As I was writing my 2025 reflection post I realized that almost everything I accomplished last year had a seed or spark in January. So I’m starting 2026 hosting three free sessions that cover current areas of interest to get the momentum going:

1. Jan 22: How to get noticed by PM hiring managers in 2026

2. Jan 27: How to interview product managers for AI fluency

3. Jan 29: What senior product people should know about fractional work

Here’s a bit more information about each and why I’m excited 👇

At the bottom of the post I’ll also share some recent content favorites.

BTW… want to stop typing so much? My favorite voice-to-text dictation app is Willow. It’s faster and better formatted than any of the other Mac apps I’ve tried. You can sign up with my referral code BEREZ64 (auto-applied here).

To support my work, check out the links on my site at www.benerez.com.

How to get noticed by PM hiring managers in 2026

Thursday, Jan 22, 2026 2pm Eastern

RSVP here - recording sent after even if you can’t join live

Hilary Gridley and Nickey Skarstad are two incredible product leaders who have been deeply involved in hiring at WHOOP and Duolingo over the last few years. They’re both extremely hands-on with AI, which has influenced how they think about hiring PMs moving forward. They also talk to a lot of other hiring managers at top companies, giving them a unique POV into the hiring side of the market.

The session aims to help the audience:

• Understand why old PM job search playbooks no longer work. Resumes, generic DMs, and surface-level signals fail in today’s market so see what hiring managers respond to instead.

• See what “real signal” looks like to hiring managers in 2026. How product leaders interpret proof of work, including building in public, shipping, and demonstrating strong judgment.

• Learn what actually cuts through the noise to get noticed. Examples of referral asks, cold outreach, and proactive work that earned attention, and why most attempts get ignored.

Why this topic matters

The PM hiring market in 2026 will be more competitive than ever. Candidates are sending more applications than ever and hearing nothing back, while hiring managers are flooded with resumes but still struggling to find the right signal. This session breaks down how the hiring bar has quietly shifted and what actually helps PMs stand out today, long before the onsite interview.

How to interview product managers for AI fluency

Tuesday, Jan 27, 2026 1pm Eastern

RSVP here - recording sent after even if you can’t join live

I hosted a session a couple months ago with my friends Tal Raviv and Aman Khan (Unpacking Meta’s new “Product Sense with AI” interview) and we had a blast doing it. We’re all getting our hands dirty with AI and developing our intuition around how the craft of PM is evolving given these new capabilities, and we believe PM interviews are due for a major refresh to account for the changing expectations.

The session aims to help the audience:

• Define your evaluation rubric. Differentiate between building products with AI and building AI products (and why each requires different evaluation).

• Structure your PM interview loop. Map the most critical AI fluency dimensions in the rubric to behavioral, case, and take-home interviews.

• Reduce false positives in interviews. Identify common failure modes in PM interviews and redesign or remove evaluations that don’t produce useful signals.

Why this topic matters

Every company will want to hire AI-native PMs in 2026. But most PM hiring managers have never been through interviews that gauge their experience building products with AI or building AI products, thus don’t have a clear mental model for evaluating these areas. Instead of running the old interview playbook, this session will help you design PM interviews for the AI era.

What senior product people should know about fractional work

Thursday, Jan 29, 2026 2pm Eastern

RSVP here - recording sent after even if you can’t join live

My last full time role was as the head of product at Continuum, a Series A startup building a marketplace for fractional executives. While we weren’t able to crack the demand side of the marketplace in a venture-backed scale, we had insane PMF on the supply (talent) side of the marketplace.

This gave me essentially unlimited access to world-class senior talent doing fractional work either instead of, or in addition to, their full time job. I spoke 1:1 with dozens of fractional leaders about what’s working and not working, which felt like hard-earned secret knowledge.

I’ve kept those conversations in mind as a solopreneur over the last two years, while allowing my own experiences to shape my views about fractional work. I’ve been finding myself repeating a lot of the same advice to people reaching out to me so figured it’s time to share more widely.

The session aims to help the audience:

• Design fractional work around your life. Learn how to start with your time, energy, and income needs, then design fractional work that fits them.

• Position yourself narrowly without boxing yourself in. Learn why specificity drives referrals and how to pick one clear positioning that still leaves room to evolve.

• Build a sustainable fractional portfolio. Learn how to combine advisory, part-time, and interim work to avoid income volatility and burnout.

Why this topic matters

Full-time work no longer offers the stability it once did. Layoffs and reorganizations have made even strong roles feel fragile. Fractional work offers a new way to build security through multiple clients and income streams. This lesson shares practical frameworks for designing fractional work intentionally, so it creates resilience and control instead of stress.

Content Recommendations

Supra Insider

I co-host the Supra Insider podcast and want to share a couple of our top episodes from 2025:

• #80: Becoming an IC again is how products leaders will stay relevant in the AI era | Gokul Rajaram (Investor and Company Helper; ex-Google, ex-Facebook)

• #89: The hidden role of rituals in Duolingo’s product culture | Nickey Skarstad (Director of Product @ Duolingo, ex-Airbnb, Etsy)

The Skip series on PM career frameworks for AI

I love ‘s breakdown of how product leaders should be thinking about their career in the age of AI. I listened to both Part 1 and part 2 over the holiday break and am excited for part 3 coming soon.

Live in NYC

We took Gaia to see Mozart’s Magic Flute at the Met Opera over the break, which was my first time at the opera. I learned that it’s a Singspiel, a popular opera form that included both singing and spoken dialogue. So good.

Carole and I took advantage of her mom visiting us and also snuck out to the Broadway run of Oedipus, starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. We all knew where it was going but the acting was superb so we were invested. It was superb.

TV

I’m a big fan of Better Call Saul so when I saw Vince Gilligan teaming up with Rhea Seehorn for a sci fi Apple TV, I couldn’t wait. Pluribus delivered. It’s slow but so good.

I’m almost done with the last season of Stranger Things and am really enjoying it.

Film

Carole and I saw Marty Supreme in the theater over the holidays and it was fantastic. Same director as Uncut Gems so if you want to feel tight for 2 hours, this is for you.

We also watched Frozen 2 with Gaia over the break which is surprisingly dark. We liked it.

Books

Currently reading book 5 of the Malazan series, Midnight Tides. When I want to switch it up a bit, I’m also reading Ikigai.

I recently got into both Project Hail Mary (which he loved) and Hyperion if you’re looking for sci fi recs.

Music in the background while working

Found a YouTube channel I love with live daytime sets for deep house, which is extremely enjoyable to have in the background while working.