Four product experts from the startup scene share insights about how to be an effective product manager. Natty Zola, Managing Director for TechStars Boulder Eric Carlson, Director of Product at Kapost Dan Podsedly, VP and General Manager of Pivotal Tracker Jared Polivka, Chief Evangelist at Galvanize

1. Denver Startup Week
Product Panel 2015

2. Eric Carlson
Director of Product at
Kapost
@manlybean
Natty Zola
Managing Director for
Techstars Boulder
@NattyZ
Dan Podsedly
VP and General Manager of
Pivotal Tracker
@danpodsedly
Meet Your Panelists
Jared Polivka
(Moderator)
Chief Evangelist at
Galvanize
@jaredpolivka

3. Eric Carlson
Director of Product at Kapost
Eric Carlson has a background in human factors, machine learning, and software
development. He's been in product management for 10 years. He's also worked as a
software engineer and had a dark but mercifully brief stint in project management.
Eric has worked on a wide variety of products, from platforms for collaborative
marketing campaign planning to mobile apps for organizing disaster relief efforts.
When he's not working he can be found climbing or hacking on some iOS or Arduino
project.

4. Eric’s Product Specialty
My speciality is understanding users. How people behave and how people “think”
they behave are very different things. Designing solutions that work well in the real
world requires designing for users' actual behavior, which you can only learn by
studying users both in data and in person.
Eric’s Path to Becoming a PM
Part purposeful, part luck. I've always been more interested in what to build rather
than how to build it. I initially worked as a software engineer but found implementing
others' vision unsatisfying. Then I lucked into a spot with a great small company in
Boston, Charles River Analytics, that has really loose job roles. Everyone there is
free to gravitate to the part of the work that interests them. There I moved from
writing software to studying users, designing solutions, and guiding development. I
kind of woke up one day and found that I had become a product manager.
Eric’s Favorite Aspect of PMing
The process of understanding user needs. The real world is fascinating when you
look closely enough.

5. Natty Zola
Managing Director for Techstars Boulder
Previously, Natty was Head of Consumer Products for MapQuest, where he helped
MapQuest return to profitability and year-over-year growth for the first time since
2007.
Before MapQuest, he was a founder of Everlater.com, a travel blogging platform and
CRM system for tour operators, that participated in Techstars in 2009 and was
acquired by AOL in 2012. He also graduated from GE's Financial Management
Program and worked with Jim Collins on the best selling books "Great by Choice"
and "How the Mighty Fall."
Natty is passionate about helping startups find product market fit, accelerate their
growth, and develop company culture. His hobbies include mountain biking, reading
business books, testing new apps, anything design related and gardening. He
welcomed his first son into the world in May.

6. Natty’s Product Specialty
Product strategy, prioritization, design, UX, analytics, go-to-market and customer
research. Agile, SCRUM, lean methodologies. Culture.
Natty’s Path to Becoming a PM
Founder of a startup that was acquired. Did product, front end engineering, design
and ux at the startup (in addition to many other roles). Via the acquisition, ended up
as a PM at Mapquest.
Natty’s Favorite Aspect of PMing
The problem solving involved: understanding a complex problem space that involves
business opportunities, user behavior, and technical possibilities and finding a
solution.

7. Dan Podsedly
VP and General Manager of Pivotal Tracker
Dan Podsedly is a Pivotal Labs VP and the General Manager of Pivotal Tracker, the
popular project collaboration tool for modern agile teams. Dan has been with Pivotal
Labs since their nascent days in the mid-2000s, and has experience in every aspect
of software development, including engineering, product management, and UX
design (though his utility on this last point is up for debate).

8. Dan’s Product Specialty
Product management, engineering process, herder of all things.
Dan’s Path to Becoming a PM
Developer -> Engagement Manager -> Product Manager
Dan’s Favorite Aspect of PMing
No dull moments. It's choose your own adventure and you get to use a ton of
different skills. Being in the middle of everything. Coordinating among stakeholders.
Seeing a team come together and build something that solves a problem and users
want. Building and shipping things that make people's lives at least a tiny bit easier
and more enjoyable, in a sustainable way.

9. Jared Polivka (Moderator)
Chief Evangelist at Galvanize
Startups, storytelling and fitness; these are a few of Jared's favorite things. Before
donning the Evangelist hat, Jared served as Director of Product at Kapost (where he
learned a ton from Eric Carlson and Mike Lewis); he also had a brief stint as a
Marketing Manager at Uber.
When he's not working, Jared can be found playing speed chess in the park, doing
brazilian jiuj-jitsu, reading or hiking.

10. Jared’s Product Specialty
Understanding users; user research (surveys, qualitative Interviews, usability testing,
AB testing, etc.). Hypothesis creation and testing. Prioritization. Agile / SCRUM.
Jared’s Path to Becoming a PM
Founder (I wore many hats, including web dev) => Director of Growth at Rafflecopter
=> Marketing Manager at Uber => PM at Kapost => Evangelist at Galvanize
Jared’s Favorite Aspect of PMing
The process of understanding users’ problems and motivations; then designing
solutions for them. Creative problem solving in iterative loops is addicting.

11. Softball question, what does being a
Product Manager mean to you?

12. What is your team structure / composition?

13. What is your management method?
Is it a flavor of agile or something else?
Walk me through the flow of your ideal iteration.

14. How do you organize your research
for product planning?

15. What techniques do you use for
understanding users?

16. How do you approach hypothesis,
creation and testing?

17. How do you build data collection into your products?
How do you decide what data is important to collect
and analyze?

18. How do you prioritize your roadmap and decide what to
build next?

19. How do you decide when to kill a feature or re-
implement?

20. How do you deal with roadmap interruptions and
prioritize unexpected work?

21. How do you work with stakeholders and give other
teams visibility into product? Any tips for cross team
collaboration?

22. How do you foster culture on your team
(and across teams) and keep morale high?

23. How did you get into Product Management and what
advice (or resources) do you have for the would be
PM’s in the audience?

24. Question Time
Additional product questions?
Fill out this form:
https://galvanizeforms.typeform.com/to/pvSwgI

25. Thank you!
A writeup of this panel and all slides are available at
galvanize.com/blog.