Sanjeev NC - Product Manager SuperOps.ai, ex- Freshworks

I'm a product manager with a background in sales, support and marketing. I am now a product manager at SuperOps.ai, an IT SaaS company based out of Chennai, India. I'm a generalist at heart who staunchly believes that you must expose yourself to multiple career paths before you decide on what's right for you. I also describe my niche as Business Humor and share funny videos and memes on my social media. I find too many people giving gyaan on business. Only few can see the funny side.

What does your typical day look like?

I wake up every day at 6 AM and start my day by reviewing my learning notes using a technique called spaced repetition. This helps me retain what I've learned.

I reach the office around 8:30 AM every day and have glorious 2 hours of uninterrupted time to get a major chunk of the work done before 10:30 AM. From then it depends on where the day takes me.

I spend a lot of time in the morning with my headphones plugged in. I watch competitor demos on youtube, read up on what's happening in the product management world and listen to what our customers are saying. The most beneficial activity throughout the day has to be watching recordings of customer conversations as it almost always gives me something to think about

Most of my afternoons are spent with headphones out. Right after lunch, I read a few pages in a book or summarise learnings from courses or books. From then, it's spent in structured meetings or unstructured conversations with colleagues across different functions. These conversations help foster relationships that definitely prove to be more than beneficial later.

I try to leave the office at 5 PM if I can help it. The evenings are usually spent at home, exploring random things and seeing where it takes me.

Why did you choose to become a product manager? How do you see things differently than the rest?

I've always enjoyed the creative process. I like creating things and putting it in front of people and eagerly await their response. I would tweak my work based on the response. I had no idea about this function called product management until my first job in SaaS.

It was during my time as a pre-sales engineer, I found myself to be fascinated by suggesting solutions to my prospects. I also found myself thinking about potential solutions that the product team could make. Most of my colleagues were just relaying the features back to the product managers but I took pleasure in actually coming up with the solution myself.

Later when I moved to product marketing, I really enjoyed my time working closely with product managers. I started appreciating the little things they do every day and the respect for the role grew even further.

What's the one thing that you absolutely love about your job?

We're trying to build the tool for the next few decades in the IT and MSP space. That's honestly exciting because you're questioning the status quo in almost every area. You're constantly asking yourself "There must be a better way to do this".

We also have a very strong vision in the ML/AI space. It's very exciting to see the B2B applications of the technology.

What are some of the emerging trends in your industry that excite you? And why?

It would be revealing to share, I'll need an NDA :P

I will share three trends in general that I'm very excited about

No-code tools No code is powering independent creators and that's paving way to a lot of new ideas that wouldn't have seen the day of light. No code tools are accelerating idea to product and it's a very healthy sign for the tech ecosystem

Networked note-taking New age tools like Obsidian and Roam Research are promoting networked note-taking where you're encouraged to link notes to each other. This will help more people find patterns in distinct areas that they would otherwise have not spotted

Memes (or generally humor) for business I'm bullish on memes being a very important marketing lever because consumers are starting to tune out marketing speak. If brands want to reach their audience, they have to get creative.

Do you follow any product/prioritization frameworks when making decisions? If yes, what are some of the top frameworks that you recommend, and why?

I'm a very gut-driven product manager. I usually eyeball my decisions based on my conversations with customers and the customer-facing team.

If you need a framework, I will recommend the simple Eisenhower matrix but for product managers. You can use it in a personal capacity to eliminate things that sound urgent but really aren't.

What’s the one tool you couldn’t do your job without, and which very people know about?

https://obsidian.md/

PMs consume a lot of knowledge passively and it's very easy to forget what you're consuming. Obsidian helps me assimilate all the knowledge and helps me see the patterns in it.

What's something that you learned/realized recently in your work journey that you wish you knew earlier?

Take the emotions out of your work.

It might be counterintuitive since a lot of people say "Love your work". I believe that you can still do a great job by being objective about your work. The reason I say "take the emotions out" is because you don't control most of the things that happen at an organization. An organization is made up of many moving parts and it's unwise to invest your emotions into something that you have little control over.

The emotional toll you go through when things don't go your way will affect your productivity.

What's the one mistake you've done and will advise others not to repeat?

I used to fight all my battles, never careful about what I picked. By battles, I mean challenging decisions that don't go your way.

Sometimes, it's not worth fighting a battle. You have to start thinking about the greater good. With every battle you fight at work, you risk a bit of your reputation and karma points. You have to wager carefully. If you lose all of it in your initial few years, you will just spend your time trying to get it back.

When you pick your battles carefully, you have a much better chance of having things go your way. This means accepting that not all decisions will go your way.

What are some of your biggest inspirations that help you get up and do your best work?

I don't believe in a single person as an inspiration because when you idolize someone, you idolize their flaws as well.

I still couldn't help being inspired by Steve Jobs 😊

What would you recommend to people who want to start their careers in your space?

Look internally before you want to be a PM at a different company.

You'll be far more successful in a product management role if you take up a product you support, sell, develop, or market. If you already understand some parts of the product, you have a better chance

Anything you want to promote or plug?

I post Product Management parody videos and memes on my Twitter -  and write useful things at

https://sanjeevnc.com/

I’m also co-building Supermeme.ai, an AI meme generator, to help brands communicate through memes.

https://www.supermeme.ai/

Check out this twitter collection of Sanjeev's Videos.

Connect with Sanjeev on

Twitter
https://twitter.com/yenceesanjeev

Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/sanjeev-nc/