Birmingham · x+why Foundry
Hosted by ProductTank Birmingham
Explore AI strategy and product execution at scale with Martin Eriksson and Max Borodin in Birmingham on 21 October 2026. This ProductTank Birmingham fringe event for Birmingham Tech Week brings together two complementary perspectives: how AI changes the foundations of product strategy, and what happens when a team puts that strategy into practice for a health app serving more than 20 million users. Expect candid lessons, practical product insights and debate with Birmingham’s product community. Two talks, from strategy to execution Martin Eriksson, “Welcome to the Software Renaissance. Your Strategy Isn’t Ready.” As development becomes faster and cheaper, Martin argues that the bottleneck moves from execution to clarity: away from “can we build it?” and towards “should we build it?” His talk will examine why simply using AI to perform existing work more efficiently can limit ambition, and how stronger strategic alignment can turn AI from a threat into an opportunity. Martin is a board member, strategic adviser and leadership coach who has advised more than 150 companies. His career includes The Financial Times, Monster, Huddle, Covestor, Cazoo and EQT. He also founded ProductTank, co-founded Mind the Product and wrote The Decision Stack. Read more on Martin’s website or view his LinkedIn profile. Attendees will also have the chance to win a copy of The Decision Stack. Max Borodin, “What AI Innovation Actually Did for a 20M-User Health App” Max will unpack how Simple, a US weight-loss app within Palta, used AI innovation to increase engagement by more than 50%. He will cover Coach Avo, an award-winning AI health coach used by millions; Blinky, an animated mascot created with generative AI; and the ways AI changed both the product and the team’s everyday craft. Max led the teams behind Coach Avo and Simple’s gamification system, which delivered the strongest retention growth in the company’s history. Connect with Max on LinkedIn. Format and agenda The evening combines talks, Q&A, food and informal networking:… Register for this event
Sponsors: AND Digital · Intel Stream +2
