Staging environment

Vibecoding your first sales hire

Hosted by Ethan Cole, PhD and Dr. Marily Nika

Fri, Nov 21, 2025

8:00 PM UTC (1 hour)

Virtual (Zoom)

Free to join

70 students

Invite your network

Go deeper with a course

Featured in Lenny’s List
AI Product Management Bootcamp & Certification by AI Product Academy
Dr. Marily Nika
View syllabus

What you'll learn

Founder-led selling

Manual-First Rule: If you can’t close deals manually, automation just scales your mistakes faster.

AI as a force multiplier

Use AI in tools to build high-quality lists, personalize at scale, streamline follow-ups, and remove repetitive work

Quality control & consistency

You’ll learn how to monitor your pipeline, recognize red flags, and stay in control as you add leverage.

Why this topic matters

Early founders are the whole sales team & often try to automate too quickly, hire too soon, or guess their way through early sales = wasted time and zero pipeline.  We'll show you how to validate your sales motion manually, build a real system around it, and then add AI for leverage without risking quality or burning your market. You'll leave with a clear, low-risk blueprint you can execute asap.

You'll learn from

Ethan Cole, PhD

Dir. Growth, Distillery | TED AI Panels & Workshops Lead | Pres. LA PM Assc

Based in Los Angeles, Dr. Ethan Cole is a seasoned Product and Growth leader with 15+ years of experience building high-impact digital products across media, sports, and technology.


He currently serves as Director of Growth at Distillery, where he helps AI-enabled startups accelerate go-to-market velocity and scale from 0 to 1.


Ethan has led product launches at AT&T, NBCUniversal, and the NFL, delivering first-of-their-kind streaming, mobile, and connected TV experiences that reached millions of users. His work includes launching the NFL’s flagship mobile app and NBC’s Smart TV streaming platform, setting new standards in user experience and media technology.


He is also President of the Product Managers Association of Los Angeles (PMA.LA)—a 2,500+ member organization advancing the craft of product management—and Panels & Workshops Lead for TED AI, curating global conversations on how AI reshapes human creativity and work.


Ethan holds a PhD and is the founder and host of “Founders in LA,” a podcast spotlighting startup builders and product leaders redefining innovation in Los Angeles and beyond.

Dr. Marily Nika

Gen AI PM Lead @ Google | ex-Meta, Fellow @ Harvard | TED AI Speaker | 40u40

AI PM Newsletter (30k+)

🔗 LinkedIn (90k+)

❌ Twitter

🎥 YouTube channel

🤝 Coaching


Based in Silicon Valley, Dr. Marily Nika is an award-winning AI Product Management leader & one of the world's best AI educators, with 12+ years of experience at Google & Meta, with a PhD in Machine Learning. Featured in TechCrunch, executive Fellow at Harvard, TED AI Presenter.


Marily created the first (and best) AI Product Management Certification on Maven. Marily is also a keynote speaker (TED AI / 3 x TEDx) and has been recognized for her contributions in AI & tech several times: Amplitude most influencial product leader, medal of Outstanding Achievement, WISE Influence Award, 2020's Top 100 Women in tech, Emerging Leader Award, 2021's 40 under 40 list.


Marily is also an Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School where she teaches AI Product Management.


She has taught over 8k students on Maven and offers these courses:


✉️ maven@aiproduct.com

Reach out for corporate trainings and group/student discounts.

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