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While Product Management in Tech is a highly sought after function today, transitioning to Product Management without prior experience can be daunting. In this discussion, we talk to Anubhav Mangal, a Product Manager with AWS, Amazon, on how he switched from a role in Corporate Strategy at Cisco to Product Management at Amazon.

Anubhav has an undergrad in Metallurgical Engineering from IIT Bombay, and MBA from Chicago Booth. He was a consultant with McKinsey for a few years before joining Cisco.

Things we cover:

Why he decided to transition to Product Management

Examples of challenges he faced when recruiting

How he overcame these challenges

His advice for candidates who're interested in Product Management

Excerpt: "Getting my resume shortlisted without prior product management experience was definitely the biggest challenge. I definitely leaned into my Booth and McKinsey network to help me make connections. And even if you cannot find someone who can refer you, do not hesitate from cold mailing people on LinkedIn."

Thank you for listening!

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Link to written interview with Anubhav: https://www.learneducatediscover.com/consulting-to-product-management

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Fabiola Cazares, Sales Manager at fintech startup Affirm, describes what it was like to transition from an Individual Contributor to Manager role.

In this conversation, Fabiola touches upon:

1. Why Fabiola decided to move from an IC to Manager role

2. What Fabiola found challenging about this transition

3. Unexpected aspects of being in a manager vs IC role

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Fabiola Cazares, Sales Manager at Affirm, describes in detail what working in Sales is like. Affirm is a series E FinTech company, co-founded by Max Levchin (of the PayPal fame).

Fabiola has a Bachelor of Arts from UC Berkeley, and has been with Affirm for close to 4 years.

In this episode, you'll hear Fabiola talk about:

1. Difference between Sales and Business Development

2. Role of a Business Development Associate or Sales Rep vs an Account Executive

3. How sales reps source deals

4. Day to day of a sales rep

5. Measuring success in Sales

6. Interesting parts of the role

7. What someone might not like about Sales - there's a lot of rejection and down periods when no one responds positively to your outreach

8. Common misconceptions about Sales

9. Examples of questions to ask when interviewing for sales roles to understand the culture better

Thank you for listening!

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Excerpts from Clay Christensen's address to his students at Harvard Business School, titled "How will you measure your life?". Clayton Christensen is best known as the author of "The Innovator's Dilemma" and his theory of "Disruptive Innovation".Follow the show on Twitter @LED_Curator

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Tracey Pavlishin, Director of Global Internal Communications and Alumni Engagement at A.T. Kearney, shares a detailed account of working in Alumni Relations. Tracey has over 10 years of experience in this space. She has an MBA from Chicago Booth School of Business.

Some of the areas that Tracey touches upon include:

1. What got Tracey interested in working in Alumni Relations

2. Examples of projects Tracey works on

3. How someone in Alumni Relations defines success

4. Why organizations invest in Alumni Relations

5. The kind of exit paths Alumni Relations opens up

6. Interesting and not-so-interesting aspects of the job

7. Resources for interested candidates

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Happy New Year 2019!

Book mentioned in this episode: So Good They Can't Ignore You, by Cal Newport

Link to support the show: https://www.learneducatediscover.com/

Nitin Julka, Group Product Manager @LinkedIn, describes how he went about getting his first PM job, and was able to get one in just 5 weeks.

Here are some things that Nitin talks about in this episode:

1. How Nitin prioritized getting meetings in the beginning, as opposed to getting a job

2. How Nitin got these meetings - from introductions, to cold mails, to even trying LinkedIn ads!

3. How he chose which companies to apply to

4. What worked for him during the job search process and what didn't

5. Advice for aspiring candidates

Ntin has also written a post on this topic: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20141004134541-9712645-how-i-got-my-first-valley-based-product-management-job-in-5-weeks/

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Nereyda Espraza, Customer Success Manager at Amazon (Amazon Business), shares her insights on what working as a Customer Success Manager is like. CSM is a relatively new but up and coming function, found in a lot of tech companies today.

Nereyda has a BA in Latin American Studies from Smith College, and M.Phil from University of Oxford.

Some of the areas that Nereyda touches upon in this episode include:

1. Nereyda's background and career path

2. What is customer success management

3. Difference between customer success management and account management

4. How customer success is a relatively new role in tech

6. Example of a project Nereyda worked on as a CSM, and examples of activities Nereyda undertook on the project

7. Skills you need to do well in this function

8. Advice for interested candidates and recommended resources

Thank you for listening!!

Follow the show on Twitter @LED_Curator

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Jordan Kong, Director of Business Operations and Board Observer at FoodTech startup Ando, talks about what working in Business Operations is like.

Some of the areas that Jordan touches upon in this episode include:

1. What's a venture studio (eg: Expa) and how it's great for people who want to work at a startup but dont have an idea

2. What does someone in Biz Ops do

3. Examples of projects someone in Biz Ops may work on

4. How this can be a highly cross-functional role and requires working with teams across the organization

5. How this is a data heavy role

6. How this role can take on either a strategic finance bent or an operations bent

7. How Biz Ops can be similar to an internal consulting role at times

8. Interesting and challenging aspects of the job

9. How this is a relatively new function and so the career path is not very clear

10. How to assess the importance of the function on the outside/while recruiting

11. Qualities in someone who would enjoy this job

12. How to stand out in a cold mail

13. Recruiting and interviewing tips for interested candidates

Thank you for listening!!

Follow the show on Twitter @LED_Curator

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Nkem Nwankwo, Senior Product Manager at BetterCloud, describes what he does to excel as a Product Manager. Nkem has over 5 years of experience as a PM. His educational background consists of a B.S. in Computer Science from Georgia Tech and MBA from Ross School of Business.

Some of the areas that Nkem touches upon include:

1. What Nkem focuses on - Ruthless prioritization, Time Management, Stakeholder management, Personal management

2. For prioritization, Nkem uses a whiteboard that forces him to focus on only the most important items each day

3. How he comes to office 3 hours before everyone else to get work done

4. How he does not go for meetings unless explicitly asked to

5. How having an understanding of the informal networks in your organization can really help get things done - since a lot of this job requires influencing people

6. Communication - bad news should flow faster in an organization than good news

7. Staying up to date with the industry and exposing himself to new ideas through reading and listening to podcasts

8. Mistakes Nkem sees business school candidates make when recruiting for PM roles

9. How you can add value in a variety of ways as a PM - being technical is not necessary. Eg: You can excel at communication and a thorough understanding of the user.

Thank you for listening!!

Follow the show on Twitter @LED_Curator

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Email us at hello@learneducatediscover. We will reply!!

Subscribe to the show on iTunes itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/learn…ver/id1049159321