Lucas Longacre
Head of Product at Inlightened
15+ years building products, from technical direction and video production to leading AI-powered product teams. Right now I design product architecture and build with Claude Code, pairing AI-assisted development with hands-on system design.
About
I'm a Head of Product who specializes in turning complex AI systems into clear, practical products people love.
With 15+ years spanning software, media tech, healthcare, and immersive experiences, I've built a career around simplifying complexity. My work sits at the intersection of AI, UX, and engineering, where clarity and execution matter most.
I combine deep technical fluency (Claude, OpenAI, Vertex, Pinecone, GCP, MySQL/MongoDB, Python/JS) with systems thinking and calm, intentional product leadership. I partner closely with engineers and designers to ship features that are grounded in real user behavior, not hype.
What I care about
- Practical, responsible AI that solves real user problems
- Solutions that are safe and respect user privacy and data
- Clear product strategy and crisp communication
- Useful, ethical systems thinking
- High-velocity experimentation
- Building products teams trust and users value
Skills
AI / LLM
Backend & Data
Cloud
Product & PM
Languages
Experience
- Jun 2024 – Present
Head of Product · Inlightened
- Lead AI/LLM-driven product development for a healthcare expert-network platform.
- Design product architecture and pair with the engineering team using AI-assisted development (Claude Code).
- Feb 2022 – Present (part-time since Jun 2024)
Founder · Mebot AI Corp
- Built and continue to operate an AI product studio — the experience that led directly to the Inlightened role.
- Crafted go-to-market and product strategy; led global dev/design teams from concept to delivery.
- Jun 2021 – Feb 2022
Technical Director · Zero Point Reality
- Produced and directed a VR flagship experience for AT&T in downtown San Francisco.
- Built the production workflow used to deliver optimized VR video across headsets and streaming.
- Jun 2015 – May 2021
Video Producer & Technical Lead · The Original Fare LLC
- Directed a 30-minute episodic show for overseas cable distribution end to end.
- Repurposed content across cable, social, and streaming; managed all media processing and archiving.
Education
- B.A. Media Studies — SUNY at Buffalo
- Certificate, Full Stack Development — UT Austin
Case Study
Inlightened
getinlightened.com →I joined Inlightened when the platform was still an early-stage MVP. Since then I've led it through a stability rebuild, a 10x growth phase, the platform's first AI feature, and now the product integration of our parent company's 1M+ expert panel.
- 2024
Rebuilt the foundation
Inherited an early-stage MVP and led the platform rebuild for stability at scale — fixing systemic backend performance issues, closing payment-integrity gaps, and shipping an end-to-end Sales → Concierge → Invoice project lifecycle that replaced a manual, multi-tool workflow.
- 2025
Built the growth engine
Grew the expert panel 10x by building bulk-import tooling, a self-serve referral program, and a streamlined onboarding and signup flow.
- Early 2026
Shipped AI and verified trust
Launched Inlightened's first AI feature — a Natural Language Query interface letting non-technical staff query platform data in plain English — and began building verified-credential infrastructure (clinical credential data plus government ID and biometric identity verification) to replace self-reported profile data with real-time, source-of-truth verification.
- Mid 2026
Leading the parent-company integration
Leading product integration of Jackson Healthcare / LocumTenens.com's 1M+ expert panel following the parent-company acquisition — designing the account-migration flow that lets experts bring their existing profile, history, and credentials into Inlightened with zero duplicate accounts.
- Now / What's next
Feasibility Calculator & Provider Search
Built a Feasibility Calculator and Provider Search that run on live platform data instead of estimates, giving real-time visibility into whether a project is achievable before it's launched. In beta with internal teams this quarter, rolling out to customers next.
Shipped through a recurring "State of the Product" release cadence — bi-weekly to monthly, scaling to quarterly for larger releases — that keeps Sales, Concierge, Admin, and Marketing aligned on what shipped, what's changing, and what's next.
Signal & Noise: Executive Voices
All episodes →I host conversations with product and AI leaders about what it actually takes to build.
Structure the Ambiguity: Product, AI, and the Real Work of Building
with Zach GrumetHow product leaders "own the mess" — turning vague signals into structured problems, and how AI-assisted prototyping is compressing product timelines.
Beyond the Stack
with Viktor WilliamsonA conversation on what actually matters beyond your tech stack when building AI products.
Dispatch from AICon USA
Field notes and takeaways from AICon USA 2026.
Writing
How Inlightened Leverages AI (Responsibly)
How Inlightened uses AI with clear boundaries and minimal data exposure — natural-language search, profile enhancement, and quality audits that keep a human in the loop.
The Best of Both Worlds: Why LLMs Don’t Need Your Data to Be Powerful
There’s No Dropdown for This: Why We Needed a Different Approach to Search
Movie theaters are dead! Long live movie theaters!
