Asana's CPO explains that despite massive AI spend, enterprise productivity gains are nil. This is because employees use AI in isolation, and their corrections don't feed back into a shared system. True ROI comes from a compounding loop where human feedback automatically improves the shared AI context.
Asana's CPO restructured the product org by creating business units for PLG and AI, each led by a GM with P&L responsibility reporting to him. This unique structure brings revenue ownership and functions like forward-deployed engineers directly into product, accelerating feedback loops and market fit.
The future of AI at work belongs to platforms with the richest shared business context, not just the best LLM. A proprietary data model like Asana's Work Graph, which maps goals and tasks, creates a compounding advantage by feeding AI agents the specific data needed to be effective and improve over time.
The future of work involves employees acting as evaluators for AI. Every time a human approves, corrects, or rejects AI-generated output, that feedback automatically trains the system's shared memory. This turns the entire workforce into a continuous AI training engine, creating compounding value.
Asana intentionally targets companies of 50+ employees with its PLG strategy. The CPO believes micro-businesses can now manage workflows by "hacking around" with basic tools augmented by individual AI agents. The need for a structured platform like Asana becomes critical only as team complexity grows.
Asana's CPO highlights a disconnect between negative investor sentiment towards SaaS and strong underlying business fundamentals. While investors are "risk off" due to AI hype, companies like Figma and Atlassian post phenomenal quarters because they deliver real, enterprise-grade value that customers continue to rely on.