Disha Patel Is Writing the American Dream — with Courage, Craft, and a Product Roadmap

Disha Patel has built a career by defying expectations and redesigning the paths laid before her. From the factory floors of Indiana to the boardrooms of Silicon Valley, her journey reflects a rare blend of grit, intellectual agility, and a precise eye for products and systems—whether mechanical, economic, or technological.

Today, as Vice President of Product at Collective, Patel is building a category-leading AI-powered financial back office product for self-employed entrepreneurs. "Entrepreneurs want to focus on their passion and serve their clients, not their back office tasks and paperwork. This is where we come in," says Patel.

Collective's all-in-one financial solution integrates business formation, accounting, taxes, and payroll—saving customers time and money by replacing a myriad of software with just one. For Patel, this isn't just product development—it's a mission of enabling self-reliance in the digital age across the US—"small businesses have always been the backbone of America, it's an honor to be able to serve our small businesses and entrepreneurs with our product."

The Beginning of a Long, Varied Journey

At 17, Patel got on her first flight ever, bound for Purdue University, a metaphor that illustrates her passion for breaking barriers. At Purdue, she studied electrical engineering and economics, propelled by a belief in meritocracy and a personal drive that would define every stage of her career. Honors and leadership posts followed, as did a stint at Cornell, where she distinguished herself in the field of energy systems research.

Her early professional years took her to Cummins, the all-American engine-maker in the Midwest, where she worked on federally funded R&D projects. One day, she was side by side with PhDs in a research lab; the next, in steel-toe boots on a factory floor alongside union machinists. That dual fluency, analytical and operational, would become a signature trait.

Reinventor's Mindset

Unlike many peers with MBAs from Yale and consulting stints at BCG, Patel never viewed her resume as a ladder to climb but rather a map to redraw. Her next reinvention came at Intuit, where she helped evolve the QuickBooks ecosystem, leading initiatives like Auto Payroll and QuickBooks Online for Accountants. Her approach balanced aesthetic clarity with functional rigor, tools built not just to function, but to resonate with the people using them.

Later, at Cash App, she helped lead the company's investing product as it grew from five to fifteen million accounts. Under her leadership, products like peer-to-peer stock and bitcoin gifting and Round Ups were introduced—not just to simplify investing, but to reframe how Americans interact with money. "We weren't just launching new products," she says. "We were aiming to meaningfully change the paradigm and our customer's relationship with money."

Building for Builders

Patel's work at Collective represents the culmination of her belief that technology—especially AI—should serve and meaningfully make their customers' lives better. Rather than chase AI novelty, Patel and her team are focused on practical, transparent tools that help individuals start and sustain businesses. Think autonomous accounting, intelligent tax savings, and workflows that remove friction rather than create it.

"With AI-driven efficiencies, we are able to deliver financial services like Accounting, Taxes, and more at a fraction of the cost relative to what customers are paying today," Patel says. "It's absolutely transformative!"

A Leadership Philosophy Rooted in Empathy

Ask colleagues to describe her leadership style, and three words come up often: empathy, precision, and clarity. Whether working with engineers or executives, Patel emphasizes deep customer empathy, design thinking, and end-user impact. She leads with questions. She favors elegance over excess. And she brings discipline not just to what products do, but how they feel, and helps customers understand complex financial services.

Her career offers a blueprint for those looking to navigate an increasingly fragmented economy. She has taken the immigrant arc of aspiration and infused it with modern tools and a relentless focus on reinvention. The American Dream, in Patel's world, isn't a destination—it's a product you design, iterate, and keep shipping.