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LaunchPod | Product Management PodcastA product management podcast by LogRocket Author: LogRocket
LaunchPod is a product management podcast hosted by LogRocket's CEO, Matt Arbesfeld, and VP of Marketing, Jeff Wharton, where they talk to product leaders about the issues they faced in their careers, how they found solutions to those issues, and how you can apply these solutions in your own day-to-day product role. Language: en-us Genres: Business, Careers, Management Contact email: Get it Feed URL: Get it iTunes ID: Get it |
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Make the C-Suite Think Like a Startup (Without Getting Fired) | West Stringfellow, VP Product (ex-Target, Blackhawk)
Tuesday, 9 December, 2025
Today, we’re joined by West Stringfellow, currently VP of Product at Blackhawk Network and former VP of Innovation at Target. In this episode, West shares: * How he went from stealth startups to leading innovation at a company with over $77 billion in annual sales * The methods he uses to manage up and influence leadership in order to achieve the outcomes necessary to create successful organizations time and time again * The bold move that accelerated his Target career, which included hand-delivering over 300 copies of his innovation proposal to every executive at their Minneapolis HQ, even catching the attention of Target’s CEO * An inside look at how Blackhawk is thinking about AI and digital transformation by cultivating “culture carriers” to champion AI Links West’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/weststringfellow/ Blackhawk Network: https://blackhawknetwork.com/ HowDo: https://howdo.com/about/ Chapters 00:00: Introduction 01:17: West's career journey 02:08: Project Goldfish and West's startup background 05:43: Making product and strategy decisions at Target 06:25: West building a Techstars Startup Accelerator 08:39: How West's work at Target inspired his startup, HowDo 09:44: How did West "manage up" at Target? 17:05: An introduction to Blackhawk 21:02: Digital transformation with gift cards 23:44: How Blackhawk is using AI 30:29: Big AI wins 33:09: Conclusion Follow LaunchPod on YouTube We have a new YouTube page (https://www.youtube.com/@LaunchPodPodcast)! Watch full episodes of our interviews with PM leaders and subscribe! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket's Galileo AI watches user sessions for you and surfaces the technical and usability issues holding back your web and mobile apps. Understand where your users are struggling by trying it for free at LogRocket.com (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr). Special Guest: West Stringfellow.
