Lenny Rachitsky · 2 min read · Product Strategy
Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio)
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Josh Woodward, head of Google Labs, Gemini, and AI Studio, shares insights from 17+ years at Google on how to build a distinctive product culture centered on experimentation and innovation. He discusses frameworks for generating ideas, recognizing product-market fit, and knowing when to kill a project. The conversation explores how every company now needs to adopt a 'labs team' mentality to thrive in the AI era.
Key Takeaways
- Every company needs to think and operate like a labs team — embracing rapid experimentation, idea generation, and knowing when to quit
- The 'almost possible' framework helps identify which AI product ideas are worth pursuing by targeting problems that are just within reach of current capabilities
- Recognizing genuine product-market fit early is critical, and there are specific signals to look for before scaling investment
- Roles in AI are not blurring into one universal builder role — specialized skills are still rising in distinct value
- Setting up an internal labs team requires intentional culture design around experimentation, speed, and structured decision-making on when to kill ideas
Excerpt
Josh Woodward is the head of Google Labs, the Gemini app, and AI Studio. He has spent over 17 years at Google and oversees its longest-running and largest labs team, whose products include NotebookLM (now Gemini Notebook), Project Genie, and Flow. His job is to find, experiment with, and scale new AI products, and he has built one of the most distinctive product cultures in the industry for generating ideas, running experiments, and, even more importantly, knowing when to quit. Listen on YouTube , Spotify , and Apple Podcasts In our in-depth conversation, we discuss: Why every company now needs…