Anna Barto

Anna Barto

Product Manager · Content, Media & AI

Ex-Google & YouTube. I do my best work where there's no playbook.

Worked with

Case Studies

Selected work in strategy, discovery, experimentation, and 0→1 building.

Building 0→1 Products (Moniify)

Building 0→1 Products (Moniify)

Product Strategy Early-Stage

Built 3 products from zero and led 20+ hybrid team in a next-gen business media startup. Each product addressed a distinct audience and market opportunity.

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Custom Airtable App (Moniify)

Custom Airtable App (Moniify)

Workflow Automation Internal Tools

Designed a low-code Airtable app that automated 10K+ annual handoffs across 700+ video workflows, connecting internal teams and agencies in real time.

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AI Dubbing Experiment (Google)

AI Dubbing Experiment (Google)

AI Experimentation Accessibility

Led Google's early AI-dubbing experiment for developer content, testing multilingual synthetic audio using Universal Translator. AI dubbing achieved 3× higher adoption than subtitles.

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Developer Audience Insights Study (Google)

Developer Audience Insights Study (Google)

User Research Data-Informed Strategy

Designed and ran a 387-response user study (≈95% confidence for 210k UMV), revealing audience needs that doubled reach and boosted engagement 20%.

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Cross-Platform Delivery & Discoverability (Google)

Cross-Platform Delivery & Discoverability (Google)

Platform Constraints Product Discoverability

Built the delivery and discovery system for Google's Search Off the Record podcast. Discoverability experiments drove 146% and 247% increases in downloads.

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Creator Crowdfunding Product Discovery (YouTube)

Creator Crowdfunding Product Discovery (YouTube)

Creator Monetization Product Discovery

Led a hypothesis-driven discovery on creator crowdfunding, combining SQL data mining with global market research.

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AI Builds

Selected projects in RAG, LLM pipelines, and AI-assisted development.

Personal AI DJ

RAG Data Enrichment

YouTube Music has no AI DJ feature, so I built one. It enriches songs with mood descriptions via GPT, web search, and Last.fm, stores embeddings in Supabase, and retrieves matches from natural language queries.

AutoFlow

Two-Call LLM Pipeline Prompt Design

Automation tools have an onboarding blank canvas problem. AutoFlow addresses it with a two-call LLM pipeline: a classifier validates input, then a generator suggests personalised workflows based on role and tasks.

annabarto.com

AI-Assisted Dev

An experiment in using AI tools across an entire full-stack website build. Wireframe with ChatGPT, interface design in Magic Patterns, code and testing with Claude Code, deployment via GitHub Actions.

Writing

My thoughts on product, media, AI, and the things I'm curious about.

Featured

How I Built This Site Using AI

What worked, what broke, and what I didn't expect. A detailed exploration of building this portfolio site using AI tools across the full process.

I Built an AI Onboarding Prototype. One LLM Call Wasn't Enough.

A PM's build log for an LLM-powered onboarding prototype: why a single call wasn't enough, and what it took — prompt iteration, input design, and a two-call architecture — to get output worth trusting.

I Don't Use Spotify. So I Built My Own AI DJ.

Spotify launched Prompted Playlists. I don't use Spotify. So I built one for YouTube Music instead. A build log covering missing APIs, LLMs that don't know obscure music, and the enrichment cost that nearly derailed the whole thing.

6 Levers to Bring Down the Cost of Running an AI Product

Tokens in, tokens out, you pay for both. Here are six concrete levers — from prompt caching to model routing — to cut the cost of running an LLM-powered product without sacrificing quality.

When Creative Work Is Product Work

A producer's path to product management, exploring how creative production and PM share the same core loop: understand, design, ship, learn, and iterate.

It Looks Like ChatGPT Learned to Count. It Didn't.

LLMs seem much better at counting, but the real story is the shift toward hybrid, tool-augmented AI systems that delegate computational tasks strategically.

How Does a 'Normal' Company Actually Implement Generative AI?

