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PodcastLenny's Podcast: Product | Career | GrowthOctober 11, 2026

Why every company now needs to think and operate like a lab team | Josh Woodward (Google Labs, Gemini, AI Studio)

Woodward says companies win by running small, independent frontier teams that judge ideas by user reaction, not benchmarks or DAU metrics.

  • Labs-for-everyone thesis: Woodward argues every company now needs a dedicated frontier team—people with pricey monthly subscriptions on everything—to find what's newly possible before rivals do.
  • Historical failure rate: Woodward says corporate labs typically become ineffective within about three to four years or can't get their inventions commercialized by the parent company.

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