Intuit CTO Marianna Tessel on AI-First Software

11/10/20 • 33 min

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In this episode, we speak with the Chief Technology Officer of Intuit, Marianna Tessel.

Marianna is a seasoned tech executive who oversees all of Intuit’s product engineering, data science, information technology, and information security teams. Marianna previously led engineering teams at Docker, Ariba and VMWare. She landed at Intuit in 2017.

Intuit makes a range of software products for taxes and business management, including TurboTax, Quickbooks and Mint. And she’s leading thousands of engineers in AI-first development to make products easier, cleaner, and more intuitive.

“I think you're going to start rewriting applications with this AI first. And just the way the world of apps re-imagined itself for mobile, it has to reimagine itself for AI. Which probably is an even more extreme transformation,” says Marianna.

Quentin and Steve spoke with her about engineering products in the midst of a pandemic that is crushing many of the small businesses Intuit serves.

This podcast is produced by Post Script Audio in partnership with General Catalyst.

In this episode, we speak with the Chief Technology Officer of Intuit, Marianna Tessel.

Quentin and Steve spoke with her about engineering products in the midst of a pandemic that is crushing many of the small businesses Intuit serves.

This podcast is produced by Post Script Audio in partnership with General Catalyst.

Previous Episode

David Hahn on Building Product LinkedIn, InstaCart, and GoFundMe

In this episode, we talk with David Hahn, the former CPO of Instacart.

Throughout his career, David has learned deep and meaningful lessons about what individual and enterprise customers need -- and how to translate those needs into fun, usable products.

His resume includes a wide range of successful tech startups. So we asked him what ties those experiences at LinkedIn, GoFundMe and Instacart together.

“I think there's some times where people look at kind of growth work and say, ‘Oh, gosh, those guys are just focused on button color, et cetera.’ And the reality is that the consumers really react to relatively small differences and things like word choice and things like button placement. They very much react to how much you really simplified a particular experience.”

Quentin and Steve about designing for growth, having empathy for users, and the nuances of small adjustments.

This podcast is produced by Post Script Audio in collaboration with General Catalyst.

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Nick Caldwell, Twitter's VP of Engineering

In this episode, we talk with Nick Caldwell, the VP of Engineering at Twitter.

Nick joined Twitter over the summer, after a long career building enterprise products. He now leads a team of 700 engineers on the consumer side. That presented him with a very different set of daily challenges.

“Enterprise versus consumer is a very different mindset and approach that I see people struggle with if they aren't comfortable with it. But enterprise, if done correctly, is more like chess. Consumer products are just gambling, as far as I can tell. It's gambling plus, it's maybe like fantasy football,” says Nick.

Nick was hired at Twitter because he’s really good at managing teams and setting product roadmaps. He got his start at Microsoft, where he worked for more than 15 years leading the data platform organization.

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This podcast is produced by Post Script Audio in collaboration with General Catalyst.