Exploring how MLOps platforms like Vertex AI bridge the gap between theory and implementation, enabling ordinary businesses to operationalize generative AI.

AI Disruption Risk Framework

A practical framework for evaluating organizational AI vulnerability, emphasizing that successful AI strategy requires understanding where disruption threatens your competitive position.

Some of my essays are also published on Medium.

Capabilities

A snapshot of the product skills and experience I bring to teams turning ideas into real products.

Product Strategy & Discovery
Product Strategy & Execution, Hypothesis-Driven Discovery, User & Market Research, Experimentation
AI & 0→1 Building
AI Strategy & Prototyping, Applied AI Architecture, 0→1 Product Building, AI-Assisted Development
Media & Growth
Creator Ecosystems & Monetization, Content & Media Platforms, Growth Strategy, Go-to-Market Strategy
Leadership & Execution
Cross-Functional Leadership, Prioritization & Trade-offs, Data Analysis & Basic SQL, Agile (Scrum)
AI Prototyping & Dev
Claude Code, Lovable, Magic Patterns, Streamlit
APIs & Backend
OpenAI API, Supabase (pgvector), GitHub Actions
AI Assistants
NotebookLM, Perplexity, ChatGPT
Data Analysis
SQL (PLX)
Automation & Collaboration
Relay.app, Airtable, Notion, Miro, Asana
Analytics & Performance
Google Analytics, PostHog, YouTube Analytics, Optimizely
Bug Tracking & Documentation
Buganizer, g3doc, Google Sites
Design & Digital Assets
Adobe Suite (Basic), Canva, Artlist, Frame.io, Iconik.io
Content & Media Systems
YouTube CMS, Content ID
YearJob TitleOrganization
2025-PresentIndependent Consultant, Product & MediaIndependent · Clients incl. askshannon.ai & hgs Consultants
2025Acting Executive Producer (parental leave cover)Google Developer Product Marketing (contracted via Randstad Digital Switzerland)
2024-2025Product LeadMoniify
2018-2024Senior Producer, Media Innovation & ResearchGoogle Developer Media Lab (contracted via Advanced Systems Group)
2016-2017Founding Team (Pre-Launch)Lafluence
2014-2017Strategic Partner ManagerYouTube
2014Project Manager, TransmediaTransform@lab
2011-2014Audience & Media Strategist, Digital AdvertisingGoogle
YearCertification / CourseProvider
2026CAS in Applied Machine Learning & Information Processing (one-semester program; admitted, starts Sept 2026)ETH Zürich
2025AI Strategy (4-week program)Reforge
2025AI Productivity for Product Managers (4-week program)Reforge
2025Mastering Product Analytics (4-week program)Reforge
2025Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO®)Scrum Alliance
2023Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality (2-month program)MIT xPRO
2022Change: How to Turn Uncertainty into OpportunityFranklin Covey
2021The 6 Critical Practices for Leading a TeamFranklin Covey
YearDegreeUniversity
2008-2011BSc: Business, Language & Culture (research-based degree taught in English & Spanish)Copenhagen Business School (Denmark)
🇬🇧 English
C2
🇨🇿 Czech
C2
🇪🇸 Spanish
B2
🇩🇪 German
B2

Testimonials

Feedback from my former colleagues, managers, and team members I led.

"Anna is the ultimate professional and lifts every team she's in! We had a brilliant run launching Moniify at breakneck speeds."

Mohamad Zaoud

Co-Founder & Director at Benchmark Capital (former CPO at Moniify)

"Anna is thoughtful, thorough, and an exceptional manager. She spots opportunities quickly and builds the strongest possible outcome. I still model my management style after hers."

Becca Loman

Product Graphics Producer, Apple (former Google Developer Media Lab)

"Anna combines analytical rigor with rare self-direction. She taught herself SQL to fill a critical data gap and delivered insights that shaped our strategy."

Andre Nogueira

Head of Affiliate Operations, TikTok (former YouTube)

Let's work together.

If you're hiring for a product role or need help with strategy or execution on a project, I'm happy to explore whether we're a good fit.