alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders

The podcast for CTOs and the engineering world

Author: Tobias Schlottke - alphalist CTO Podcast

This podcast features interviews of CTOs and other technical leadership figures and topics range from technology (AI, blockchain, cyber, DevOps, Web Architecture, etc.) to management (e.g. scaling, structuring teams, mentoring, technical recruiting, product etc.). Guests from leading tech companies share their best practices and knowledge. The goal is to support other CTOs on their journey through tech and engineering, inspire and allow a sneak-peek into other successful companies to understand how they think and act. Get awesome insights into the worlds top tech companies, personalities with this podcast brought to you by Tobias Schlottke.
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Language: en

Genres: Business, Management, Technology

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#135 - From Legacy to Innovation: Yahoo's Modernization & AI with Lee Zen // CTO @ Yahoo
Episode 135
Thursday, 29 January, 2026

Lee Zen, CTO of Yahoo, joins Tobias to unpack what it takes to modernize one of the internet’s most iconic consumer portfolios—Mail, Finance, Sports, News, and Search—while operating with real legacy constraints at massive scale. We talk about Yahoo’s evolution from its public days to private equity ownership, how modernization actually happens (cloud, platform bets, experimentation), and why shipping velocity becomes the most honest forcing function when you’re rebuilding the engine mid-flight. Finally, we go deep on AI: where it meaningfully improves consumer experiences (mail catch-up, news takeaways, fantasy insights), how teams should avoid “AI labels” without user value, and what it means when AI becomes a tool—and increasingly a coworker.