I never thought I’d be a product manager in Silicon Valley. In fact, a few years ago I didn’t know what a product manager was. I don’t have a degree in Computer Science, and I did not go to an Ivy League school. I do have a background in design, but that’s always an awkward conversation because I’m color blind. Yet, I’ve now worked at several venture-backed startups in a product role, and invest in startups and technology companies myself.
How I fell in love with computers
I began to love the internet from a young age. Like many kids, I discovered computer video games in the late 90s and was instantly addicted. One day, I wanted to build a website for my gaming group. The rest is history. I began to teach myself website design and development, and eventually became proficient enough to charge customers to build websites and apps. I turned this into a business, and used the proceeds to finance my college tuition and even to buy my dream car at the time.
I built websites for myself about the topics I was passionate about while I attended middle school through college. I did not know it at the time, but I was learning how to be a product manager. Each community I built, I learned a little bit about monetization, sales, marketing, support, analytics, and more. Some of these projects were acquired, while others were shut down. What I really wanted to do, however, was to work on a platform product. At the time, Uber was just beginning to take off, and Airbnb had just started. I was hungry and wanted to build scalable products.
In 2012, I was a business student at Florida State University (FSU). My final semester, I connected with the founders of SendHub, a startup that had just been accepted into Y Combinator. I offered one semester of my design and product services to them for free in exchange for elective credits as part of my Entrepreneurship Consulting class at FSU. They accepted the offer.
Breaking Into Silicon Valley
Working for SendHub while it was going through Y Combinator in Winter 2012 was like getting a semester-long MBA. While juggling a full load of courses at University, I did anything and everything I could to prove to the founders that I would be a value-add for the team. I worked on product design, brochures and stationary, viral ad campaigns, video production and more. It’s difficult for anyone to get a job in Silicon Valley, but as someone from a non-traditional background without having many of the common pre-requisites to my name, I had a chip on my shoulder. If you know you should be building startups but are undiscovered, you must go out of your way to become discovered.
One of the most interesting things about startups is that you win by hiring undiscovered talent.
Equally difficult and fulfilling.
— Ryan Delk (@delk) February 9, 2017
SendHub Founding Team
During those few months, we were heads down trying to grow the company to prepare for demo day. Demo day is the culmination of the YC program, where entrepreneurs present their startup to investors and, with a bit of luck, close their first round of funding. After demo day, SendHub raised $2M from Silicon Valley investors to build out its’ product and hire the team. The founders of SendHub offered me a job and I accepted it immediately. Two hours after my last final exam at FSU, I was on a one way flight to San Francisco with only my backpack and a laptop.
SendHub was my first introduction to venture-backed startups and the product management and marketing roles. We were growing incredibly fast, and at startups often times you need to do much more than your title would suggest. While I joined SendHub as a designer, I was able to transition into a product role under the mentorship of our Head of Product. Similar to how I learned design, I would spend countless hours reading about product, listening to podcasts and interviews, and learning by doing. My mentor encouraged me to learn fast, knowing that I would make mistakes but that I would learn from failure. In time I would go on to become the Head of Mobile at SendHub, managing our iOS, Android and Amazon apps. Barely less than 4 years after I began working with SendHub while in University, the company was acquired.
One of my mentors, a former tech CEO that took his company public once told me “Get a job cleaning the bathrooms in Silicon Valley if you have to”. I was now there.
Breaking Into Product
Product Management is a relatively new field, and there are not as many resources available for learning as exist for other disciplines. Despite this, I have spent the past several years reading, watching and listening to as much as I can on product. I have had the privilege of working with and meeting some of the best product managers in the world. What I’ve learned is that while it is difficult to break into product and everyone has their own inspiring story of overcoming obstacles, most will admit that learning product is an endless journey. In product, you learn, you adapt, or you die.
Companies around the world are hiring product people, yet there’s a huge information gap on what it takes to break into the role. Most people don’t know where to begin. For example:
Today I spoke with 11 people from around the world.
Most common question: “How do I get into product management?”
— Ryan Hoover ✌️? (@rrhoover) December 28, 2016
Break Into Product will help facilitate this by:
- Interviewing people who have successfully broken into product – veterans and newcomers alike
- Curating and creating how-to guides and resources that address the most common questions, interviews, and more
- Building a community around product mentorship and inclusion