TiE Women Founders Master the Art of Product Storytelling with Surbhi Kaul
The TiE Women Program – TiE Silicon Valley continued its masterclass series with an engaging and highly interactive session, “Product Storytelling for Tech Startups,” led by Surbhi Kaul, Vice President of Product Management, AI & CX at Cisco.
Drawing from nearly three decades of product leadership across Cisco, Google, Juniper, and YouTube, Surbhi shared practical strategies for helping founders transform complex products into compelling stories that resonate with customers and investors alike. From launching AI-powered products to leading teams behind Google Home and Google Assistant, she brought a wealth of real-world experience to the conversation.
Unlike a traditional lecture, the masterclass was designed to be highly interactive. Founders participated in breakout rooms where they practiced introducing their startups, exchanged feedback with one another, and refined their messaging before returning to the larger group for discussion. The collaborative format created an environment where participants learned not only from Surbhi, but also from fellow women founders building companies across a wide range of industries.
One of the central themes of the session was that great products don’t sell themselves—great stories do.
Surbhi encouraged founders to shift their mindset from describing product features to communicating customer value. Rather than explaining what a product does, founders should focus on the problem they solve, the customer they serve, and why their solution matters. She reminded participants that customers don’t buy technology—they buy outcomes.
Using examples from her experience at Google, Surbhi explained how deep customer research led her team to discover that the ideal users of Google Home were not early technology adopters as originally expected, but busy young families looking for simpler ways to manage everyday life. That insight fundamentally changed how the product was positioned and marketed, demonstrating the importance of understanding the true customer before crafting a story.
Throughout the session, founders actively explored questions around messaging, differentiation, AI, fundraising, and competing against established players. Surbhi emphasized that even in crowded markets, startups can win by identifying gaps left by incumbents and building a clear value proposition around unmet customer needs. She illustrated this with examples from Google Chromecast, Amazon Fire Stick, and Uber, showing how successful companies differentiate themselves by solving problems in more meaningful ways.
Another powerful takeaway centered on simplifying complexity. As technical founders, many entrepreneurs naturally want to explain every feature of their product. Surbhi challenged participants to do the opposite: hide the complexity and make the value obvious. Whether speaking to investors, customers, or partners, she encouraged founders to communicate in a way that is simple, memorable, and customer-centric.
The discussion generated thoughtful participation from the cohort, with founders sharing their own perspectives on why storytelling matters. Many highlighted that authentic storytelling builds empathy, creates emotional connections, and helps both customers and investors understand not only what a startup is building, but why it exists.
As the session concluded, Surbhi left founders with one final challenge that perfectly summarized the day’s lessons:
“If your product did not exist, what would your users miss the most?”
It is a simple question—but one that every founder should be able to answer. By focusing on that answer, startups can craft stronger value propositions, more compelling pitches, and products that truly resonate with the people they serve.
We extend our sincere thanks to Surbhi Kaul for generously sharing her expertise, practical frameworks, and inspiring stories with our founders. Her masterclass equipped participants with actionable tools they can immediately apply as they continue building, pitching, and growing their companies.
The TiE Women Program – TiE Silicon Valley continues to empower women entrepreneurs through world-class masterclasses, one-on-one mentoring, and a collaborative community designed to help founders accelerate their entrepreneurial journey.
