Khetiwe Richards
I lead product strategy where the problems are meaty, the stakeholders are many, and the answers aren’t obvious. I turn that into revenue.
RésuméOutcomes
Recent Delivery Impact
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$9.2M
Revenue impact from a single strategic initiative.
Cartus
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YoY growth
First revenue growth after a five-year steady decline.
Rent.
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0 → 100%
AI adoption across the product org in one quarter.
Cartus
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2 → 22
Scaled the Rent. team; rebuilt Cartus from 4 to 10.
Cartus · Rent.
Thoughts
How I think about product.
I’ve loved puzzles for as long as I can remember. Some puzzle people empty the box and have at it. Chaotic. The rest of us approach puzzles systematically. My approach may differ based on the image, but my process is always the same: evaluate, plan, batch, execute, on repeat until completion. I love each small but meaningful piece of progress, especially finding that elusive piece after ages of searching. I love the way product feels like puzzling.
The pace of change right now is both exhilarating and breakneck. I’ve been hands on building applications and tools for myself and for product teams, generating code for the first time since undergrad and loving it. I’ve also been surprised by intense pride and side-aching belly laughs from building with my kids. Highly recommend. But keeping up can feel overwhelming and intimidating at times. When I start to feel that way and need grounding, I go back to my plan. I tease out where the new pieces should go. Most don’t need to be in my batch right now. They can go back in the box until I’m ready.
Naturally, all this progress has many wondering if product roles will become obsolete. I don’t believe that. I do believe that the role PMs played within the agile scrum framework will over time go away, and the focus will shift to the parts I’ve always found most interesting: deciding what should get shipped, owning outcomes, balancing user value and business constraints. I also still believe in the trifecta of product development (product, engineering, and UX) and the judgment of each party being critical to success, even if they exist in fewer than three individuals.
The shapes and interlockings of our roles will keep changing. As the Borg say: resistance is futile. So let’s embrace the change and pour into the uniquely human parts of the craft. That’s how we define a future we see ourselves in.
Builds
What I’ve built with AI
As a leader, you have to understand the tools you expect your teams to use. With AI the stakes are higher, because it’s more than a tool, it’s changing how we work. I learn by doing, so for me, understanding means building. Most of what I make starts with a real problem. I wanted a chief of staff, so I made one.
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Systems
A second brain.
A personal knowledge system, inspired by Andrej Karpathy, where my projects, people, and decisions live linked together. It’s where I think, and it feeds everything else I build.
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Agents
Alfred.
That chief of staff I wanted. He reads my calendar and inbox, drafts my follow-ups, runs my mornings, and texts me when I’m about to drop a ball, all on top of the brain.
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Team tools
An OKR review coach.
A custom GPT I built during Hilary Gridley’s Supermanager program that gives new and junior PMs coaching feedback to sharpen their OKRs before manager review.
Try the coach → -
Fun apps
Roast My LinkedIn.
Paste a profile, pick a tone, and get a funny archetype (KPI Poet, Synergy Gladiator), a few sharp bullets, and a shareable card. Funny first, useful second.
Get roasted →
What I build with: ChatGPT and Codex, Claude Code and Claude Cowork, Gemini, Lovable, Vercel, Zapier, Notion, and Manus.
Need a partner to build with you?
You’re running a business and you know AI matters. But keeping up with it isn’t your full-time job, and you may not have anyone in-house whose job it is. I’ve been an executive, a consultant, and a product leader. I know the pulls on your time, and I know where AI earns its keep. So I advise and build alongside you. You bring the subject-matter expertise. I bring the strategy, the AI opportunities, and the build to improve how your business runs. I’m not here to sell you a product. AI is most powerful in the hands of someone who knows the work. That’s you.
Bookshelf
What I’ve Been Reading
A random list of what I am currently reading or recently read and loved.
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The Let Them Theory
I almost filed this book under “not much meat beyond the summary.” But then she dropped the “Let Me” chapters and I realized she was talking directly to me and only me.
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Four Thousand Weeks
Currently reading. A good reminder for those of us who tend to overdo it that productivity never buys back time, because something always fills the gap. Boundaries and priorities are what matter, not doing it all.
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Sunrise on the Reaping
Read this with my daughter after the original trilogy. Controversial take, but it might be my favorite of the series, probably because I met the older, weathered Haymitch first.
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The Three-Body Problem trilogy
The first epic since Asimov’s Foundation that I mourned finishing. If you’re into sci-fi and the space/time continuum, run don’t walk to get this book.
Let’s connect
Might we be a fit?
I’m a product leader who does my best work at growth-stage businesses that give product teams real ownership over outcomes. Titles matter less to me than scope. Based in Atlanta, open to remote. If that’s what you’re building, let’s talk.
Build with me.
If you’d like to build things and need a partner to help you bridge the gap from curious to capable, reach out.
Let’s talk →