
you immediately have to tackle?
Smita Hashim (02:12):
Yeah, absolutely.
So as Zoom powered the worldduring Covid days, right?
And Zoom as a company, ofcourse it grew so much and
it went from 2000 to 8,000people during that period.
So that rapid growth hadhappened when I joined Zoom.
But that rapid growthwas one aspect of it.
(02:32):
The other aspect of it was thatour founder CEOs, Eric Yuan,
he had the foresight to alsokeep thinking about how to
expand the product portfolioand how to truly evolve
into an all-up communicationcollaboration platform.
So Zoom had many products.
It was already like theZoom working on the phone
product was very strong.
Contact centerproduct was emerging.
(02:53):
There was in the room's.
Product is very strong.
This chat product.
Whiteboard product.
So when I came, the companyhad gone through this
product expansion and peopleexpansion, and now we were
looking to figure out howdo we scale our teams?
How do we really go from thisgangly adolescent kind of age
to a company where we wantto keep our mojo, we want to
(03:15):
be really innovative and fastmoving and move at Zoom speed.
But then how do we bring.
Some more maturity, some morerobustness to how we execute
strategically and as a team,how do we get to the next level?
Hannah Clark (03:27):
And scaling, no matter what position you're
in, scaling is just thisperennial challenge that all
of us see in different waysin shapes and forms, and
yours was a very specificallydramatic scaling process.
So what approaches did youfind the most effective
in scaling the productteams while maintaining the
strategic focus and robustness?
Smita Hashim (03:46):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you have to look atit from different angles.
So first of all, I think youalways have to keep the end
user and customer in mind.
Zoom has very closerelationship with customers.
I have never seen thekind of customer love.
I see from customers forZoom because we love engaging
with customers, talking tothem, getting their feedback.
So I think really that customerpoint of view and really ing
(04:07):
that and understanding that.
The other part, which youhave to look at, it also is
from the team point of view.
If you have a wide productportfolio, you have to set
yourself up strategicallyto align to that portfolio.
You want people on the teamto be obsessing about specific
parts of the portfolio whilethinking broader platform.
So that required some shifting,some realignment and thinking
(04:30):
about how we map the team tosome of those so that we can be
more strategic as we go forward.
Then you also haveto be data driven.
You have to be platform driven.
So you have to thinkabout what are my
metrics, what are my KPIs?
And then when I say platformdriven, you have to think
about what does it looklike across the platform.
So it's a new product, butyou also have to think about
the platform experiences suchas across Zoom Workplace,
(04:53):
which are as a communicationcollaboration platform.
So you bring all of thesetogether and then you
understand the culture ofthe company, the speed,
the quality of engineeringtalent, which is incredible
and how fast it can move.
And then from, that'show you do the evolution.
I believe in evolution ratherthan revolution, which is
the team had already so muchgreat stuff, so how can I
(05:13):
come and really bring outsome of that and help shape
it so that we can go faster,better, and and hopefully
do a great job for everyone.
Hannah Clark (05:22):
Absolutely.
And speaking of better,faster, and stronger,
let's talk about AI.
So AI, as we know, has beenthe disruptor of the decade,
if not much larger, and it wasa huge game changer for Zoom.
It's been a huge boonfor the business.
Can you walk us through your,or at least the AI revolution
from your perspective andyour position and how you've
(05:42):
approached implementing AIin ways that deliver value
while staying true to thatcore identity that Zoom has?
Smita Hashim (05:48):
Absolutely.
So I do feel like we are veryblessed, Hannah these are such
di amazingly dynamic times andthere's so much that's going on.
In technology space, and I feellike flexible work, AI, all of
that coming together createsunprecedented opportunities.
But of course it alsocreates that moment where
you have to really riseup and be very focused.
(06:09):
So I think for us, Zoom hasalways been big in AI, whether
it's virtual backgrounds,noise, cancellations, we don't
even think of them as AI.
But this AI, which enhances our.
Our work day to day, butwith generative AI, it was
a whole different ball game.
So we approach generativeAI in a very thoughtful
and a very considered way.
So we saw that it was avery dynamic landscape.
(06:30):
So we said we'll go with afederated approach where we can
work across a variety of models.
So we went with that.
We have been on this journeyfor more than two years now.
We also said that webelieve every user
should benefit from thesegenerative AI capabilities.
They should just be a partof any SaaS application.
So we made the decision, thehard decision to say we will
(06:52):
include Zoom AI companionat no additional cost.
So customers don't have topick and choose that you
get it and you don't get it.
Because we want everyoneto have that benefit.
