A product series with Aakash Gupta

On today's episode, I spoke with a seasoned product manager. He has spent 15 years in Product Management. He started as a junior IC and ended as a VP of Product at Apollo.io , the unicorn Sales SaaS startup.

He has worked with brands like Affirm , Epic Games , ThredUp Rap to Beats and Scoutforce Werving & Selectie

Before we dive in, This is an appreciation and gratitude post to Aakash Gupta I truly appreciate your time and i am sure my reader would too. So thank you once again.

Let's meet him, shall we ?

NB: In this newsletter, you will come across acronyms like PM, PMing and other terminologies which would be used interchangeably in this article. They mean Product Manger and Product management.

Appreciate the way product is done at your company, and do your best at it. - ?Aakash Gupta

• Can we meet you ?? Please state your name?

???????Aakash Gupta

• How long have you been a? PM and where do you work at the moment as a PM ??

I spent 15 years in Product Management. I started as a junior IC and ended as a VP of Product at Apollo.io , the unicorn Sales SaaS startup.

• ?On a scale of 1-5 how much do you love your job ?? And why do you love it so much?

5 - I love product management. I fell in love with it when I realized how much impact you can have. Product changes can fundamentally change the trajectory of a company. That’s very hard to do in other roles!?

• So people say there’s money in Tech is it true ? Does that translate to Product management??

Yes, absolutely.?

Tech pays as well as finance and consulting. And Product Mangers are the second highest paid tech role after engineering.?

At the top end of the PM market in the US, Directors earn over $2M per year.? In markets like India, CPOs earn over 2 crore INR.?

The point is: at the top end, product leaders earn as much as any other profession (law, consulting, medicine, etc.) It’s a very lucrative profession.?

• ?What is one thing you don’t like about being a PM ?

I think one of the hardest things for PMs is the burnout.?

To really succeed in this job, it generally feels like you need to work much more than 40 hours per week. Between the stakeholder meetings, development meetings, discovery meetings, and all the rest, it’s hard to find any time for your own individual work products. As a result, so many PMs end up doing that individual work (PRDs , FRWs , and the rest) in the evenings and on the weekends.?

The end result of all that work, after years, tends to be burnout. Indeed, if you talk to your average 40 year-old PM, you’ll often hear talk of potentially “aging out” of the career. It’s just that demanding.?

So it’s not that I don’t like it. But it is something I hope to change by helping change the culture around product, and giving people the tools to manage it.?

• ?Will you pick being a PM to other professions ??

For me, it’s between PM and founder . Now, I’m a founder again. I had been a founder before .?

But if I’m not a founder, I would definitely go back to Product Management. Outside of just the impact, it’s the functional area where I’ve demonstrated expertise. So I’ll stay in it. That’s where I can earn the most.?

To go to any other function, I’d be sacrificing too much compensation. And I’d make less impact, too. I know how to PM.?

• As a PM? how do you manage time?

I go by the research .

I use weekly and daily time block planning. This allows me to actually estimate what time I’ll spend on things, so that I get to things and can make accurate trade-off decisions.

As an example, I’ve found that email and slack often takes up 2-3 hours of my day. Instead of just hoping for that time, I actually time block it in so I can make good prioritization decisions with my remaining time.?

The other big thing I do is use the LNO framework . I identify all the work that is leveraged, neutral, and overhead. Then I do a great job on leveraged work, okay job on neutral work, and just passably do overhead.?

Those two techniques put together are the key pillars of my own personal time management strategies.?

• ?What can someone who wants to pivot into PMing do with no experience

I’ve written a whole deep dive on this. But the short of it is:

1. If you’re in college, try to break into an APM program.
2. If you’re already working, trying to transfer internally.

Those are going to be your best two routes. Then, you can work on specific strategies to do each of those.?

To break into APM:

• Major in CS
• Do a lot of hackathons
• Do product work with your friends
• Get PM internships at least twice in college

To transfer internally:

• Work with the PM team on projects
• Express the intent to them and your boss
• Demonstrate impact on product
• Follow up on your ask

On top of all that, there’s lots of tips like building side projects and subscribing to newsletters. You can find all of those in my post.?

• What’s your advice for new PM’s starting out

My most important advice is to rock it in your existing work. Don’t read “Inspired” and start trying to transform your company. That’s a sure-fire path to an early exit.

Appreciate the way product is done at your company, and do your best at it.

One specific thing you must do is establish peer relationships with other PMs so they can give you intel and advice. Keep chatting with them. Read their documents. Learn from them.?

That way you can succeed in YOUR environment, not the one in the books.?

• ?What do you do outside of work? Hobbies or activities?

My favorite hobby is rock climbing. I’ve climbed on 6 continents rocks outdoors. My favorite destination is definitely Kalymnos Island in Greece. It’s wonderful.?

I am so grateful for your time Aakash Gupta , it really means alot to me and my audience. I hope someone reading this would be prepared for what to come. Thank you!

So if you are pivoting to tech and want to make a difference then join our community. If you are new to product management and looking to accelerate your career in tech? Join our growing community on Telegram, "All Things Product" (https://lnkd.in/eQjtJjEJ ), to connect with experienced professionals, gain valuable insights, and access top-notch resources!

Stay tuned till next time as we feature more existing personalities who are building amazing products and doing their best work changing lives one product at a time.