As product teams grow, the challenges of scale transform what once felt like second nature into risky moves. That’s the core of a new session at Disrupt 2026 featuring Robby Stein, Google’s Vice President of Product for Search, who’ll explore how to evolve your product from early-stage MVPs to systems relied upon by billions.
From Startup Mentality to Global Scale
Stein’s upcoming fireside chat, “From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change at Scale,” sets out to unpack how product strategy shifts when the audience balloons. Decisions once made quickly with little scrutiny suddenly demand care, consistency, and trust—especially when your user base spans the globe.
Drawing from both startup and tech giant experience, Stein has navigated this transformation. He co-founded a social recommendations startup that was acquired, helped grow consumer products at Instagram—working on Feed, Stories, Direct Messaging, Reels—and then moved on to lead product at Artifact before returning to Google in 2024. His perspective promises insights into what early tactics scale (and what must change) as usage and expectations rise.
Why AI Adds Urgency Now
Stein currently leads product efforts for Google Search’s AI features, including “AI Mode,” which passed one billion monthly users earlier this year. Innovations there include letting users follow an AI Overview with deeper conversational threads—a shift toward not just faster answers, but richer, ongoing interaction. This adds a new layer of complexity: staying nimble without sacrificing dependability.
When generative AI becomes part of what keeps people returning, balancing experimentation and stability becomes more than a luxury—it’s foundational. Founders scaling up will find ample takeaways in Stein’s session on when to prioritize new features versus polish, and how to keep users’ trust as you evolve.
Disrupt 2026 runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, and Stein isn’t alone—he joins over 250 speakers across 200+ sessions covering everything from AI trends to enterprise product strategy. Early registrants can save up to $200 until September 25; group passes yield an extra 30% off.
This session isn’t just for billion-user platforms. Whether you’re refining your first MVP or expanding a growing product, scaling decisions start long before hitting huge numbers. What choices scaled giants make can seem out of reach—but they often reflect fundamentals any team should grow into.
What this means: Scaling a product means more than adding servers—it demands evolving culture, process, and priorities. Robby Stein’s session offers a rare chance to peer inside that evolution at one of the biggest tech companies in the world. For any founder, PM, or operator wrestling with growth, it’s a moment worth attending.