We were very careful about.
Zoom is, people havemulti-party conversations.
The world connects on Zoom.
We said we will not use customerdata for training period,
for our models or any thirdparty models we work with.
(07:13):
And then we give customersa control and choices so
they always feel they knowwhat's happening to them.
So I think with all of thistogether, we actually started
a Zoom AI companion journey.
We started withmeeting summaries.
Got them to great quality.
We expanded acrosschat, whiteboard, phone
docs, like we across avariety of our products.
Our contact center hasall of that built in.
(07:35):
And then we went for what wecall a single brain solution.
It connects all of the platformtogether into one brain, which
has view across all of theservices that I'm working on.
So we had launched thatlast year, and from there we
have been now progressivelymoving into an agent era
where we are helping peopleactually get things done.
(07:55):
So it's been quite a journey,but what I want to call out,
it's been a very considered andthoughtful journey, which is
grounded in the ethos of likecustomer value making something
which is simple and easy touse and taking it from there.
Hannah Clark (08:07):
Yeah.
And on the topicof customer value.
So you mentioned that you'vegot some serious customer love,
and I think that one thing thatyou see across a lot of Zoom
users who are real evangelistsabout the product is that
they just feel like this senseof it just works simplicity.
So how do you maintain thatcommitment to keeping the
product simple to use, keepingit very user friendly in an
environment that's constantlychanging, where there's a lot of
(08:29):
pressure to release new featuresand there's always this new
technologies to jump on top of?
Smita Hashim (08:34):
Absolutely.
And it is not easy, right?
It's not easy, especiallyas you expand the platform
and you add more featuresand more capabilities.
So it's something which wetry to do a really good job
with, but I also feel like,there are opportunities for
us to improve and then wego back and we revisit it.
But the way we do it isthere are design elements
(08:54):
which we really adhere to.
We try to have as few UXelements as possible, as few
clicks and we spend a lot oftime reviewing the product.
So we spend time inproduct and UX reviews.
We actually say, bringthe power of Zoomie.
So we try to havereviews as a group.
So we try to bring allof that culturally as
(09:15):
part of how we operate.
And then we also talk alot to our customers and we
love feedback, positive ornegative, and we really try
to engage with all of thatfeedback to see that how we can
continually improve our product.
We also try to bring constructs,like I talked about the single
brain for Zoom, AI companion.
So we try to bring thoseconstructs in as well, because
(09:37):
if your backend is simple,if it has a holistic view,
then we can make the enduser experiences also more
connected and more simple.
Hannah Clark (09:45):
I do wanna talk about user experience
shortly, but let's talk alittle bit first about just
leadership and some of themore internal workings at Zoom.
As CPO, how do you helpyour team develop conviction
around product decisions?
Like you mentioned right nowthat you really galvanize
the culture around simplicityand reviewing calls together.
What are some other kindsof tactics that you that
you've taken to justfoster some of those really
(10:07):
trustworthy, empatheticrelationships between teams?
Smita Hashim (10:10):
Those empathetic relationships
are trustworthy as you putit, and you put it so well.
I feel like those are reallyinherent to the success of
a company as we go forward,and if we have those, then
one of the books we loveis The Speed of Trust.
You speed, if we have trust,then we can move at the speed
of trust with each other.
There's some things which wetry to really put in practice.
(10:30):
First of all, we reallylike to hear from people.
While we make decisions,it's a very open culture.
We invite feedback.
We have asked channels onvarious products our Zoom
contact center, and there arethousands of Zoomies on it,
and the conversations are veryvibrant, so we invite a lot
of feedback and discussion.
The other part for me, thisis something which I've
practiced for a long time,when I talk to the team.
(10:53):
I want to hear what theycan, what we or they can
do better rather than whatanother team can do better
than their opportunities foranother team to do better.
Then I would like to havethose conversations jointly.
So we really encourage thepractice of self-reflection
and daily self-reflectionand thinking about
what we can do better.
I think if we do that andif we need more help from
(11:15):
someone, I want people toreally figure out their
world and offer to help them.
So I think as leaders, if wecan put those kind of practices
in place, then the cultureor the environment, I feel
like it becomes more helpful.
But it also sets up thosepractices where we are really
being curious and understandingeach other and showing up
from a place where we can beempathetic and we can trust each
(11:35):
other and move forward as well.
Hannah Clark (11:37):
I really like this approach because we've
talked in the past with otherproduct leaders about how
there's this consistent gripethat a lot of leaders run
into where they've got teammembers who come to them with
complaints but not solutions.
