Micro-Interview: Radi Rangelov, Sr. Product Manager | HyperScience
💬 "Having a clear roadmap and prioritized projects is nice, but it's also very important to show flexibility in the face of adversity."
INTRO NOTE:
Radoslav Rangelov is a Senior Product Manager at Hyperscience, a technology company that develops intelligent automation solutions that merge artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and automation technologies to streamline increasingly complex processes and enable the operational agility and flexibility enterprises need.
In under 500 words, he shares:
How he got into product management…
How he starts his mornings for maximum productivity…
Some of his sources of learning…
And more…
Enjoy!
“How did you get into product management?”
I started my professional journey as a Data Engineer and had the opportunity to observe the inside cogs of a big corporate machine. While growing in my career, I’ve enjoyed the role of an Analytics Consultant, working closely with sales and supporting them during engineering discussions with clients. Understanding our customers' needs better helped me decide to continue my career as a product manager for the Advanced Analytics team.
I’ve also had the great opportunity to work with a very forward-looking mentor, who helped me develop my strong customer empathy and coached me on navigating the work with several engineering teams.
“How do you start your mornings at work?”
I’m more of a night owl, so nowadays, I really enjoy working for an international company headquartered in the US. That usually means having more morning time to catch up on documentation, analysis, and strategy, followed by packed afternoons and evenings to meet with stakeholders and lead clients.
“What do you know about product management now that you wish you’d known when you first started?”
Managing so many stakeholders at once can easily get to your head. You won’t and can’t make everyone happy all the time.
Having a clear roadmap and prioritized projects is nice, but it's also very important to show flexibility in the face of adversity.
In addition, customer empathy is probably the most important skill that a PM should develop.
“What did your biggest product failure teach you?”
Searching for the right design partner from your portfolio of clients is a crucial step in most product discovery. Your most vocal clients are not always your best design partners.
Another tip I can share is that having a good relationship of transparency and honesty with your engineering team is necessary for any PM wanting to deliver good products.
“What’s the #1 thing that has helped you shorten your product management learning curve?”
Being close to our customers and customer-facing teams (including Sales, AEs and Support).
As a PM, you cannot cover all the customer feedback by yourself, so you need to develop a special “ear” to listen to what different internal stakeholders have to share from their experiences.
Also, I was lucky to be appointed as the PM responsible for a completely new product launch in the AI/ML sphere. That meant going the whole mile, including, but not limited to, the initial market and competitor research, client interviews and product discovery, business case presentation in front of the C-suite, GTM, sales strategy development and enablement, marketing materials preparation, and product launch activities.
“How do you stay updated on the best practices in product management?”
Based on the nature of my day-to-day work, I need to be on top of all recent AI developments, so I’m subscribed to numerous blog posts, podcasts, and YouTube channels on this topic. Specifically for PM-related updates, forms, and best practices, I closely follow several PM professionals on LinkedIn, such as Paweł Huryn and his Product Compass newsletter.