"There’s nothing more magical than coming together as a group to envision something and then seeing it come to life."
Creating a product vision is the backbone of every great product, yet for many, it remains a mystery on how to get started with it. In the opening keynote session at #mtpcon London 2025, Ebi Atawodi, Director of Product at YouTube, set out to demystify it. Read on for some of our key takeaways, or watch the video in full.
Drawing from her time at YouTube and Uber, she shared the playbook she and her team have used to define, align, and execute a product vision that delivers real impact.
Ebi began with a fundamental truth: purpose, mission, and vision are inextricably linked.
When she joined YouTube Studio in 2022, she followed an onboarding playbook built on three pillars: Conversation, Comprehension, and Conviction. She spoke with over 35 people and heard the same question repeatedly: What is YouTube Studio?
This question led her team into a three-day visioning workshop, the outcome of which was a clear, actionable mission: Expression meets connection.
With the mission in place, the team established five grounding principles:
Each year, a product manager takes one of these themes and expands on it in a detailed two-page document, ensuring continuity and alignment across the organization. Strategy then follows naturally from the vision:
If an idea didn’t fit into one of these buckets, it didn’t make the roadmap. "Strategy is not saying no to horrible ideas. It’s selecting which great ideas you’re not going to do."
Ebi broke down the elements of a Product Vision. She explained how it’s imaginative yet realistic, inspires people, lofty, constraint-free, and finally, informs the long-term product.
Ebi’s playbook for crafting a compelling product vision focuses on three phases:
Ebi explained that it’s easy to be discouraged when a vision is met with scepticism. However, she stressed: "If no one hates it, no one really loves it." Great ideas should challenge the status quo.
Speaking about this framework with the YouTube product team, Ebi explained that it took 13 months to deliver on Lilan’s product vision, 18 months for Katrine, and just 71 days for Chris. The lesson from this is that every journey is different, but the key is perseverance.
Reflecting on her career, Ebi shared a final thought: "I want to inspire and empower by harnessing the power of storytelling."
So, what’s your story? What’s your purpose? When you walk in it, everything starts to align, she closed.
What was your biggest takeaway from Ebi’s talk? We’d love to hear your thoughts. Email us at editor@mindtheproudct.com to feature your lessons! And as always, stay tuned for more write-ups of our #mtpcon London 2025 keynote sessions in the coming weeks.
