Twilio CPO on Integrating AI into Product Strategy to Grow Revenue | Inbal Shani | E272

In this episode, Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia interviews Inbal Shani, Chief Product Officer at Twilio, the $18B customer engagement powerhouse trusted by over 320,000 businesses worldwide.

Inbal is a trailblazer in AI-first product development. Before joining Twilio, she led the launch of GitHub Copilot—one of the most transformative AI tools for developers, reshaping how engineers write code. Now at Twilio, she’s steering a product portfolio that infuses AI into the heart of customer communications, helping companies unlock smarter, more personalized digital experiences at scale.
In this conversation, Inbal shares why successful AI adoption goes far beyond adding models to features—it requires a rethinking of product strategy itself. She also dives into how Twilio measures real business impact from AI, why PMs need technical fluency more than ever, and what it takes to lead a product org into the AI-native future.

What you’ll learn:

• How GitHub Copilot shaped Inbal’s approach to building AI-native products.
• Why AI adoption alone is not a product strategy—and what to focus on instead.
• The metrics Twilio uses to evaluate AI’s business impact.
• The evolving technical skill set required for PMs in the age of AI.
  
  

Key Takeaways👇:

• Beyond the Hype: Inbal’s perspective on what truly makes AI transformative for end users.
• AI as Strategy, Not Feature: How to align AI capabilities with customer outcomes.
• PMs in the AI Era: The must-have technical skills that will define tomorrow’s product leaders.

This episode is brought to you by Persona, the adaptable identity platform that helps businesses fight fraud, meet compliance requirements, and build trust. These days, it's easier than ever for fraudsters to steal voices, faces, and identities. That's where Persona comes in; helping leading companies to securely verify individuals and businesses worldwide, providing flexible building blocks to create tailored verification flows that maximize conversion while minimizing risks.
Whether you work at a startup or large enterprise, you can get started for free here:  https://withpersona.com/productschool

Credits:
Host: Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia
Guest: Inbal Shani 

Social Links:

• Follow our Podcast on Tik Tok here
• Follow Product School on LinkedIn here
• Join Product School's free events here
• Find out more about Product School here

Chapters

• 0:13 From launching GitHub Copilot to leading AI innovation at Twilio!
• 3:07 Why “AI is not a strategy” (and what should be instead).
• 3:07 How Twilio is using conversational AI to transform customer support.
• 10:46 The mindset shift every Product Manager needs in the AI era.
• 15:43 The technical skills PMs must master to succeed with AI.
• 20:07 Twilio’s vision for a smarter, personalized customer engagement platform.
• 26:00 Unifying data, AI, and communications into “One Twilio.”
• 29:27 The rise of MCP and new protocols shaping AI integrations.
• 31:34 Why AI isn’t centralized at Twilio — it’s every PM’s responsibility.
• 32:21 Inside Twilio’s annual planning process and how priorities are set.