Product Mayday — It’s time to give (your experience) back

All views, opinions and statements are my own.

The year of 2020 will never be forgotten.

You and I are part of the history books and we’re yet to see how these chapters end. One thing we know is that regardless of race, gender, nationality, and social status, billions of people are impacted in similar ways: remembering how the world was before COVID-19, acknowledging how hard it is to adjust to the “new normal,” and living in the middle of a lot of uncertainty about the future.

Dealing with that rollercoaster is something that we’re all learning “on the job,” and I don’t know about you, but along the way, I find myself dealing with feelings of incredible gratitude and even “unworthiness.”

In the middle of one the biggest public health, economic, political, and societal crisis of our history, it can feel uncomfortable to have a house, a job, a loving family, a safe city to live in, and grocery delivered to my footsteps within a few taps on an iPhone running on high-speed Internet. The world out there is everything but that. This is the 1% exception, not the 99% rule, and it’s a call to action for everyone to roll up their sleeves, be part of the solution, and help – we can’t just lean back and pretend the world is same!

How can you and I help? Gosh…in so many ways: work with a nonprofit, support a cause, donate money, post positive and constructive content, start a business focused on (truly) critical challenges, call someone, help your neighbor, say a prayer or send good thoughts, etc.

Yes to all of that and one more thing…enter (drum roll) Product Mayday, an old idea that now comes to life with a fancy name.

What if you, my fellow Product Manager, had the ability to reach out to people around the world and connect 1–1 with someone that will listen to what you have to say, talk it through with you, and discuss new approaches based on his or her experience…all within the click of a button? What if the systems and algorithms were so smart that you were certain that whoever showed up on the other side would be best match for you?

Bonus points for the ability to connect with people from different fields, cultures, geographies, etc., which is part of a personal charter of mine on fighting insularity. Here’s an example that comes to my mind.

Imagine that you are bootstrapping a new FinTech start-up focused on the underserved and unbanked in the United States (or Europe, South America, Asia) and have the ability to pick the brain and learn from the co-founders of M-Pesa in Kenya. Don’t know what M-Pesa is? Well, that’s exactly what I’m talking about…the world is bigger than the FAANG’s, my friend. Alternatively, you can go on and continue limiting your world by just reading TechCrunch articles and trying to replicate the steps of Mr. Zuckerberg or Twitter and Square’s Jack Dorsey; good news for you is that you may still succeed, depending on your definition of success in life.

Along those lines, I can’t help thinking of a recent interview I listened to with Jennifer Tejada, CEO at PagerDuty. For me, an important takeaway from that interview is that people don’t invest enough time learning and preparing themselves to the “next level” while on their current job. Trying to sell more and better? Tap into the best person you know that kicks a#$ at selling. Thinking of how to better organize your team? Reach out to that one person that org-designs better than anyone else. Working on a pitch deck? Learn from many co-founders that iterated one hundred times on materials for presentations with VCs. You got the gist.

That’s the grand vision. I hope you are excited and open-minded enough to accept the barebones MVP and immediate call to action to help others learn and grow…well, that’s me :)

Starting this week, I’m “giving back” my experience to the world by dedicating 10% of my workweek to a couple of 30min 1–1 sessions with fellow or aspiring Product Managers that believe that I can be of any help based on my most recent and past experience. I’ll also put myself on the learning seat and connect with amazing Product Managers, founders, and entrepreneurs, and publish summarized versions of my conversations as Medium posts.

By now, you may have questions, so here are some FAQ’s:

Why? For those that know me, coaching and blogging are big passions of mine, part of a broader aspiration framed as “positively impacting billions of lives by championing, mentoring, and investing in dreamers and makers around the world.” Also, I wouldn’t be where I am at in my life today without coaching and mentoring from people that truly believed in me. Product Mayday is just one possible How on giving back my experience and helping others succeed.

How does it work? If you read my post Product Rumble: Part II (Ninja Moves), you’ll see section on how to make time for what’s really important. There’s just one way: the calendar — what gets scheduled, gets done, what doesn’t... I’m publishing a work-in-progress calendar that can be used for people to find time and request a session. For more information, visit Product Mayday on LinkedIn or fill out your Product Mayday 1–1 meeting request on Calendly.

Will it (actually) work? That’s a great question. Not in a hurry to “go from zero to one or one to a million” (by Peter Thiel), just interested in trying someone new and helping others learn and grow. That’s a selfish move too, since some of my best learning experiences came from simply active listening to others, processing what I had heard, and articulating my point of view in a way someone could understand. Of course, expanding my network by meeting with new and awesome people is definitely another win.

How will this grow 1–2 years from now? Another great question. A blog, a podcast, an app, a VC firm focused on early-stage start-ups…this can go in many directions, including not working at all, but as a start-up of one, there’s a lot of flexibility to pivot overnight and learn a lot during the journey. As Arthur Ashe once said: “success is a journey, not a destination, the doing is often more important than the outcome.”

That’s it for now and looking forward to connecting!

Cheers, Romulo