Google’s VP of product Robby Stein joins Disrupt 2026

Getting people to try your first product is one challenge. Changing a product that billions of people already rely on is another. The ambition is still to move fast, test ideas, and build something better. But when every update carries consequences at a global scale, the instincts that helped you get started may need an update of their own. How do you keep experimenting when users expect your product to work every time? How do you introduce something new without undermining what people already value? And which early-stage instincts should you hold onto as your company grows? Stein’s session tackles the shift from building a first minimum viable product to making decisions inside one of the world’s largest product organizations. The conversation focuses on what changes when moving, while maintaining trust and delivering a reliable experience. For founders, the value isn’t in copying Google’s processes. It’s in examining the decisions behind them: where speed creates an advantage, where greater care becomes essential, and how to recognize when the way you build needs to evolve alongside the product. Stein’s experience isn’t limited to working inside a technology giant. He co-founded and led Stamped, a social recommendations startup acquired by Yahoo, and later spent five years leading consumer products at Instagram. There, he helped build and scale the products and teams behind Stories, Feed, Direct Messaging, and Reels. Before returning to Google in 2024, he was head of product at Artifact, an AI-powered newsfeed. That career brings both the founder’s perspective and the experience of developing widely used consumer products to the conversation. For anyone working through the transition from an early product to a growing platform, it’s an opportunity to hear from someone whose work has spanned both environments. Today, Stein works on generative AI products and experiences within Google Search. That places him at the intersection of introducing new technology and evolving how people find information. The scale is substantial. In May, Google reported that AI Mode had surpassed 1 billion monthly users, a year after its debut. Earlier this year, Stein also outlined updates that let people move from an AI Overview into a follow-up conversation in AI Mode, describing a search experience designed to accommodate both quick answers and deeper exploration. That work provides a timely backdrop to the session’s central question: How do you keep pushing a product forward without losing the qualities that make people depend on it? For founders introducing AI into their own products, it’s a useful way to think beyond what the technology can do and consider how people will actually experience it. You don’t need a billion users for these questions to matter. Whether you’re refining your first product, expanding a growing platform, or rethinking an established experience, the next stage of growth is a reason to examine the decisions that got you this far. Join the conversation at Disrupt, then keep it going with founders, investors, and operators acrosssix industry stages, roundtables, breakouts, the Expo Hall, Startup Battlefield, and countless networking opportunities.