At the heart of every great product is a leader who understands the delicate balance between innovation, customer needs, and agile delivery. Jesus Cuadrado, Chief Product Officer at Xygeni, shares insights from his journey through the product world, from his early days at Telefónica to leading cutting-edge AI-driven solutions today.
From Legacy Telecom to Agile Cloud Innovation
Jesus began his career with a decade at Telefónica, one of Europe’s telecom giants. There, he led the development of pioneering digital products, including one of the first “over-the-top” cloud solutions in the company’s portfolio. Unlike traditional telecom services, this product was designed as a global digital offering, independent of the operator’s legacy infrastructure. It was a bold step toward embracing a digital-first mindset.
After Telefónica, Jesus moved to a company focused on transforming traditional solutions into cloud-based platforms, serving customers across Spain and Europe. This period deepened his experience with cloud agility and international product scaling, particularly aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.
His next chapter took him into the marketing automation space, where AI and data-driven personalization became central. Jesus worked on platforms designed to tailor customer experiences in real time across multiple channels, applying artificial intelligence to optimize content and offers dynamically. This blend of data, AI, and user-centric design laid the foundation for his product philosophy.
Early Lessons That Shape His Leadership Today
Reflecting on his early career, Jesus emphasizes the critical importance of customer feedback. “You cannot create a product in a lab or based solely on your own ideas,” he says. “Validation with customers must happen early and continuously, before investing time in building features.” For Jesus, understanding the real pain points and ensuring the entire user experience is aligned with customer expectations is fundamental to successful product management.
How Customer Feedback Drives Xygeni’s Product Direction
At Xygeni, Jesus and his team prioritize ongoing dialogue with a diverse range of customers:
- Prospective customers help uncover new use cases and gaps that the product can address.
- Newly onboarded customers provide feedback to refine and improve the onboarding experience.
- Long-term customers collaborate closely to identify pain points and ensure continued alignment with their evolving needs.
This multi-layered approach ensures the product not only meets but anticipates customer demands.
The Future of Product Security: AI and Beyond
Looking ahead, Jesus sees artificial intelligence as a game-changer for product security. AI enables teams to move faster and be more flexible while unlocking new capabilities that were previously impossible to automate or understand at scale.
“AI will help us do things quicker and better, adapting dynamically to customer needs and complex environments,” Jesus explains. He anticipates that AI-driven tools will increasingly support security managers and operational workflows, driving smarter, more proactive defense strategies.
What’s Next for Xygeni?
Exciting developments are already underway at Xygeni. Jesus shares that the company is enhancing its distribution capabilities and forming new strategic alliances. They are also building advanced solutions that integrate tightly with developer workflows and organizational security processes, empowering teams to embed security seamlessly as they build.
Advice for Aspiring Product Leaders
For those starting out, Jesus stresses the value of research, investigation, and customer validation early and often. “Once you have validated your ideas and are confident you’re delivering value, you can scale and adapt more freely,” he advises. He encourages new product managers to adopt an agile mindset, continuously learning and iterating based on real market feedback.
Jesus Cuadrado’s journey reflects the evolving landscape of product leadership, one where customer collaboration, agile delivery, and cutting-edge technology come together to build solutions that truly make a difference. At Xygeni, this philosophy is driving innovation that is shaping the future of secure, intelligent products.
