ShipBob’s Post

Last Friday marked the end of a remarkable journey for me at Mangopay. Joining a small French scale-up with around 90 people in 2020, I am leaving a company of over 450 people with offices spread across the EU and UK. Wow, what a ride! I had the privilege of leading the launch of the Southern EU hub, with the opening of our Milan office, and later the Eastern EU region with our Warsaw office. The growth has been impressive. - a 2024 forecast for Southern EU being 10x what we had in 2020 - We exceeded sales targets every year - went from nothing to becoming the 3rd main brand in the payments market in Italy Thank you team! Piotr Ostaszewski Salvatore Scaletta Michele Longo Beyond the achievements, I have spent some time up in the amazing Italian Alps to catch some breath and reflect on my main learnings: - Culture is key for growth. Cultural-fit is a must when hiring both individual contributors and managers; - Horizontal experience is an added value. Our whole team did not come from payments. Do not be scared to hire outside your sector. People will surprise you. - The importance of the Quadrant of Aims. My first boss - and mentor - taught me this. Whenever asked for a task, especially from C-Levels, it's crucial to understand WHY they want it, HOW and most of all FOR WHOM. Delivering a 200 pages report is useless if your boss needs it to share it with journalists for a 15min interview. - Position yourself internally and externally. Being a Country Manager means often that you're not a C-Level but you need to build consensus internally to make things happen. While externally you need to validate your GTM as fast as possible, to learn and iterate. It's a tough position. I learnt so many other things, I should (and I'll try) to talk about it in some other posts. It has been a wonderful ride. Now it's time for the next adventure! Thank you Pierre Lion Romain Mazeries Elodie Meriguet Nicolas Fournié Alexis Ammar and all the many other people that I had the chance to work with!

A mistake I made earlier in my career as a product leader was thinking I needed to have all the answers. I'll tell you now, it's not a fun place to be. It was tiring. It’s a facade you can’t really maintain. It saps you of energy and prevents authenticity. I recall a time at CloudBees where at one point, I devised a product process that I’d convinced myself was an important part of how we needed to scale the PM team effectively. In fact, it turned out that much of it was convoluted, and burdensome on the team. I championed it for longer than I should have. It was a stressful time for me, and I’m sure for those around me. It was disempowering to the folks in my team. Logically the process was sound and made a great deal of sense. But it wasn’t something that I had the buy-in of the team around. It wasn’t something that I’d involved them in designing and proving out. It wasn’t effective, and it damaged the trust between myself and the team. In the end, we found a better way. Together. Experiences like that taught me a lot about humility and the importance of leaving your ego at the door. The reality is we’re not looking for leaders to know everything all of the time. We don’t want them to have all of the answers. We want to be empowered to contribute in meaningful ways to creating impact. For most, that’s where satisfaction is found, and where the key lies to motivation. Thank you to the folks who were honest, genuine and bold enough to call me out on this stuff at the time. You helped me grow into a better, more effective leader. And you took an invisible weight from my shoulders. Reflecting on what was behind all of this, it likely comes down to insecurities and imposter syndrome. And over the years, I’ve learned that these things are pretty common in the product and growth space. If any of this resonates, take a step back and think about the situations you’re facing and where it’s really OK to say, “I don’t know; let’s try to figure that out together”.

This year at Traqo™, we witnessed something truly special: a wave of well-deserved promotions for many of my incredible teammates. New titles, new responsibilities – it's a testament to their hard work and dedication. But here's the thing: my excitement for them goes beyond simple camaraderie. It's a deep-seated belief that when we invest in the growth of others, it creates a ripple effect, propelling everyone forward. Why? Because your success is intricately linked to the success of your team. It's not a zero-sum game. By empowering your team members, fostering their development, and celebrating their achievements, you're not just building a stronger unit – you're creating a launchpad for your own growth. Here's how it works: 1️⃣ Empowered Teams Deliver Exceptional Results: When team members feel valued, supported, and challenged to grow, their motivation soars. Their victories become your victories, as their enhanced skills translate into stronger performance for the entire team. 2️⃣ Teaching is a Masterclass in Learning: The act of guiding others through new concepts and skills solidifies your own understanding. There's an undeniable power in explaining something in a way that makes it clear for someone else – it forces you to refine your knowledge and approach the topic from a fresh perspective. 3️⃣ A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: When your team excels, the entire company thrives. Your contributions are amplified by the collective effort. A team that functions as a well-oiled machine achieves more than the sum of its parts, and your leadership in fostering that environment becomes even more impactful. The key takeaway? Leaders who hoard knowledge and opportunities ultimately stagnate. By fostering a culture of growth within your team, you create a dynamic environment where everyone can reach their full potential. This collaborative approach not only elevates everyone's performance but also fosters a sense of camaraderie and shared success. Let's celebrate growth – not just our own, but the collective growth of those around us! Because in the end, it's this shared journey that propels us all forward.

