Kunal Thadani loves good food – and a good problem to solve. Outside of work, he’s an influencer who serves up photos of great food with a side of puns. And as a group product manager, Kunal applies the art of asking questions with the science of using data to solve problems to deliver a set of new features that excite our users and help grow our home professional community.

How did you find Houzz?
I had been using it! My now-wife and I had just moved into a new apartment, and I was looking for inspiration on how to furnish and design our extra rooms.

When I was looking for a new challenge, I knew I wanted to be in a role that had a high degree of ownership and was data-driven, and very user focused. My previous experience was in the dating space, and a lot of what we focused on – how to connect two parties, how to bring a level of trust and security to the conversation, how to create a match and take it to the next level – exists at Houzz, too. 

What is the best part about working at Houzz?
After leaving my last company, I wanted to be part of a larger product organization where people could learn from each other and come up with the best solutions. But I also valued being able to work with autonomy, ownership and the ability to move really quickly. 

My current group – Houzz Pro Growth – has the best of both worlds: It operates like a startup within a larger company, and our team members have a lot of autonomy and ownership. You can really make an impact, as if you were at a smaller startup, but you also have the resources of a larger company, which is exciting. 

What are you most proud of working on here?
One of the most exciting things is how we continue to evolve ways to personalize the platform in order to deliver the best possible experience for our community. We’re taking a deep look at the user journey and analyzing who our professionals are and their intention for subscribing. We’re able to customize the journey from their first landing to their onboarding experience through their continued use of the software.

What’s a lesson you learned early in your career that you still go back to today?
In management consulting, you switch projects every three or four months and are solving different problems. Initially, I struggled with how to come up with a creative solution to something I knew nothing about – and becoming comfortable with ambiguity. 

A lesson I learned early on was the importance of asking questions when learning a new space, a new industry, a new problem statement. Make a list and find the right people you need to speak with to get the answers. Only then will you have the power and the knowledge to make the right decisions on how to approach a problem or implement a solution moving forward. I carried that over joining Houzz.

What makes Houzz unique from your perspective?
Because of the complexity of our business, there are different types of challenges and opportunities. Do you want to solve e-commerce problems on the Marketplace team? Do you want to focus on our massive community on the consumer side? Do you want to work with all sizes of businesses and learn about their intentions on the business-to-business side? Regardless of who you are and what you do, there’s a problem statement to be solved!

What advice would you give a new Houzzer?
I would ask my manager for the 10 to 15 people I’d be working with most closely, and create a list of questions to understand what piece of the puzzle they own and how you’d work together. At the end of the day, the relationships you form will help you and your greater team make a bigger impact at Houzz.

How have you used Houzz?
Yes! As I mentioned, when we moved into our condo, we created an ideabook of images and furniture as inspiration for our new rooms. We bought a few things from the Houzz Shop, and a year later, it’s looking exactly like our vision!

If you’re interested in joining our team, we’re hiring! Check out available opportunities at houzz.com/jobs.