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by Lucas Mendes, Founder & CEO at Revelo
Every week on Tech Teams Today, I get to learn from engineering and product leaders who are shaping the future of tech. But my conversation with Mauricio Cardenas, Director of Technology at Orchest Automation, felt especially timely for anyone navigating the shift to AI.
Mauricio’s background spans everything from leading tech and security operations for the UN in Bolivia to scaling a low-code automation platform across global product teams. Now, he’s focused on helping Orchest automate and orchestrate telecom network operations across 17 countries.
But the real heart of our conversation was this: AI products don’t behave the way traditional products do—and that’s forcing product and engineering leaders to rethink how they build, ship, and lead.
Rethinking What It Means to "Build" a Product
Traditional SaaS products are deterministic. You define a set of features, build them to spec, and expect them to function in a predictable way.
AI-powered products break that mold. They’re not about executing predefined logic—they’re about shaping behavior. You’re training systems to respond contextually, learn over time, and improve based on probabilistic outcomes. That means product development becomes less about building features and more about guiding systems toward consistent, trusted behavior.
This shift requires a totally different mindset—and a much deeper collaboration between PMs, data scientists, and engineering.
👉 Key Takeaway: AI products aren’t feature sets—they’re evolving systems. Your role as a leader is to define and shape the behavior you want to deliver.
Product Owns Go-to-Market Now—Not Just at Launch
One of the biggest changes in how Mauricio approaches product leadership is how early he thinks about go-to-market strategy. Instead of treating it like a handoff to marketing or sales, he integrates GTM planning from the moment product discovery begins.
That means bringing in stakeholders from sales, marketing, and customer success early—during prioritization, roadmap design, and early feature shaping. It’s not about control—it’s about shared understanding and strategic alignment.
Especially with AI products, where trust, messaging, and adoption are more nuanced, the GTM motion can’t be bolted on later.
👉 Key Takeaway: If you're thinking about GTM after launch planning, you're already behind. PMs need to lead go-to-market from day one.
Global Teams Need One Shared Language: Business Outcomes
Mauricio has managed product teams across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia. One lesson that’s proven true across all of them: when you’re working with diverse, distributed teams, the only effective common language is the language of business impact.
Engineers speak code. Data scientists speak in models. PMs speak in stories. But unless everyone is aligned on the “why” behind the work—what success looks like for the business—the rest falls apart. That’s why he leans heavily on documentation, async updates, and simple, transparent milestones.
Especially when launching AI-powered products, clarity and alignment become non-negotiable.
👉 Key Takeaway: Cross-functional teams thrive when they rally around shared goals—not just tickets or sprints.
What Emerging Leaders Should Be Practicing Now
Mauricio didn’t just talk about strategy—he also gave tactical advice for ICs looking to grow into product or engineering leadership.
For him, great leadership isn’t about titles—it’s about being consistent, empathetic, and organized. That means understanding how different teams operate, communicating clearly, and stepping into responsibility before it’s given to you. It also means documenting your thinking and being transparent about decisions—two habits that scale well no matter your role.
And in distributed teams, those habits are the foundation for influence.
👉 Key Takeaway: Leadership is less about authority and more about clarity, empathy, and ownership—especially in global teams.
The Future of AI Products Is Collaborative
When we talked about what’s coming next, Mauricio was clear: we’ve barely scratched the surface of what AI can do.
He believes the next generation of AI products won’t just be assistants—they’ll be collaborators. These systems will adapt to context, work alongside humans, and elevate the quality of work we deliver. They’ll help professionals make better decisions, faster, and with more context than ever before.
We’re not there yet—but we’re getting close.
👉 Key Takeaway: The future isn’t just AI that automates—it’s AI that collaborates. We’re only 10% into the journey.
If you’re leading an engineering or product org—and trying to figure out how to navigate the shift to AI—this episode is worth your time. Mauricio brings a grounded, strategic perspective that every tech leader can learn from.
🎧 Listen to the full episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts. And don’t forget to subscribe for weekly episodes with top engineering and product leaders.
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