Sharath Satish — Product Manager

I've built products from Employee #2 at a startup to distributed platforms handling millions of transactions at Microsoft. Across 20 years, the job has always been the same: figure out what actually matters, cut everything else, and make it work for the customer. I speak engineering with engineers, product with PMs, and business with leadership. Not because I've studied all three, but because I've done all three. I've written code, led engineering teams, advised Fortune 500 CxOs, and managed product roadmaps. That range means I evaluate priority differently: I look at total cost, not just projected business impact. The feature that looks great on a slide can be the one that drains the team for two quarters. I've led teams for 11 years across engineering and product. Not just managed, grown. I've turned around underperformers over 12-18 months of coaching when what they needed wasn't a PIP but someone investing in their development. I've sat with my team through production outages on weekends and made sure they got the recognition when things went right. I mentor PMs and engineers within Microsoft and in the broader community, because the job isn't to have the best product judgment on the team. It's to build a team where everyone's judgment gets sharper. I still build. I regularly use AI to prototype, not to stay sharp on syntax, but to pressure-test product thinking with my team: what's the minimum functionality that solves the problem? What can we cut and still ship something a customer would use? Outcomes over output. Tech debt belongs on the product roadmap, not in a separate backlog that never gets prioritized. Sometimes fixing what you already have is worth more than building something new. The best product decision I make regularly is "not yet." Currently at Microsoft, I lead product strategy for commerce data platforms and champion AI adoption across product and engineering workflows. Previously at ThoughtWorks, I was the trusted technical advisor to CxOs across Fortune 500 companies, leading $30MM+ engagements and 500+ engineers. Results: - 11+ years building and leading PM teams, engineering teams, and cross-functional groups - Platform performance: 96% and 99%+ improvements on systems serving thousands of partners - AI adoption: 8% to 80% across a 1,000+ person organization in 6 months I write about architecture, product strategy, and the messy reality of building things at Substack (Product Forward) and LinkedIn. NITK Surathkal '07. Currently pursuing Stanford GSB LEAD.

Stackforce AI infers this person is a SaaS product management expert with a strong focus on AI and data platforms.

Location: Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

Experience: 18 yrs 6 mos