Google Search Vice President of Product Robby Stein will explain how decision-making processes change for products that reach billions of users during the session titled “From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change at Scale” at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The event, which will be held at Moscone West in San Francisco on 13-15 October, will bring together 10,000+ entrepreneurs, investors and technology executives.
The session on the Builders Stage will examine the balance between speed and trust, innovation and reliability, and the transition from a minimum viable product to large-scale platforms. Rather than encouraging founders to copy Google’s processes, Stein aims to help them assess when speed provides an advantage, when greater caution is needed and how development methods should change as a product grows.
Before Google, Stein founded and ran the social recommendation startup Stamped, which was later acquired by Yahoo. After leading consumer products at Instagram for five years, Stein contributed to the development and scaling of Stories, Feed, Direct Messaging and Reels, along with their teams. Before returning to Google in 2024, he served as head of product at Artifact, an AI-powered news feed.
Today, Stein works on generative AI products and experiences within Google Search, pursuing efforts that combine new technologies with the ways people access information. Google reported that monthly users surpassed 1 billion one year after AI Mode was launched in May. Stein also shared updates enabling users to transition from AI Overview to an ongoing conversation in AI Mode.
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will feature 250+ speakers and 200+ sessions. The event will also include six industry stages, roundtable discussions, working sessions, Expo Hall, Startup Battlefield and networking opportunities. Attendees can save up to $200 by registering before September 25; an additional 30% discount will be offered for groups of four or more. The second ticket can be purchased at 50% off.
Why it matters
The core value of the discussion is that it illustrates the difference between a small product team developing an idea that works and managing a platform used by billions of people. This framework raises the question of which decisions need to be reconsidered as a company scales, for entrepreneurs as well as product teams and technology executives. Stein’s experience at Stamped, Instagram, Artifact and Google Search provides a backdrop showing that the balance between speed, reliability and user needs does not remain the same at different stages of growth. The scale of users reached by Google’s generative AI features leaves open the question of how accuracy and trust will be preserved while innovating in tools for accessing information.
Background
Google is not a new name in the FikirPilot archive: in the past 90 days, we have published 88 news stories mentioning the name; the latest is dated October 3, 2026.