So I feel like this kind ofa behavior kind of ingraining
it at a cultural level andmaking self-reflection and
seeing yourself as a partof the solution, as a good
practice to combat some of that.
(11:59):
So that's very interesting.
Talking a little bit moreabout cross-functional
relationships, do you haveany other kinds of tips or
tactics as a CPO to fostersome stronger cross-functional
collaboration between teamsbeyond just not accusing
people of other things, butcollaborating better to build?
Smita Hashim (12:15):
As a product manager, it's actually
a very privileged role.
I feel like it's a service rolebecause as a product manager,
you're really sitting in themiddle of so much on one side,
you're sitting with engineers,you're sitting with designers,
you're building the product,you're creating the product.
On the other side, you areworking with sales, you
are talking to customers,and you are having those
(12:35):
conversations and you'rebringing them together.
So in a way, you are a hub.
You are an access.
Of course you have somuch help and they have
leaders on both sides.
But as product managers, Iencourage product managers to
wear both of those hats, right?
To think about, build as wellas the kind of get the feedback
requirement, but also help yoursales partners be successful.
(12:56):
So I think when we think aboutrelationships, if we span
those relationships in waysthat is effective and there
are times you work more witha lot more with engineering
design, but then your prioritiesgetting to launch, and then
you have to work very closelywith sales, understanding
that your sales counterpart.
Be good to them people.
It's not easy to sell, givegood products to sell which
are with clear use cases.
(13:17):
So I think those are the thingsif you keep in mind, then you
have to nurture relationshipson both of those sides in order
to be effective and really getthe kind of ROI your colleagues
deserve from their work.
Hannah Clark (13:28):
Okay, so we can move back into
our other most importantstakeholder are customers.
So Zoom is very muchin the public eye.
It has been for anumber of years now.
Hopefully it always will be.
So when you received negativefeedback on social media,
you mentioned that youengaged directly with users,
which is not an approachthat every company takes.
So how has this approachshaped your product
(13:49):
development process and alsowhat's the origin of it?
Why did you start to do that?
Smita Hashim (13:52):
Our CEO, Eric Yuan, he's very
customer oriented.
He loves talking to customers.
He engages with customers.
So I think it's part ofthe culture is customer
care and customer care isat the forefront of it.
So that is something which hasbeen engaging with customers
is a practice at Zoom andlistening to customers
is a practice at Zoom.
Honestly, Anna, we are blessed.
(14:13):
We have such great customers.
I have customers who willtalk to me from the couch on a
Friday evening giving me ideason a product, and that is so
incredibly valuable that they'regiving us that kind of time.
It's amazing.
But coming back tosocial media, of course
in social media, socialmedia has its own culture.
If there's a negative comment,it can feel very intimidating
and you can start seeinga lot of people get on it.
(14:36):
But having said that, if wereach out to the person who
posted it and really digin, first of all, it feels
uncomfortable, but it alsois very educational because
when we talk to the posterswho are customers, right?
They are users, they're usingthe product in some way.
Almost always,they're very gracious.
They're willing to spend a lotof time with us discussing the
(14:58):
issue that they are facing.
And we have such awide service area.
We have so many platforms,APIs, integrations.
We find issues that wecan fix and then we, our
engineers are fantastic.
They can fix issues so fastand customers love that.
So it ends up creating, I think,positivity for the product.
But customers also feel likethey have been listened to
(15:21):
when they have expressedtheir frustration, which is,
almost always it is validwhen they express that.
So I think it's a good practiceand the more we do it, the more
product managers get comfortabledoing it and doing that outreach
and then it builds on itself.
There was a customer I'vetalked to recently, I just
want to say Sunday morning,and he must have talked to me
like six different times tohelp me debug the issue because
(15:43):
we were working the issue.
Then finally, when we figuredit out, I said, okay, now
I'll send you updates, but youdon't have to respond to me
because I don't want to destroyyour Sunday morning anymore.
But he engaged with us tothat level, which is something
to be very grateful for.
Hannah Clark (15:58):
Absolutely.
It reminds me of this old adage,I'm not sure if you've heard it
before, but the opposite of loveisn't hate, it's indifference.
And I think this is a verygood example of if you have
someone who's willing to engagewith you, even in a negative
way, that's engagement, itstill means that they have
some kind of investment.
So it's, I think,good to reframe it.
It's not as an attack, butas an opportunity and an
invitation to collaborate.
(16:20):
Let's talk a little bit aboutculture within the organization.
So you've talked a littlebit about Enculturating
Zoom with a sense ofownership of self-reflection.
