How AI is changing product management and what you need to know

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A product management expert shares how artificial intelligence is affecting the process for the tech and startup worlds. Photo via Getty Images

For the past 14 months, everyone has been talking about ways artificial intelligence is changing the world, and product management is not an exception. The challenge, as with every new technology, is not only adopting it but understanding what old habits, workflows, and processes are affected by it.

Product managers — as well as startup founders leading a product function — more than any other role, face a challenge of bringing new life-changing products to market that may or may not be received well by their users. A product manager’s goal is complex — bring value, stay ahead of the competition, be innovative. Yet, the "behind the scenes" grind requires endless decision making and trade offs to inspire stakeholders to move forward and deliver.

As we dive into 2024, it is obvious that AI tools do not only transform the way we work but also help product managers create products that exceed customer expectation and drive businesses forward.

Market research and trends analysis

As product managers, we process enormous amounts of market data — from reviewing global and industry trend analysis, to social media posts, predictions, competition, and company goals. AI, however, can now replace hours, if not days, of analyzing massive amounts of data in an instant, revealing market trends, anticipating needs, and foreseeing what's coming next. As a result, it is easier to make effective product decisions and identify new market opportunities.

Competitive analysis

Constantly following competitors, reviewing their new releases, product updates, or monitoring reviews to identify competitor strengths and weaknesses is an overwhelming and time consuming task. With AI, you can quickly analyze competitors’ products, pricing, promotions, and feedback. You can easily compare multiple attributes, including metrics, and identify gaps and areas for improvement — all the insights that are otherwise much harder to reveal quickly and efficiently.

Customer and product discovery

Of course, the most intuitive use case that comes to mind is the adoption of AI in product and customer discovery. For example:

  • Use AI for customer segmentation and persona creation to help visualize personas, prioritize user motivations and expectations, and uncover hidden behavior and needs. You can then create and simplify customer questionnaires for interviews and user groups and target customers more accurately.
  • Analyze quantitative and qualitative data from surveys, support tickets, reviews, and in-person interviews to identify pain points and unmet user needs and help prioritize features for future updates and releases.

Roadmap and sprint management

AI provides value in simplifying roadmap planning and sprint management. Resource optimization is often a gruesome task and AI can help with feature prioritization and resource allocation. It helps teams focus on critical work and increase their productivity. You can even analyze and manage dependencies and improve results across multiple sprints months in advance.

Prototyping and mockup generation

There is no product manager’s routine without multiple mockups, wireframes, and prototypes that explain concepts and collect feedback among stakeholders. AI has become a critical tool in simplifying this process and bringing ideas to life from concept to visualization.

Today, you can use textual or voice descriptions to instantly create multiple visuals with slight variations, run A/B tests and gather valuable feedback at the earliest stage of a product life cycle.

Job search and job interviews

Consider it as a bonus but one of the less obvious but crucial advantages of AI is using it in job search. With the vulnerable and unstable job market, especially for product roles, AI is a valuable assistant. From getting the latest news and updates on a company you want to join, to summarizing insights on the executive team, or company goals, compiling lists of interview questions, and running mock interviews, AI has become a non-judgmental assistant in a distressing and often discouraging job search process.

Use AI to draft cold emails to recruiters and hiring managers, compare your skills to open positions’ requirements, identify gaps, and outline ideas for test assignments.

We already know that AI is not a hype; it is here to stay. However, remember that customers do not consume AI, they consume your product for its value. Customers care whether your product gets their need, solves their problem, and makes their lives easier. The goal of a product manager is to create magic combining human brain capabilities and latest technology. And the best result is with a human at the core of any product.

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Natasha Gorodetsky is the founder and CEO of Product Pursuits, a Houston company that helps early stage and venture-backed startups build products and create impact.

Liu Idea Lab's Carol Tyger shares her experience on product managing for a tech startup. Getty Images

Houston expert reflects on why product management and user experience are key for tech startups

Houston voices

Consider planning a wedding. An impossible task of delivering a grand, completely personal event for all sorts of guests at a minimal cost.

At first, my fiance and I were freaking out because we heard that wedding planning is full of hidden costs and impossible expectations. But then the light bulb went off: that sounds a lot like my job as a product manager (PM). I can be the PM of my own wedding! I knew I wanted to provide a kick-ass party (great experience) for every guest (users) with limited resources (efficiently maximizing value).

Relying on my product manager skills, my fiancé and I started off by considering our goals and removing assumptions. I even conducted some user interviews by asking my friends what they value in weddings. Then we defined the "Wedding Minimum Viable Product (MVP)" and organized ourselves like a software team with a backlog and kanban board.

In the end, the wedding was a huge success. It felt just like a major software product release…from the planning to the execution. Product management is all about making a great user experience, maximizing value and working efficiently. In other words, it is a foundation for getting things done that can be applied to almost any situation.

Ultimately, as a product manager, you build an entrepreneurial mindset that can be applied to any future role. At the bare minimum, the PM is responsible for providing detailed requests for the tech team to build. But to be a great PM, it takes a lot more.

You rely on empathy. Product managers are the voice of the user for both the business and the tech team. To understand the user, you conduct user interviews, gather market analysis and collaborate with internal groups – exploring all corners of the organization – to determine user needs. Skilled product managers don't directly ask users what they want, but instead, understand through observation. You will be using various types of user data before and after software releases to forecast and measure the impact of innovations made.

You strengthen soft skills. It doesn't matter how technical you are if you don't have good rapport within the organization. The basics begin with communicating effectively, remaining flexible, acknowledging bad decisions and being comfortable with the unknown. The best product managers have built enough trust throughout the organization to lead at a senior level despite not having direct authority.

