EDITOR’S NOTE:
Kalina Carlow is a Sr. PM at Tesorio – a FinTech company that revolutionizes the way businesses work together to grow through connected finance. Tesorio’s Cash Flow Performance Platform replaces tedious and reactive cash flow forecasting and collections processes with accurate real-time predictions and actionable insights powered by AI and machine learning.
Kalina is based in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
In under 500 words, she shares:
How she got into product management…
How she starts her mornings for maximum productivity…
Some of her sources of learning…
And more…
Enjoy!

“How did you get into product management?”
I was a business analyst on the foreign exchange trading floor of a large US financial institution, supporting the product management team. The team was newly formed, and I had the opportunity to start helping them out. I immediately knew I wanted to do it. I loved the execution and collaboration side of being a PM. It was so rewarding to be faced with a problem, hear different stakeholders speak about it from their angles, iterate on а solution, and see it implemented and used by customers. It was and still feels like choreographing a dance performance.
“How do you start your mornings at work?”
Early, with a cup of hot coffee and my to-do list. My morning starts the day before. I write my 2-3 priority items as I am finishing my day and I start with those in the morning before I check Slack and email.
“What do you know about product management now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”
A big part of the job is problem management – production problems, customer problems, resource problems. I love putting out fires and managing issues, but sometimes it takes too much energy and time.
“What did your biggest product failure teach you?”
Building something new involves ambiguity and is uncomfortable. I try to ask as many questions as possible and get as much information as possible from the source – customers, engineers, and other stakeholders. It is a fine balance between analysis-paralysis and rushing so the OKRs are on track. It is a dance, but asking questions about what music I will be dancing to ahead of time has paid off.
“What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your product management learning curve?”
Collaborating with engineers. Marty Cagan has this right. Engineers are a very valuable resource, and every product manager should closely work with their engineering team to ideate and iterate while keeping them up to date on the strategy, and industry trends and share customer feedback.
“How do you stay updated on the best practices in product management?”
Primarily through LinkedIn and PM Podcasts, but also through online courses and my network.
Elena Verna, Pawel Huryn, and Shyvee Shi, to name a few, post insightful LinkedIn posts. My go-to Podcasts are Lenny’s podcast, Product Thinking, and The Product Podcast.
It is amazing how nowadays we can listen to a podcast interview of pretty much any successful PM or founder and learn from their experience. It is a great time to stay curious.