#3: Kevin Lee - Founder of Product Manager HQ where he teaches people how to become PMs.
Kevin Lee is dedicated to teaching people the fundamentals of product management through Product Manager HQ and also currently works in Venture Capital at FundersClub. Before becoming a Founder, he previously worked in Product at AltSchool and as a Senior Product Manager at Kabam, where he worked on products through all lifecycles in San Francisco, Vancouver, and Beijing to help grow one of the company’s products to become the third largest revenue generating products in the company portfolio.
Key Points:
Align your career with your personality type. Especially, when you find yourself questioning the role you’re currently doing, try to take a step back. Figure out your personality type and align it with your career.
There are many ways to break into any industry. Talk to the influencers. Get to know more about this industry. Network. Make yourself the product. Figure out your users’ needs and make sure you bring value to the table.
Once you’ve figured out a pain point within your industry, write about it and start blogging. Then make sure you create a community so people can still talk to each other right after reading your content.
SHOW NOTES (FOCUS ON THE STEPPING STONES):
[1:11] Kevin’s background
[1:52] His passion for education
[3:04] Kevin shares the story of “the river of drowning babies”
[6:14] Kevin’s big turning point
[7:07] Where to start looking for resources about Product Management:
Quora (a Q&A website answered by some high profile people) as his primary source
Books: Cracking the PM Interview, The Mom Test
[10:22] Getting his first job as a product manager: Kevin landed a PM job at Kabam, a mobile gaming company.
[11:19] Strategies to break into an industry you’re interested in
[12:45] What is Product Management?
[13:28] How product management in gaming differs from that of other industries
[17:39] Dealing with frustrations as a PM
[18:52] Why Product Management HQ was created
[20:21] Building the Community
[27:37] Do your Due Diligence – How to position yourself for an associate product management role at a startup
[32:12] Transitioning into a PM role within your organization
[33:26] The Lightning Round
1. Imagine if you were dropped in a new city, you had to start all over again and you only had $100, what would you do and what would be the first steps you would take to get yourself back to the point you’re at?
Kevin: Go to coworking spaces, hang out, use that $100 to buy a seat, and milk that for a month.
2. When you were dealing with any frustrations on your first projects, did you listen to any music or videos or something that inspired you to overcome whatever situations?
Kevin takes inspiration from his parents who were immigrants from Taiwan and coming to America with literally nothing and couldn’t speak English but worked so hard to provide for their family; so if they have done it, so could he. Never forget your roots. Never forget your family.
3. What is one piece of advice you would want someone to know who’s about to start on this journey?
Figure out your personality type (Take tests like the Myers-Briggs test or the Enneagram test) and be able to align that with your career.
4. What is one thing that you fundamentally believed in before that you changed your mind on after this process?
Kevin: Make yourself a product. These days, having that piece of paper from the university is no longer as relevant as what it used to be. It’s really important that you start to brand yourself. Make yourself a product because that’s what’s going to last forever.
5. What are you planning on doing next? What are you trying to do for the future?
It’s in Kevin’s blood to want to be helping entrepreneurs, helping founders, helping people. So he is going to try his hand at venture capital and work with great founders and support them in any way possible.
