Ayo Omojola
Ayo Omojola is Chief Product Officer at Carbon Health, one of the fastest-growing and most innovative health tech companies in the world. Previously, he was a PM leader at Cash App, where he co-created the Cash Card and scaled it to a nine-figure revenue line for Square. He’s also an angel investor in companies like Mercury, Modern Treasury, Faire, and many others.
Hiring & Teams Skills
Hiring former founders provides a high-output, 'bullshit-free' team dynamic, though it comes with higher attrition risks.
"I had this belief that sort of these people that I had seen, many of whom have now gone on to start companies that are doing quite well, would be incredible value add... I'd be like, 'If you've been a..."
Internal startups succeed by maintaining small, senior teams that operate with the discipline and urgency of an independent company.
"I think when you are in a large organization, trying to do a actually new thing, I think small teams are better than big ones, period. And forcing the teams to be like super, sort of thoughtful about..."
Product Management Skills
Product vision must focus on differentiation that provides a tangible, superior benefit to the user rather than just being different for its own sake.
"Cash App, as a team we really cared about what we could do that was different and better than what else existed in-market. Being different is not enough... Being better is not enough... It has to be b..."
Identify a 'cut through the clutter' differentiator that clearly separates your product from the market leader.
"For a long time it was when someone says, 'Hey, why are you betting on Venmo?' I'd be like, 'Try and send me a dollar that I can use now,' and there was only one app you could do it with."
True problem definition requires a 'first principles' deep dive into technical and regulatory details rather than relying on general expert opinions.
"You can't stop until you get to the end... so much value is lost when the person in the execution role isn't really in command of all the details... you can't avoid the details, you just have to get i..."
Sales & GTM Skills
In highly regulated industries like healthcare, business development is often driven by high-level network access rather than product merit alone.
"Very often the way to make things happen is network-dependent, not necessarily about the merit of the thing itself. So it's just like, there's companies that exist because the founders know the CEO of..."