You strategize. You must understand the users, software cycle, and business needs well enough to plan months – even years – ahead while listening to and setting expectations with everyone involved. You will be blazing trails and solving new problems. The company will rely on you to operate with integrity while continuously innovating. Your entrepreneurial mindset will make setting the strategy second nature.

The entrepreneurial mindset and product management responsibilities hone skills that are not only transferable to future roles, but to your life in general. Whether you are preparing for a major software release or planning a fantastic party, your entrepreneurial mindset and product management skills will help you succeed.

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Carol Tyger is Lilie's product management expert-in-residence and was head of product at Spruce, a Houston-founded managed marketplace for apartment residents to book services such as housekeeping.

This article originally appeared on Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship's blog.

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New energy innovation and coworking spaces open at the Ion

moving in

Houston-based Occidental officially opened its new Oxy Innovation Center with a ribbon cutting at the Ion last week.

The opening reflects Oxy and the Ion's "shared commitment to advancing technology and accelerating a lower-carbon future," according to an announcement from the Ion.

Oxy, which was named a corporate partner of the Ion in 2023, now has nearly 6,500 square feet on the fourth floor of the Ion. Rice University and the Rice Real Estate Company announced the lease of the additional space last year, along with agreements with Fathom Fund and Activate.

At the time, the leases brought the Ion's occupancy up to 90 percent.

Additionally, New York-based Industrious plans to launch its coworking space at the Ion on May 8. The company was tapped as the new operator of the Ion’s 86,000-square-foot coworking space in Midtown in January.

Dallas-based Common Desk previously operated the space, which was expanded by 50 percent in 2023 to 86,000 square feet.

CBRE agreed to acquire Industrious in a deal valued at $400 million earlier this year. Industrious also operates another local coworking space is at 1301 McKinney St.

Industrious will host a launch party celebrating the new location Thursday, May 8. Find more information here.


  

Oxy Innovation Center. Photo via LinkedIn.

Houston improves ranking among best U.S. cities to start a business

Business News

Houston's reputation for being an entrepreneurial and business powerhouse was confirmed in WalletHub's new list of the "Best Large Cities to Start a Business" in 2025. The Energy Capital of the World moved up four spots this year and ranked No. 34 nationwide.

The annual report ranked 100 U.S. cities based on 19 metrics across three main categories: business environment, access to resources, and costs. Factors considered in the report include five-year business survival rates, job growth comparisons from 2019 and 2023, office space affordability, and more.

The sunny Florida city of Orlando (No. 1) topped the list as the best large city for starting a business this year.

Houston's business climate has improved slightly since 2024, when the city previously ranked No. 38.

Houston performed the best in the national business environment category, ranking No. 33 out of all 100 cities in the report. It fell behind in the categories for "business costs" and "access to resources" ranking No. 50 and No. 65, respectively.

"Starting a business can be very scary, considering one in every five startups doesn’t make it past the first year," said WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo. "That’s why it’s especially important to live in a city that provides an environment where new businesses can thrive, with enough capital, workers and customers to keep it going long-term."

Elsewhere in Texas
Austin was the only Texas city to rank among the top 10 best big cities to start a business in 2025, climbing up into the No. 3 spot.

"Businesses that are currently in Austin are thriving, as the city has a very high growth rate in the number of small businesses," the report said. "It also has the best employment growth in the country, which makes it more likely that new businesses will be able to find employees."

Dallas-Fort Worth had the greatest concentration of cities on the list, contributing six out of 13 total Texas cities, and all of them among the top 50: Fort Worth (No. 11), Arlington (No. 15), Dallas (No. 16), Irving (No. 22), Garland (No. 29), and Plano (No. 43).

Other large Texas cities that were named among the best places to start a business in 2025 include Lubbock (No. 33), Laredo (No. 44), San Antonio (No. 64), El Paso (No. 67), and Corpus Christi (No. 70).

The top 10 best large cities to start a business in 2025 are:

  • No. 1 – Orlando, Florida
  • No. 2 – Tampa, Florida
  • No. 3 – Austin, Texas
  • No. 4 – Jacksonville, Florida
  • No. 5 – Miami, Florida
  • No. 6 – St. Petersburg, Florida
  • No. 7 – Boise, Idaho
  • No. 8 – Atlanta, Georgia
  • No. 9 – Raleigh, North Carolina
  • No. 10 – Hialeah, Florida
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A version of this story originally appeared on our sister site, CultureMap.com.

Houston space tech leader lands up to $10 million for Earth re-entry vehicle and lab

space funding

Houston-based space technology, infrastructure, and services company Intuitive Machines has been awarded a state grant of up to $10 million to help develop an Earth re-entry vehicle and in-space biomanufacturing lab.

The Texas Space Commission approved the grant, which is coming from the state’s Space Exploration and Research Fund.

Intuitive Machines says the money will support its “critical risk-reduction platform” for returning lunar samples to Earth. The funding will go toward an early 12-month phase of the project.

“Returning samples from space is one of the most complex challenges in exploration,” says Tim Crain, chief growth officer at Intuitive Machines.

In 2022, Intuitive Machines began preliminary design work on an Earth re-entry vehicle for missions returning from low Earth orbit, the moon, or Mars. In tandem with development of the re-entry vehicle, the company has teamed up with Houston-based biotech company Rhodium Scientific on in-space biomanufacturing. This biomanufacturing will involve certain materials, processes and pharmaceuticals that can be handled more efficiently in space or that exhibit unique non-Earth properties.

Gámez Holzhaus, founder and CEO of Rhodium Scientific, says his company’s federally backed work “has enabled us to establish all hardware and protocols necessary for a pipeline to develop and scale biomanufacturing in space.”

Intuitive Machines and Rhodium Scientific say the state grant should pave the way for future grants and large-scale projects to bring the re-entry system closer to flight readiness.

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