Mar 09 2025 60 mins 4
Adam Fishman, interim SVP of New Products at Mozilla, shares insights on zero-to-one product development, killing unsustainable projects, and navigating AI’s impact on B2B SaaS. He breaks down Mozilla’s stage-gating process for innovation, the challenges of balancing ambition with practicality, and why distribution often trumps product in today’s crowded market.
Chapters with Timestamps
00:00–03:30
- Adam’s role at Mozilla: Building beyond Firefox, managing innovation, and why “killing projects” is critical.
03:30–15:30
- Stage Gating 101: How Mozilla’s framework prioritizes ideas, allocates resources, and avoids “innovation theater.”
- The 5 stages: Discovery, Exploration, Viability, Growth, and Sustaining.
15:30–30:00
- AI’s Double-Edged Sword: Turbocharging prototyping vs. drowning in “wrapper” tools.
- Why distribution (not product) is the new battleground for SaaS.
30:00–45:00
- Corporate Innovation Realities: Avoiding “software sprawl,” managing founder-minded PMs, and surviving existential pivots.
- Adam’s take on AI-driven sales tools: “We’re flooding the zone with crap.”
45:00–01:00:00
- Hot Takes: Why B2B SaaS companies built on “forms + databases” are doomed, and the future of AI agents.
