Shows
alphalist.CTO Podcast - For CTOs and Technical Leaders#132 - Clarity Over Tooling: Velocity & Building Teams Without Drama with Loïc Houssier // CTO @ Superhuman MailFrom acquisition carve-outs to 100ms interaction rules: Engineering velocity through team clarity, not tool proliferation
Partner
TOPdesk: Discover the future of internal IT in the DACH region with the "Inside ITSM 2026" report – featuring exclusive data on AI, DEX, and collaboration from 6,000 IT professionals. Download the report here
Outline
How do you maintain execution velocity while building quality products? Loïc Houssier (CTO of Superhuman Mail, formerly Superhuman) offers a contrarian perspective: the answer isn't better tools or frameworks—it's radical clarity about team missions and strategic alignment.
With experience spanning French defense contractors (Orange, Thales), navig...
2025-11-2754 min
Dev InterruptedHow leaders win over their team’s biggest AI skeptics | Superhuman’s Loic HoussierForget top-down mandates. How do you foster organic AI adoption on a skeptical, high-performing engineering team? Loic Houssier, Head of Engineering at Superhuman, joins us to share how he did just that. He explains his strategy for overcoming cynicism, which involved leveraging a highly respected internal champion, the Chief Architect, to re-evaluate the tools and prove their potential was no longer just buzz.Discover his team's biggest, unexpected productivity gains: dramatically faster ramp-up times on new codebases and the rapid creation of valuable internal tools, rather than just raw code generation speed. Loic details Superhuman's pragmatic, high-trust...
2025-10-2846 min
The Stack Overflow PodcastThere is no golden path anymore: Engineering practices are being rewrittenIn this episode of Leaders of Code, Ben Matthews, Senior Director of Engineering at Stack Overflow, and Loïc Houssier, CTO at Superhuman, dive into how engineering teams can navigate paradigm shifts in a world of constant technological change. They discuss the importance of leadership in an ever-shifting industry and highlight the concept of aligned autonomy as a way to empower teams and increase organizational velocity.The conversation also covers:
The impact of AI on workflows and practices across the entire organization at Superhuman, including improving onboarding, helping employees streamline their work, and enabling teams to t...
2025-07-1036 min
Syntax - Tasty Web Development Treats918: Extreme Native Perf on the Web with SuperhumanWes and Scott talk with Loïc Houssier about how Superhuman builds lightning-fast, delightfully-designed email software. They dig into engineering philosophy, offline-first architecture, local databases, AI-powered productivity, and what it takes to create tools that people love.
Show Notes
00:00 Welcome to Syntax!
03:05 Inside Superhuman and Loïc’s role
06:49 Is Superhuman native? What’s the tech stack?
08:16 How Superhuman approaches product design and speed
12:17 Local-first architecture – Sync, storage, and performance
Realm
13:46 Vector search, AI, and privacy considerations
18:12 How the team ships fast and stays focused
21:27 Rethinking email for the future
26:54 Brought to you by Sentry.io
27:19 How cale...
2025-07-0948 min
The Engineering Leadership PodcastThe evolving velocity playbook, building product taste & exceptional product experiences in the AI era w/ Loïc Houssier #224Loïc Houssier (VP Engineering @ Superhuman) shares his evolving playbook for driving velocity in eng orgs today, building product-minded teams, and cultivating product taste. We cover leading culture / mindset transformation, creating exceptional product experiences, operational excellence when product quality is increasingly subjective. Plus the evolution of productivity tools!ABOUT LOÏC HOUSSIERLoïc Houssier is an engineering executive with 20 years of leadership experience spanning startups, scale-ups, and global enterprises. He specializes in helping high-growth companies scale with speed and discipline, combining technical depth with a strong operational mindset.He currently leads engineering at...
2025-06-1746 min
Practical AIEmailing like a superhumanLoïc Houssier, Head of Engineering at Superhuman, joins us to discuss how AI and LLMs are reshaping the email experience. He highlights challenges related to the variability of user prompts and infrastructure optimization. Loïc emphasizes that a deep focus on user experience and real human workflows is key to building AI tools people actually love to use.Featuring:Loïc Houssier – LinkedInChris Benson – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, XDaniel Whitenack – Website, GitHub, XLinks:SuperhumanReferral Code for a Free monthSponsors:Outshift by Cisco – AGNTCY is an open source collective building the Internet of...
2025-05-2047 min
The Tech TrekThe Journey Up The Management LadderThis episode features Loic Houssier, Senior VP of Engineering at Productboard, discussing the journey and challenges of transitioning from mid-level management to top-tier executive roles within an organization. It covers essential aspects such as the roles and responsibilities at different management levels, from manager to VP, and the crucial skills needed for advancement, including delegation, decision-making, and influencing across teams. Additionally, the talk delves into Productboard's mission and functionality, emphasizing its utility for product managers in streamlining customer feedback, prioritization, and integration with execution tools. The conversation also highlights personal growth strategies for managers aspiring to executive positions, the...
2024-04-1133 min
SimpleLeadership PodcastHow to Manage Efficiently Through a Merger or Acquisition with Loïc HoussierEffectively leading a team through an acquisition or merger can be shaky ground to navigate. You aren’t just dealing with merging teams, tech stack, and processes—but also a culture. Your team needs leadership that is open, honest, and transparent about the process. If your company is going through a merger or acquisition and you want to arm yourself with some tools to manage your team efficiently through the process, learn from the expertise of today’s guest, Loïc Houssier. In this episode of Simple Leadership, Loïc and I discuss what he’s learned about leadership, what his m...
2020-01-2745 min
Simple LeadershipPodcast – Simple LeadershipHow to Manage Efficiently Through a Merger or Acquisition with Loïc HoussierEffectively leading a team through an acquisition or merger can be shaky ground to navigate. You aren’t just dealing with merging teams, tech stack, and processes—but also a culture. Your team needs leadership that is open, honest, and transparent about the process. If your company is going through a merger or acquisition and you want […]
The post How to Manage Efficiently Through a Merger or Acquisition with Loïc Houssier appeared first on Simple Leadership.
2020-01-2645 minSimpleLeadershipHow to Manage Efficiently Through a Merger or Acquisition with Loïc HoussierEffectively leading a team through an acquisition or merger can be shaky ground to navigate. You aren’t just dealing with merging teams, tech stack, and processes—but also a culture. Your team needs leadership that is open, honest, and transparent about the process. If your company is going through a merger or acquisition and you want to arm yourself with some tools to manage your team efficiently through the process, learn from the expertise of today’s guest, Loïc Houssier. In this episode of Simple Leadership, Loïc and I discuss what he’s learned about leadership, what his m...
2020-01-2645 min