​Off the Record: Firsthand Conversations for Entrepreneurs Navigating AI

​October 14 @ 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm

​The pace of change in AI is overwhelming, even for those living it daily. Staying competitive requires direct, honest access to the practitioners actively building, deploying, and wrestling with these technologies.

​Join TiE Silicon Valley for Off the Record, a recurring series for entrepreneurs featuring candid, behind-the-scenes conversations with front-line practitioners—product leaders, engineering heads, founders, and enterprise operators. Rather than polished keynote speeches or corporate marketing, this series offers frank, practical insights on what is actually changing, what works, and how to navigate it.

​Event Details

• ​Date: Wednesday, October 14, 2026

• ​Time: 5:30 PM – 7:30 PM PDT

• ​Location: TiE Silicon Valley Office, Palo Alto | interactive Zoom session via Live Video Conference

• ​Curators: Smita Hashim & Shivani Govil

• ​Format Policy: Off the record — Chatham House Rule applies. Nothing will be recorded or attributed to ensure open, candid dialogue.

​Session Overview: Adding AI to Your Product — What Worked, What Flopped

​Adding AI capabilities to a product is easy; building AI features that actually drive long-term user adoption and business value is notoriously hard.

​This session goes beyond the launch announcements to explore the unvarnished realities of AI product development: real stories of AI features that stuck, ones that quietly got rolled back, and how real customers actually responded. Join two industry-leading product and research pioneers spanning creative and productivity tools as they share their firsthand lessons on product strategy, user retention, and feature iteration in the age of AI.

​Featured Speakers & Curators

• ​Anthony Maggio — Chief Product Officer at Runway (Former CPO at Airtable)

  • ​Anthony Maggio is the Chief Product Officer at Runway, where he leads product for the video and world models powering
    the next wave of creative production and physical AI. Runway is building AI to simulate the world, merging art and science to transform storytelling, accelerate scientific discovery, and push the frontiers of robotics and physical AI

• ​Stef Corazza — Head of AI Research at Canva

  • ​Stef leads AI research at Canva, building the generative AI behind design tools used by hundreds of millions of creators worldwide. His work sits at the point where frontier models meet everyday usability, making powerful creative capability simple enough that anyone can use it, not just experts.

• ​Shivani Govil (Moderator & Curator) — Sr. Advisor, McKinsey & Co.

  • ​Shivani is currently a Sr. Advisor at McKinsey. Prior to this, she has held CPO and senior leadership roles at Google, CCC, and SAP.

• ​Smita Hashim (Moderator & Curator) — Strategic Advisor & Investor, Former CPO at Zoom

  • ​Smita is a Partner at Disruptive Ventures and a strategic advisor to founders and venture companies. Previously she was Chief Product Officer at Zoom, where she led products across the platform, and earlier held product leadership roles at Google and Microsoft.

​Agenda / Schedule

• ​5:30 PM – 6:00 PM: Doors Open, Snacks & Networking

• ​6:00 PM – 6:45 PM: Moderated Conversation (Featured Speakers + Moderator)

• ​6:45 PM – 7:15 PM: Open Q&A (In-person & Interactive Remote)

• ​7:15 PM – 7:30 PM: Post-session Networking

​Registration Note: In-person seats at the TiE Silicon Valley office in Palo Alto are limited. Remote participants will join by live video and have access to interactive Q&A.