5 Practical Tips to Acing the PM Career & Getting Ahead of AI with Aakash Gupta

Welcome to the latest issue of the Product Management Learning Series - a series of live streaming events and newsletter articles to help you level up your product career! 🚀

In our 43rd installment, our speaker was Aakash Gupta , a VP of Product Management at Apollo.io, a Series C SalesTech company. Aakash has 15 years of PM experience, including leadership roles at thredUP, Google, Epic Games, and Affirm. Aakash has consistently been ranked the #1 Product creator on LinkedIn and Twitter, with over 170K and 100K followers respectively. 

If you missed the event, you can watch the full event recording here.

Below are the main takeaways from the conversation I had with Aakash:

Adopt an “enterprise sales” approach to find a PM job in today’s competitive market.

Aakash urged product managers to stop the traditional resume-dropping method. Instead, leverage the enterprise sales approach of tailoring a personalized pitch for the company and role that aligns with your expertise. For example, if you have prior experience in customer support, then target PM roles related to customer support tools. Approach your job applications with intention. 

For cold outreach Aakash encouraged the use of LinkedIn. You should send connection requests to relevant individuals within your target companies with a personalized message. In the message express your interest in a role and request a 30-minute chat. Before the chat, create a work product about the company and the role then during the conversation impress the person with your enthusiasm and competence to secure a referral. He emphasized the importance of adopting a quality over volume approach to secure PM roles, especially during these challenging times. 

Product Managers are not mini-CEOs but require a CEO mentality to ensure end-to-end product success.

Aakash busted the myth that product managers are the CEO of the product; this idea has become widespread, attracting individuals from diverse backgrounds to pursue this role. However, he cautioned that product management is a challenging job demanding considerable dedication and accountability.

Unlike a CEO, product managers merely manage teams but they are responsible for guiding multiple groups without direct managerial authority. Product managers are held accountable for driving metrics and the overall success of the product, requiring the need for a CEO mentality.

As you climb the PM ladder, your approach to building influence shifts from team-level influence to strategic alignment with leadership. Delivering a consistent stream of new insights can help build your credibility as a new Product Leader.

Aakash highlighted the differences between being an individual product manager and a Product Leader, emphasizing the need for a shift in perspective and approach as one climbs the ladder. As an individual product manager, the primary challenge lies in gaining influence and collaboration from the engineering and design teams to deliver successful products. However, as a Product Leader, the focus shifts to gaining buy-in and alignment from the leadership team, including CEOs, CFOs, and heads of product.

In the initial days as a PM, Aakash advises to immediately contribute by unblocking work and delivering value. This could involve diving into bug bashes, analyzing experiment results, or sharing competitor insights. Building credibility takes time and requires consistently bringing new insights related to data or user research to the table during the first 90 days.

For those aspiring to be Product Leaders, Aakash emphasizes the importance of shifting from execution of individual features to execution of the company-level strategy. Product Leaders must be vocal and influential, actively communicating their vision and strategy to the wider organization.

To keep up with AI developments, integrate generative AI into product strategy and daily workflow and envision its potential to revolutionize core functions and streamline routine tasks for future success.

Aakash emphasized the significance of generative AI and advised fellow product managers to consider integrating its capabilities into existing products. He recommended product managers to envision how generative AI can reshape your core job to be done in the next five years, as conversational interfaces execute code and instructions and revolutionize app interactions.  He predicts that every successful company will adopt and integrate some level of generative AI. 

To stay at the forefront of generative AI, he recommended using generative AI frequently as part of your daily workflow. Explore it to write tasks, streamline documentation, and reduce time spent on routine tasks. 

Aakash suggested you actively embrace generative AI as an integral part of your product strategy and daily workflow. By envisioning the future possibilities, you can position yourself and your products for success in this new era.

Seeking AI insights from respected scientists and researchers, don’t just uncritically follow influencers and unverified AI platforms.

To stay informed and updated, Aakash pointed out seeking insights from actual AI scientists and researchers for the most accurate and valuable information. For those seeking credible content, he suggested following Dr. Jim Fan, a researcher at Nvidia, and Santiago(svpino) on Twitter. These individuals have a deep understanding of AI and can provide valuable insights from a scientific perspective.

Aakash cautioned against following news sources and AI influencers blindly. Many of them may suggest using certain AI tools or platforms that may not live up to their claims, resulting in disappointing experiences. Instead of relying solely on influencers, it's best to focus on experts and researchers who have a proven track record in the field.

Additional gems from Aakash:

💎 Substack, an online newsletters platform, is Aakash’s favorite product

🍒 James Reinhart, CEO of ThredUp, has the most influence in Aakash’s product career

🍪 Lenny's Newsletter, Productify, How They Grow, and Product Compass are newsletters Aakash recommends

📚Aakash recently released his book, The Ultimate Guide to Getting a PM Job

🎉 Special kudos to Niarcas Jeffrey for writing this article.

Next up, join us for an exciting talk with Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia , the founder and CEO of Product School . Carlos will share his experience starting and scaling Product School into the global leader in product management training, and offer valuable insights and advice for anyone looking to break into the industry. 👏

👉 RSVP here (Replay available upon registration)

Next up,

• Aug 18: Navigating Tech with Grace: Introverted Leadership & Navigating Politics
• Aug 25: Mastering B2B Product Strategy with Laura Marino
• Sep 8: Empowering Connections and Mentorship through ADPList with Felix Lee

More sessions coming… subscribe to stay tuned! 

Learn more about the Product Management Learning Series and view past recordings here.