
The product wisdom every CPO should ignore | Jeremy Epling (CPO, Vanta)
From In Depth by First Round
March 19, 2026 · 1h 10m
About this episode
Jeremy Epling shares insights on transitioning from a Microsoft executive to a startup CPO and discusses key challenges in product management.
In the latest episode of Executive Function, Brett is joined by Jeremy Epling, CPO of security and compliance platform Vanta. Jeremy details his career journey, unpacking what it took to make the jump from tenured Microsoft executive to startup CPO. He also shares hard-won insights: how to maintain shipping velocity as headcount explodes, how to manage performance without the safety net of big-company process, and what it means to run a product org where the buck truly stops with you. In today's episode, we discuss: The mindset shift that made Jeremy's transition to startup CPO work Why it’s essential for the CPO to stay connected to details The rule to ensure teams ship fast while growing quickly Why rigid hierarchies derail quality decision-making How Jeremy uses open office hours for the entire company References: Christina Cacioppo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ccacioppo/ Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com GitHub: https://www.github.com Ironclad: https://www.ironcladapp.com Jensen Huang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhsunhuang/ Lovable: https://lovable.dev Microsoft: https://www.microsoft.com Nat Friedman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natfriedman/ NVIDIA: https://www.nvidia.com…
People in this episode
Host: Brett
Guest: Jeremy Epling
Topics covered
- CPO insights
- startup challenges
- product management
- team dynamics
- decision-making
- career transition
Keywords
- CPO
- startup
- product management
- shipping velocity
- team performance
- decision-making
- open office hours
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Vanta, Microsoft, Dropbox, GitHub, Ironclad, NVIDIA, Span, v0, Lovable
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