Anup
Sheshadri

Building products that matter.
Finding silence on trails that don't.

“Let your passion take the lead.”

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∞ Miles on trail

About

I think in
systems &
summit by feel.

I'm a product manager obsessed with the space where complex problems meet real human behavior. I've spent a decade helping teams go from fuzzy ideas to products people actually use — in enterprise SaaS, consumer apps, and AI-native tools. I'm also the creator of the SU-RICE prioritization framework and the author of three books on product and adventure.

When I'm not in a product review or writing a spec, I'm on a trail. Backpacking forces the same clarity I chase at work: strip away noise, understand the terrain, commit to the next step.

I write about strategy, AI product development, and the craft of building. Occasionally I write about getting lost in mountains. MIT xPRO · AIPMM Certified.

Strategy AI Products 0→1 Builds Backpacking Nature Adventure

Framework

SU-RICE
Framework

A product prioritization framework I created to fix the blind spots in traditional scoring models. SU-RICE adds two critical dimensions — Strategic alignment and Urgency — to give teams a more complete picture before committing to a roadmap.

Featured & cited by

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Books

Product Management

Building A Career in Product Management

A practical guide to breaking into PM, growing your craft, and navigating the career paths most people figure out too late.

Strategy

The Art of Product Prioritization

How to make better bets, cut the noise, and build roadmaps your team actually believes in — including the SU-RICE framework.

Adventure

A Solo Backpacking Journey

What happens when you carry everything you need and leave everything you don't. Dispatches from solo expeditions across America's wilderness.

Product Thinking ×Trail Logic ×Ship Fast ×Hike Far ×Think Clearly ×Move Boldly × Product Thinking ×Trail Logic ×Ship Fast ×Hike Far ×Think Clearly ×Move Boldly ×

Thought Leadership

Writing

All Articles

AI Products

Why Most AI Features Fail: The Discovery Tax Nobody Talks About

We've spent two years shipping AI into products and calling it transformation. But there's a hidden cost to every AI feature that product teams consistently underestimate — and it has nothing to do with model performance.

May 2025 · 3 min read Read →

Strategy

The Roadmap Is Not the Strategy

A product roadmap tells you what you're building. Strategy tells you why that matters more than everything else you're not building. Most teams have only one of these.

Mar 2025 · 3 min read Read →

0→1

Founding PM: How to Build Before You Have Users

The hardest phase of product isn't scaling — it's the period before you have real signal. How I've learned to make confident bets in the dark.

Jan 2025 · 2 min read Read →

Craft

Writing Product Specs That People Actually Read

The PRD is dead. Long live the working document. Here's the format I've iterated to after a decade of specs that ranged from brilliant to catastrophically useless.

Nov 2024 · 2 min read Read →

Leadership