Micro-Interview: Momchil Andreev, Director of Product
339 words.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Momchil Andreev is a Director of Product at OfficeRnD - a company that builds technologies to power the future of flex and hybrid work.
In under 500 words, he shares:
How he became a PM in a startup…
Some useful reads if you are just starting in product management…
What he learned from some of his biggest product failures…
And more…
Enjoy!
“How did you get into product management?”
A bit unintentionally, to be honest. I joined OfficeRnD as the first “businessperson” back in 2017, and as a very small startup (it was just 7 of us back then), everyone was in product one way or another. A year and a half later I realized that’s the part of my work that I enjoy the most, so I decided to focus 100% of my capacity on it.
“How do you start your mornings at work?”
Catching up with internal feedback channels, industry news, or any of the sources I follow on product. Just spending ~30 mins outside of the usual operational whirlwind.
“What do you know about product management now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”
Where to find the right resources, that can help you shorten your learning curve (outside of your friends in the industry). When you’re just starting in the domain it’s very hard to weed out the fluff from the useful stuff, so having a good source of learning that you can trust is important.
“What did your biggest product failure teach you?”
It will probably sound a bit cliche, but your initial assumptions on what problem you’re solving are usually wrong. Multiple factors influence the signals you’ll get from your customers, and unless you spend the time and effort to unpack it all until you’re sure you’ve nailed the problem, your solution will most probably lack any traction.
“What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your product management learning curve?”
To be honest, probably this community. I’ve known quite a few people from it for some time and they’ve always been there when I needed advice. But working on a well-established product also raises the stakes and puts you on alert for the decisions you make, which helps too.
Still, there are a few great books that were already mentioned here but I would recommend them to everyone just getting started:
● Inspired by Marty Cagan
● The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick
● The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
“How do you stay updated on the best practices in product management?”
By keeping an eye on the latest books in our industry or some good recommended short reads. I also joined Reforge earlier this year and recommend it as a source of good content. You’ve probably heard of Telerik Academy as well, and for good reason!