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In this episode our host Edilsa Bueno, talks with Maria Zhang.
Maria Zhang’s journey from founder to engineering executive is a testament to her belief that great software should serve people. From her early days unboxing a computer to leading the team behind Reels, Maria has championed building with intention.
In this episode, she reflects on what it takes to lead high-performing teams, how delight drives better products, and why listening to customers—and your engineers—matters more than ever. We talk about the tech innovations powering the pizza industry, how she coins vibe revenue as a new way to think about AI, and how cooking helps her reset outside the pressure of scale.
Maria is the founder of Palona, her latest AI venture. She previously served as VP of Engineering at Google, VP/GM of AI for Products at Meta, and CTO of Tinder. Earlier in her career, she founded Alike, acquired by Yahoo in 2013.
For more on Palona and Maria’s work, visit https://palona.ai
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