On The Pulse

Kavita Kapoor joins On the Pulse to share her non-linear journey from building one of the earliest web pages in the mid-’90s and working in Silicon Valley to leading product and technology across organizations including the BBC, Channel 4, Just Eat, micro:bit, and now Imperial College London. She discusses early experiences with bro culture and being told how to dress, the persistence that landed her a life-changing role at London 2012, and how securing a product manager title helped propel her into senior leadership. Kavita reflects on developing an authentic, compassionate leadership style, the challenges of fundraising as a female founder, and choosing values-driven work in higher education. She explains adapting product models to university governance, prioritizing cybersecurity, and her view of LLMs versus “true” AI, ending with advice on growth mindset, mentors, and continually challenging yourself.00:00 Life Changing Call00:50 Meet Kavita Kapoor02:47 First Computers Spark03:50 First Website Era04:42 Seeing Internet Future06:05 Silicon Valley Reality07:22 Bro Culture Lessons09:56 BBC Early Product Work11:56 Breaking Into Olympics15:07 Becoming Product Leader16:26 Leadership Growing Pains20:28 Finding Authentic Style22:42 Comfort In C Suite23:01 Microbit Global Scale24:16 Side Hustles And Martial Arts25:02 Funding Bias And Asia Network25:56 Leaving Profit Driven Cultures26:50 Choosing Imperial For Purpose29:15 Elevation Over Transformation32:02 Product Mindset In Universities36:08 Governance Boards And Workstreams39:28 Prioritising Value And Cybersecurity41:26 AI Reality Check And Future Tech47:20 How AI Changes Product Management51:34 Leadership Advice And Mentors53:27 Closing Thanks And Contact

In this episode of On the Pulse, Tony Mulcock (Pulse Group) sits down with Brigitte West, a senior product leader in health tech, to unpack her journey from studying medical sciences and founding an early beauty tech company to leading product, design, engineering, and clinical teams at executive level. Brigitte shares why she’s stayed focused on healthcare impact, how shipping real products (from early breastfeeding support tools to systems used in millions of NHS appointments) shaped her career, and what she looks for when hiring across regulated and non-regulated backgrounds. The conversation explores women in tech and self-belief, learning by doing versus waiting for permission, leading in scale-ups with ROI-focused “bets,” building international teams in India with autonomy and strategic context, and how AI is changing workflows, decision-making, and the boundaries between PM, design, and engineering.00:00 Believe Before Ready00:44 Podcast Welcome Intro03:03 From Med Sci to Startup04:53 Health Tech Calling11:45 Impact Driven Product Work14:58 Hiring for Motivation Balance24:45 Women in Tech Mentors29:28 Action Over Permission34:29 Leading at Different Scales36:09 Crafting Product Strategy36:33 Org Design Follows Strategy37:46 Aligning With CEO And CFO38:38 Products As Portfolio Bets40:07 ROI Mindset In Scaleups42:11 Balancing People Process Politics42:58 Planning For High Impact45:00 Redesigning Work With AI Tools48:29 Building Teams In India54:46 Autonomy And Decision Speed58:06 AI Experimentation Culture01:00:52 Personal AI Workflows01:05:38 Leading Through AI Change01:07:14 Impact Over Frameworks01:09:18 Advice For Aspiring Leaders01:12:38 Final Thanks And Wrap

In the debut episode of On The Pulse, host Ricky Burns sits down with Fabrice Khullar, a product leader who has spent over two decades at the forefront of digital transformation for some of the UK’s most iconic brands. Currently the Director of Product, UX, and Optimisation at Boots UK, Fabrice’s career journey spans senior roles at Sky, Sainsbury’s, and Selfridges, offering a unique perspective on how product management shifts between pure tech and large scale retail. Fabrice pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to move from "delivery" to "discovery," how to handle the high pressure transition from individual contributor to leadership, and why the most important part of a product manager's role in the age of AI might be deciding what not to build. In this episode, we discuss:The Career Pivot: How Fabrice moved from journalism and project management into the early days of product development at Orange and Sky. Retail vs. Pure Tech: The fundamental differences in managing products when your "customers" are right in front of you on the shop floor. The Leadership Leap: Moving from leading a product to leading the people who lead products, and the "dirty word" every leader must master: politics. The AI Revolution: What "vibe coding" means for the future of engineering and how product teams can use AI to accelerate roadmaps without losing the human touch. Agentic Commerce: Why the future of shopping is about "stacking channels" and meeting the consumer in their increasingly messy, multitasking lives. Timestamps:00:00 - Introduction to On The Pulse  02:40 - Fabrice’s journey: From journalism to product management  07:08 - Disrupting the industry: Lessons from Sky and Now TV  11:49 - The unique challenges of product management in retail  15:51 - Why "technical debt" is actually a product strategy problem  22:22 - The transition into leadership: Moving from leading products to leading people  35:53 - AI, vibe coding, and the future of engineering  44:47 - The next decade of retail: Convenience, fragmentation, and agentic commerce  53:16 - Closing thoughts and where to connect with Fabrice  Connect with us:Host: Ricky Burns: https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardmarcburns/Guest: Fabrice Khullar: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabrice-khullar-4309153/Produced by: Pulse Group: https://pulserecruit.co.uk/Don't forget to subscribe to On The Pulse for more candid conversations with the leaders building the future of technology and product strategy.