That's a really beautiful thing.
How do you build a cultureof belonging and openness
within the team, andhow does that culture
translate to the products?
Smita Hashim (16:37):
Belonging and openness comes from making
sure that people have a voice.
Anyone can give feedbackon the product we do have
or like on the decisions.
But of course then decisionsalso have to be made
that, decisions cannot becompletely consensus driven.
So we do like to move withspeed, but that openness and
trying to really hear fromthe room what different people
(16:59):
are thinking, that is builtin as a practice into Zoom.
I think our productsalso help us.
So one product, which I'mgoing to make a plug for a
Zoom AI companion, but inmeeting questions, so you're
having these heated debatein the meeting because you're
going through some difficultUX experiences or product
discussions or what have you.
You can bring it up and youcan say, what did we agree on?
(17:21):
What have we disagreed on?
And now you have this neutralAI, which is telling you what
is happening or not happening.
So we are bringing that a lotinto a decision making and
discussions, which is helping.
But the culture ofbelonging really comes from
making sure that a voice.
We have the futures, we,you can raise your hand.
The audio quality is great.
You are always heard.
(17:41):
We have sharing multiple peoplecan share at the same time.
So we also continue to, wehave whiteboard built in, so
we have a lot of ways to worktogether collaboratively.
The meeting chats aregreat, but I think it's that
culture which comes together.
And then in terms of how doesit show up in the product
itself, I think it definitely,it makes better products.
(18:02):
As we actually have that voiceand we look at it, and then
we look at it from differentangles, but it's not just the
internal discussions, it's alsothe discussions with customers.
We have many industry councilsand we talk to those customers.
We talk to our customer advisorycouncils, and even on those,
we have great discussions.
Sometimes our customers will.
Start discussing amongstthemselves where one set of
(18:24):
customers may say something,another one, something else.
And it's great to watch thedebate and be part of it.
So I think those are theones which come into play
on how we can do better.
Hannah Clark (18:32):
Absolutely.
Oh, that's very cool to hear.
So looking ahead, let's talka little bit about the future.
Very exciting.
So we are all very familiarwith some of Zoom's past.
It's been quite a journeyand the journey continues.
What excites you mostabout the future of Zoom
and what challenges doare you anticipating in
this current climate?
Smita Hashim (18:50):
So I think from a Zoom point of view,
first of all, we have beenexpanding our product portfolio.
So we have Zoom Workplace,which is for collaboration and
communication and productivity.
So this is really foryour employees and it
expands all personas.
It's open.
Our AI companion actuallyconnects to Microsoft
and Google Mail.
And calendar and drive and thoseproducts, and it includes all
(19:12):
of that at no additional cost.
So we are very much into thisopen collaboration platform.
So that's part of the portfolio.
But if you think about theadjacencies like contact
center, we are talkingto customers or webinars.
Our products for salesto engage with customers.
We also go do build industrieslike healthcare education.
So I think if you think aboutit, like that's the portfolio
(19:33):
which we have and we aremaking great progress on it.
So that's a journeywhich we are on.
I'm super, super excitedto continue to see the
growth on these productsand where they go.
The other part, which I'msuper excited about is just
how AI can really transform theexperiences across these in ways
that it actually benefits us.
So one of the things which wetalk a lot about is from an
(19:55):
AI point of view, we wanted tonot just AI for AI's sake, but
we want AI to be able to doreally useful things for you.
And we really believe whatmatters above everything is like
connection and collaboration.
So freeing up the time soyou can have those creative
discussions, you can have thosestrategic discussions and that's
what we have been investing in.
(20:15):
That's a journey we havebeen on and I actually
think for myself, I feel.
I can start to think againbecause I use so much the
AI companion, including themeeting example I told you, or
using it in various productslike catching up on chats or
even like creating documents.
So I think that's the journeywhich we are on, and I could
give you hundreds of examplesof how it's beginning to
(20:36):
help and how it will do more.
But those are the thingswhich we are working on.
And obviously it's a fast movingmarket, so we have to continue
to move with speed while beingreally focused on delivering
value to our customers.
Hannah Clark (20:47):
Speaking of speed, I know that you've
got many things to do,so I won't keep too long.
So thank you first ofall for joining us.
It was such an honor that you'vemade time to be on our show.
Where can listenersconnect with you online?
Smita Hashim (20:57):
I'm active on my LinkedIn so people can
always reach out and I try torespond to as many as I can,
so that's where I would point,your wonderful listeners to.
So yeah, I look forwardto hearing from them.
Hannah Clark (21:11):
Thanks for listening in.
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