Folks, I had a great conversation with Airtribe recently, where I shared insights from my product management experience at Meesho We delved into topics like interview process, preparation strategies, the resources that were instrumental, our hiring criteria, and more! 😀 Eager to learn more? Find the video link in the comments below and take a look! 👇 #productmanagement #productmanager #interviewtips #meesho #careerdevelopment #airtribe

Product Managers at a company valued < $100M earn 24 LPA while the PMs working at Unicorns make 32.4 LPA. Product Managers working in NCR make 19.6 LPA, while those in Bengaluru make 30 LPA. These are stark differences because factors like education, experience, location, company valuation, industry, and more influence product manager pay. I recently came across the Salary Insights Report curated by Upraised. They surveyed 600+ PMs and have created a detailed report highlighting how all the above-mentioned factors affect our pay. You can have a look through the link in the comments.

13 new hires for quarter 4! Who’s getting promoted in the next 6 weeks ! Our goal is to have you master sales and marketing strategies in less than 3 months to become a supervisor. Growth is great but also a huge responsibility. Do you think this team has what it takes! #OpulenceManagement #NewHires #Q4Team #Promotions #RisingStars #TrainingSuccess #TeamGrowth #SupervisorGoals #SalesMasters #MarketingStrategies

Heading home after spending a week at Knak HQ, reflecting on my experience to date. 90 days in, I could not be more proud to be a Knakster. A company’s values impact its customer experience in every possible way! Like objective setting, product development, budgeting, hiring, making impossibly tough decisions…the list goes on. When your values are weaved through every team member, alignment and forward momentum take over. Everyone has the confidence to be creative, take risks and BE BOLD! The result for your team and customers? Confidence, Connection, Innovation The ultimate trifecta. While it’s easy to throw a few words on a wall or employee handbook, it takes discipline and commitment to consistently lean into your values. The culture we are building now: Lead with transparency; Embrace a growth mindset; Take calculated risks; Keep it simple; Get shit done. Bring on 2024, this team is 🔥.

“Food and Forecast” That was the name of the texting group I had with my fellow sales leaders last year when I was a Regional VP Sales. There were only three of us on the text chain but we messaged each other multiple times per day, even on the weekends. Half the time it was business related … pipeline updates, customer follow up reminders, celebrating our team’s respective wins, and talking about our sales reps…just kidding. Wanted to make sure you were still paying attention at the end 😂 The other half of the time was texting food pics or sharing menus of the latest restaurants we were frequenting. Yes…sign me up for some good food porn! Does anyone else in LinkedIn nation love to read menus? It’s definitely a favorite pastime of mine. I joke that I have more pictures of food on my phone than I do of my kids, but that’s the truth. I’m a total foodie. All my friends and family know not to touch their plates of food until I’m able to snap a pic. 📸 I was doing a digital cleanse this past week, deleting old text chains and came across “Food and Forecast”. I found myself reading through old messages. It brought me back to when times were good inside the corporate bubble, the months prior to my November layoff; before the bubble burst. My layoff turned something as simple as this “Food and Forecast” texting chain that once brought me so much joy and laughter into a digital cemetery. I miss not having these pings on my phone throughout the day. And it hurt my heart when I tried to engage via text post layoff and got zero response back from the people on this chain. 🤷🏻♀️ ✅ Day 16 of 30 Day LI Video Challenge brings you highlights from last year’s Food & Wine Festival in Aspen, CO. This was a bucket list trip for me and I’m so fortunate to have attended. From meeting famous TV star chefs to eating and drinking more food, wine, and spirits than you could ever imagine, it checked off every box of a foodie’s dream event. Do you have a favorite food experience from your bucket list? 🪣 —— Hi! I’m Laura. I’m fulfilling two passions in 2024: 👩🏻💼I coach sales reps and first line sales leaders with EASE: Everything is Attitude, Skill, & Effort. I love mentoring sales professionals. Let’s chat! 📖 I’m writing a book called “The Layoff Cooties: It’s Them, Not You.” It’s part of my healing process after an unexpected layoff last year. Publishing in Fall 2024! 🔔 Follow ♻️ Repost ❤️ Be Kind

This week's #throwback discusses who belongs in the product organization. Clearly assigning responsibility for your products doesn't demand a big team, but it does need product managers who focus on the role full-time. Many times, when companies set up a new product team, they appoint a senior person to lead (which is good), but then they bring in individuals from various departments, making them juggle product management along with their existing tasks. It is important to search within the organization for individuals possessing the appropriate traits (EEIOU), irrespective of their current job titles. Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/g9eXu5nb

Changing from a front-line rep to a managerial role is challenging. As a front-line rep, I had one responsibility: close as many deals as possible. That’s what I had to do.  I would network, connect with people, hop on discovery calls, and close deals. It wasn't easy. Stressful sometimes, for sure. But I only had one focus. In a managerial role, you have multiple points of focus. → The people on your team → The deals closing → The goals of the company, team, and individuals The list goes on. It’s a lot. It’s a transition. It’s not easy to focus on one thing, let alone focus on multiple people and aspects of the business. But I’m grateful for my phenomenal team and their patience while I transitioned roles. They make it easy to be a good manager.