--- title: "Building AI That Matters: Meet Michael Kennedy" date: "2026-11-11T08:33:24" url: "https://www.godaddy.com/resources/news/building-ai-that-matters-meet-michael-kennedy" --- # Building AI That Matters: Meet Michael Kennedy **What first inspired you to pursue a career in Product Management, and how did your path lead you to GoDaddy?** My path into product management wasn’t perfectly planned. Working in Ad Operations at a startup, I partnered with product managers to balance revenue generation with user experience. I was drawn to their craft: navigating ambiguity, asking questions, and bringing teams together to solve customer problems. To me, product managers were Swiss Army knives—and I wanted to become one. In 2014, with equal parts excitement and trepidation, I made the move. By 2015, I was helping bring enterprise AI applications to market, long before today’s AI boom. The work offered endless opportunities to learn, but nothing was more satisfying than delivering products that made customers’ lives materially better. GoDaddy offered a chance to stretch that craft in a new direction. I could bring my experience building enterprise AI and machine learning products at startups to a much larger customer base—and shift from building for external customers to building for employees. GoDaddy bet on my ability to make that transition, trusting me to help build its internal AI and machine learning platforms and products. What drew me to the opportunity was the combination of scale and a new challenge. The people I was building for would change, but the motivation would remain the same: making their lives better through thoughtful products. ![](https://www.godaddy.com/resources/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Test2.jpg?size=1024x1024) **With many AI solutions emerging, how do you ensure our products stand out and deliver meaningful value?** I try to separate what’s impressive about AI from what’s useful to the customer. With new capabilities emerging constantly, it’s easy to chase the latest breakthrough. The more important question is: what problem does this solve for the person using it? At GoDaddy, that means staying focused on simplifying the entrepreneurial journey. Business metrics matter, but they shouldn’t replace understanding whether we’re making it easier for someone to start, run, or grow a business. Trust is embodied in our process as much as it is in our technology. Security reviews, testing, data protection, and safety controls are part of that commitment. Customers need products they can rely on, not just capabilities that look impressive in a demonstration. But trust alone isn’t the whole answer. We also need to understand whether the product makes a meaningful difference for the customer. That’s why we build measurement, experimentation, and customer feedback into our development process from the start. Together, they help us understand what’s working, where customers struggle, and what we need to improve to help them achieve their goals. I see customer value and business performance as mutually reinforcing. Solving meaningful problems and earning trust gives customers a reason to keep choosing us. The technology will keep changing; that principle won’t. ![](https://www.godaddy.com/resources/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Test4.jpg?size=1024x1024) **What recent project are you most proud of, and what impact has it had thus far?** I’m most proud of three connected products my team and I lead that help GoDaddy employees use AI in their daily work, give teams security-first access to models, and make AI costs more transparent. GoCaaS, our conversational and agentic AI platform, brings AI into tools employees already use, including Slack, Jira, and Confluence. It helps with tasks ranging from code collaboration to preparing presentations. Nearly 70% of GoDaddy’s workforce interacts with GoCaaS each month—a level of adoption I’m particularly proud of. GoCode provides a shared infrastructure for accessing AI models. It supports products including GoDaddy’s customer-facing Airo AI Builder, with safeguards designed to protect customer and employee data. It’s the less visible part of the portfolio, but a foundational one: connecting teams and products to the models they need. GoDash makes AI usage and spending visible to leaders, teams, and individuals. Using data from GoCode, it helps teams identify opportunities to manage costs while considering the quality their work requires. Together, these products address three practical questions: How can AI help me do my work? How can I access it securely? And how can I understand what I’m using and spending? What makes me proud is seeing AI become part of colleagues’ everyday work. The adoption is encouraging; however, the next measure of success is how meaningfully these tools improve that quality of work. **What advice would you give to aspiring product leaders who want to build a career in AI?** Jump on in—you don’t need to wait for an AI job title to start building a career in AI. Product management is fundamentally about solving meaningful customer problems, and AI is making it easier to turn an idea into something you can test. First, use AI yourself. Apply it to everyday tasks at work or at home, and pay attention to where it helps, where it falls short, and how much checking its output requires. Don’t just collect tools; build an understanding of what they can and cannot do. Second, start with a problem you understand. It doesn’t need to be large or audacious. Find something that frustrates you, then test whether AI can make it better. Build a small prototype, put it in someone’s hands, and ask whether it actually helped. For aspiring product leaders, the important skill isn’t simply knowing the latest models. It’s developing the judgment to decide when AI is useful, what risks need attention, and how to recognize a meaningful improvement for the customer. > The technology will keep changing. Stay curious, keep experimenting, and let customer needs—not the novelty of AI—guide what you build. That’s work you can begin long before your title catches up. ![](https://www.godaddy.com/resources/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Test7-1.jpg?size=1024x1024) **What do you enjoy doing outside of work?** Most of my time outside work revolves around my wife and our two young boys. Between school, sports, birthday parties, and the occasional family adventure, they keep us busy. Most days, I feel like a referee—which I’m told comes with the territory. They’re growing up quickly, and I’m trying to soak it all in. I also love cooking to decompress, although apparently I can’t leave product management entirely behind: there’s planning, timing, and getting dinner “shipped” before everyone gets too hungry. And, of course, customer feedback which at home can be pretty unfiltered. For exercise, I rotate between the Peloton, outdoor runs, and lifting at the gym. I enjoy photography—usually with the boys as my subjects—and growing fruit and vegetables in our garden during spring and summer. And if there’s any time left, I won’t turn down a good book or movie. ![](https://www.godaddy.com/resources/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Test3.jpg?size=1024x1024) --- Are you enjoying this series and want to know more about life at GoDaddy? Check out our GoDaddy Life social pages! Follow us to meet our team, learn more about our culture (Teams, ERGs, Locations), careers, and so much more. You’re more than just your day job, so come propel your career with us. - [Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/GoDaddyLife) - [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/godaddylife/) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/godaddylife) - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GoDaddyLife) - [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@godaddylife) - [Career Page](https://careers.godaddy/) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTyi8LvA4oc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTyi8LvA4oc)