Beyond the Product: What We Brought Back from Product at Heart

June 25–27, 2025 — Hamburg 

When two MB.ioneers head to one of Europe’s leading product conferences, you can bet they’ll return with more than just a few bullet points, pictures and lots of insights. This year, Inês Fonseca and Ricardo Matos attended Product at Heart and came back with new perspectives, deeper questions, and a renewed sense of purpose. 

Because at the heart of building great products… is heart. 

What stuck and made them pause 

Not every takeaway comes in the shape of a method or a framework. Sometimes, it’s a shift in mindset, the kind that lingers long after the slides are over.  

For both Inês and Ricardo, that shift came through one simple but powerful concept: Curation. 

“Select what’s valuable to your purpose. Do it with intent. Just like with everything else we have in our lives,” said Inês, reflecting on a session that reframed product work through the lens of intentional choice.  

Ricardo was equally moved, pointing to Tim Leberecht’s talk on Curation as one of the most inspiring moments of the conference*: “We’re all curators because we all make choices and those choices can inspire the people around us.”* 

The message went far beyond product. It was about how we show up as individuals, as leaders, as teams.  

Data isn’t enough, the story is what lands 

The Product at Heart stage made one thing clear: raw data alone doesn’t change minds. It’s the story behind the numbers that creates understanding. 

For Inês, the session on Data Storytelling by Andrey Vinitsky stood out as a powerful reminder: “We need to truly dig and understand the audience’s context so we can reach them and make them care.” That means adapting the message, designing for empathy, and choosing the right visuals to turn insight into impact. 

Ricardo expanded on that idea with a reminder that good design starts with clarity: “A great graph can focus everyone’s attention on the message the numbers are trying to tell. That’s when things really click.” 

When building products means building meaning 

What makes a product meaningful? The talks didn’t offer one perfect answer, but they helped shape a better question. 

Inês walked away with a clear takeaway: meaning happens when a product connects with the user. That connection can come through quality, ease of use, or just a beautifully enhanced experience. 

For Ricardo, it came down to curiosity and creativity. “The product must solve a problem. But even more important is how you solve it and how it resonates with users.” 

AI isn’t the future, it’s already here 

No conversation about product in 2025 is complete without Artificial Intelligence (AI). And at Product at Heart, that theme was loud and clear: AI isn’t coming, it’s already deeply embedded and it’s shaping the future of businesses and teams right now. 

Ricardo described it as a wake-up call: “It was impressive to see how far AI has gotten already and how deeply it will shape the way businesses operate going forward.” 

But the most powerful mindset shift came not from fear or urgency, but from a reframe. 

As Inês put it: “We need to work with AI as a tool that elevates us, not competes with us. One line that stuck with me was: ‘Make AI your intern, not your competition.” 

The growing role of AI in product work isn’t about replacement, it’s about amplification. It’s not there to compete, but to complement. If used intentionally, AI can support product teams by clearing space for what truly matters: critical thinking, creativity, and human connection. The goal isn’t to outsource our brains, but to elevate our impact. 

From tooling and team structures to strategy and communication, AI is already rewriting the rules. But as the conference reminded them: the mindset we bring to it is what will define its impact.

A few reminders they’re bringing back to the tribe 

• Curiosity > Comparison
  : Ricardo warned against what 
  Afonso Malo
   called in one of his talks “
  Instagramification
  ” — the industry trend of constantly comparing ourselves to others. The real focus, he noted, should be on what’s right for your team, your context, your users. 
• Visuals matter
  : A powerful chart can say more than a 20-slide deck. 
  Design your data like you design your product: with clarity, intention, and empathy.
   
• Make it human
  : Whether it’s storytelling or feature prioritisation, empathy isn’t a buzzword. It’s what makes the difference between a product that works and a product that sticks. 

After Product at Heart… 

“Building products means being part of something bigger than you. It means building with purpose, empathy, and connection.” — Inês 

“Building products means being curious and addressing real-life challenges to make people’s lives easier.” — Ricardo 

Inês and Ricardo didn’t just bring back notes, they brought back renewed conviction in what great product work looks like. 

It’s not always about bigger frameworks or newer tools. Sometimes, it’s about returning to the fundamentals: Listen more. Design with heart. Choose with purpose. Make space for the human, even in the age of AI.  

That’s how you build something that lasts.